126th Regimental Association Newsletter

126th Regimental Association August 2022 Newsletter

Fall Meeting and Dinner SAVE THE DATE! Our annual meeting and dinner will return to the Grand Valley Armory, 1200 44th Street SW in Wyoming, on Saturday evening, October 1, 2022. We’d love to see you attend and participate in all the activities listed: 1600 hrs Historical archive room in the armory will be open for visitors; north hallway at the east end 1700 hrs Annual Business Meeting will be held in the Red Arrow Room off the front lobby 1800 hrs Social Hour in the NCO Club behind the armory 1845 hrs Opening formalities followed by a delicious dinner in the NCO Club Freedom Room, prepared by the NCO Club Auxiliary (see the registration form for menu and price) Drawings and other closing activities will follow

Secretary’s & Treasurer’s Report Active members: 381 Missing members: 289 New member since last mailing: None Reported deceased since our annual meeting: Gordon Zuberink Luella Holmes Bernard VanGeest Clayton Jackson Missing members since the last mailing: Jon A. Ring Charles J. Agner Treasurer’s Report as of 31 July 2022: Checking Savings

$ 5,764.82 4,188.46

CD CD Total

2,399.97 2,251.51 $ 14,604.76

Legacy Fund Balance General Fund Balance

$ 9,101.46 $ 5,503.30

Legacy Fund Donors

Thank you to the 25 donors who contributed $1,975.00 to the Legacy Fund this year: Darle VanderSchuur William Streelman COL(ret) Gary Wainwright BG(ret) Gary J. Tellier BG Warren Lawrence Ben J. Landheer Vernia McCullough Walter Draeger Glenn Dubbink Tom Wallace COL(ret) Chuck Holwerda COL(ret) Howard Becker MAJ James Crump MAJ(ret) Gerald & Delores Sadowski Jim Anderson MSG(ret) Cliff Mulder COL(ret) Gary Krueger Wellington (Bill) & Laurel Miller James Luce COL(ret) Bruce Whitman SGM(ret) Jerry H Kline Paul Essenburg Clayton Jackson Ruth Wierenga Steve & Mary Jacobs Donations in memory of: CWO Ralph Schmidt Capt Gerard A. Streelman CW4 Marine (Sonny) Damvelt Robert F Strong LTC William Byl COL Harry Sobotka Harold E. Krueger COL Mel Wierenga

2021-22 Association Officers

President 1st Vice President 2nd Vice President Secretary Treasurer Historian Asst. Historian Asst. Historian Sgt-At-Arms Chaplain Immed. Past Pres.

SSG (Ret) Cal Wierda 1SG (Ret) John Johnson SFC Mark DeYoung 1SG (Ret) James Norton LTC (Ret) Bill Sobotka CW4 (Ret) Darle VanderSchuur SSG Kyle Herring SFC (Ret) Earl Jenkins LTC (Ret) David Britten SFC (Ret) Bill Witte LTC (Ret) David Britten

The 126th Regimental Association newsletter is published twice yearly and mailed or emailed to all active association members. Inquiries regarding the association and this newsletter should be made to: LTC (Ret) Bill Sobotka 99 Skyline Circle NW Grand Rapids, MI 49504-5991

(616) 531-3295 BillSobotka@prodigy.net

Out with the old, in with the new It was no secret that the old Michigan Street Armory was too small for the growing 126th Infantry Regiment and other units assigned following World Wars I and II. The only addition since the armory opened in 1916 was that of a small vehicle storage shed on the north side of the armory. Given the location, it was virtually impossible to add any more space.

Indiana Railroad.

For one of the shortest-lived projects, the history as well as memories of the Picric Acid plant is extensive. The federal contract for the $6,000,000 plant was let in late August 1918 and work got underway to extend a rail spur into the area, build barracks, a hospital, administration building, and many other structures in as short a time as possible. More than 2,000 laborers were needed for the project and they came from all over the state and Midwest. A few weeks into the it, some 200 business and professional men from Grand Rapids pitched in for a day and helped. The county road commission even completed a half-mile cement road from Division Avenue to the site (this was today’s 44th Street but the road quickly became known at the time as Picric Road). Real estate sales nearby were booming with deals such as $5 down and $1 per week.

And then, as suddenly as it got started, work halted on November 14, 1918, three days following the armistice that ended World War I. Eventually, the federal government gave the land, blighted by now-unused railroad tracks and dozens of un-completed concrete, steel, and glass structures. Most “famous” of these structures were the two smokestacks and unfinished powerhouse . One of the two stacks stood 200 foot high and a month after construction ended, a woman by the name of Mrs. Thomas Thompson showed her daring by scaling it to the top to the cheers of many workers around it.

By the early 1950s, the state was and local armory board were searching for a site to build a second armory in this area and in 1954, LTC Clarence C. Schnipke was tossing around a proposal to build a $1,000,000 armory in Wyoming Township, whose supervisor and township board members were favorable to the idea. Two possible sites were under consideration for this additional armory, which would require 10 acres: the former Picric Acid plant at 44th Street and Clyde Park Avenue, or property on the north side of 50th Street immediately east of Clyde Park.

The Picric Acid plant dated back to 1918 when America, having just entered World War I the previous year, desired to build several of these plants to offset the earlier loss of a plant in France due to fire. A rapid mobilization of workers and materials ensued, and land was acquired encompassing nearly 1,300 acres in Wyoming Township. Today, this land would have been bounded by 40th Street on the south, 52nd Street on the north, Burlingame on the west, and the railroad tracks on the east, which at the time served the Grand Rapids & Like us on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/126thRegiment/

1960 aerial view of nearly the entire Picric Acid plant area which still shows many of the abandoned structures. The black rectangle is the 10-acre parcel that will eventually be the site of the new Grand Valley Armory.

For many years following, efforts were made to utilize 2

the land effectively. Some of the ideas that never materialized included a work camp for county jail inmates, a fertilizer plant where state prisoners would be put to work, and even the possibility that Henry Ford might open an auto or tractor plant on it (that was seriously considered by Ford but just for a moment).

Later, the site was utilized as a day camp for several hundred area Camp Fire Girls and National Guard companies from the Grand Rapids Armory came out there to train. Oil exploration was attempted and the idea of opening a gypsum mine was floated. The Western Horse Club of Grand Rapids held its first show and demonstration there in front of more than 400 spectators, with some 150 to 200 horses in events including roping, bending race, speed and action races, and what was called an all-wester dash. Several small industries used some of the more completed structures as warehouses including a prefabricated housing company, which burned twice. Much of the brick, steel, and glass materials were pilfered and put to use by folks trying to build homes during the Depression and World War II years. Eventually, the railroad tracks were torn up and contributed as scrap metal for the war effort. An honest resident of Byron Center paid $75 to wreck the third smokestack, standing 150 foot high, and use the bricks to build a residence.

Memorial Park. Over time, playground areas, picnic tables and charcoal stoves were added. By 1955, it was considered the newest and largest of the Kent County parks. But, because Grand Rapids decided on renaming the Fulton Street Park as Veterans Memorial Park, the county changed the name of the old Picric Acid site to Linus C. Palmer Park, in honor of its popular county parks superintendent and forester.

The just-completed Grand Valley Armory with the Picric Acid smokestacks standing in the background. They would come down in 1975.

The deal was finalized in the early 1960s to build the new Grand Valley Armory on 10 acres at 1200 44th Street SW. This would not be an “additional” armory as originally planned since the old Michigan Street Armory had been sold to the state for the I-196 freeway construction.

Grand Rapids tried to keep the national guard within the city, but all its site proposals were inadequate. In 1965, the 2nd Brigade, 126th Infantry, and other units moved into the Grand Valley Armory.

Many concrete structures dotted the landscape of the old Picric Acid site for many years. Most were simply plowed into the ground with structures, such as the Grand Valley Armory, built on top of them. The smoke stacks are visible in the background.

When backers of the new Grand Valley college were searching for a site, Wyoming officials worked hard to convince them to build on the site but that ended with their decision to build out near Allendale. Eventually, the state gave the property to the county and it was overseen by the Kent County Road Commission. The decision was made in 1946 to create a park out of 360 acres south of 44th Street and it was called Veterans Like us on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/126thRegiment/

Looking down on the Grand Valley Armory site, today, surrounded by the L.E. Kaufman golf course and Palmer Park.

As we noted, much of the old concrete structures were buried. As a group of us were re-installing the Michigan historical marker for the 126th Infantry in front of the 3

armory this past spring, we hit one of those buried relics while attempting to auger new three-foot holes for the marker. The marker now rests on that relic of World War I.

Training in the 1880’s On August 9, 1880, the Grand Rapids Guard (as part of the Second Regiment) joined other regiments for the first-ever brigade camp at Kalamazoo. The Grand Rapids Guard traced its lineage to the pre-Civil War militia companies from 1855 and served as the nucleus for the Civil War’s 3rd Michigan Volunteer Regiment. It would continue in that role right up through today.

The campsite used was named for Zachariah Chandler, a popular United States senator from Michigan. That fall, during the Guard’s supper and ball at its armory featured a discussion of a proposal by then-Governor Charles Croswell in his retiring message that encampments of the State Troops occur biennially instead of every year. The Guard adopted a resolution supporting the annual requirement and local state representatives were furnished copies to pass on to the legislature.

The Grand Rapids Guard at Mackinac Island (after 1887)

In May of 1887, Company B along with two other Michigan companies, attended the National Prize Drill held in Washington, D.C. Reportedly, some of the men had taken ill, and the company was unable to enter the competition, because it could not muster the minimum number of men required. However, during the review by the president, the Grand Rapids Guard was cheered all along the line, considered to be one of the finest and best-drilled companies in the Capitol City. The company remained there for twelve days before returning home.

On October 12, 1881, the Grand Rapids Guard, under command of Captain Calkins, travelled to the Centennial Celebration of Lord Cornwallis’s surrender to General Washington at Yorktown. The Guard was part of the Michigan Battalion under command of Colonel Israel Smith. The company had been selected as one of four to represent Michigan by a statewide inspection. Company G from Ionia also participated.

On October 16, 1883, Colonel Smith was appointed as commanding officer of Michigan’s First Brigade and commissioned as brigadier general. He was the first officer from the Second Regiment to be elevated to that lofty position. Moving with him to the brigade field and staff were Lieutenant Colonels Charles Calkins and Joseph Herkner, both of Grand Rapids.

No state-wide encampment was held in 1885, so the Grand Rapids Guard (Company B Second Regiment) went to an independent camp at Fort Mackinac on Mackinac Island that summer. Captain William T. McGurrin, along with forty men and a band, participated in the eight-day trip, where they took part in drills and maneuvers with the regular soldiers stationed at the fort. The photo below from our 126th Regimental Association and Grand Rapids Guard archive was taken during a later encampment following the construction of the Grand Hotel in 1887. This is the only photo in existence.

Like us on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/126thRegiment/

Company B (Grand Rapids Guard) in Washington DC, 1887

Archive Update We took a break during the summer months but have since returned on (most) Wednesday mornings from 9 until 11, continuing to work on preserving, cataloging, and archiving our historical collection. If you want to help or just want to stop by, we suggest you email LTC (Ret) David Britten (LTCdavid@comcast.net) or LTC (Ret) Bill Sobotka (billsobotka@prodigy.net) to ensure we are going to be there. We also encourage you to consider a donation to our association’s Legacy Fund using the enclosed envelope. Thank you in advance!

4

3rd Bn 126th Infantry Update The battalion welcomed a special guest during Annual Training from Estonia this summer. Lieutenant Sven Parand embedded with the 126th through the Military Reserve Exchange Program (MREP). MREP is a coordinated international exchange program with NATO militaries to help develop cultural understanding, regional expertise, and language proficiency and interoperability.

Lieutenant Parand resides in Tallinn, Estonia with his girlfriend and their son. He is fluent in four languages, including Estonian, Finnish, Russian and English. He originally conscripted into the Estonian Defence Forces for eleven months back in 2003. Through his career he has received numerous awards at the company and battalion levels, and joined the Estonian Defense League in 2010, a voluntary national defence organization.

On the civilian side, Lieutenant Parand earned his Ph.D. in electronics and communications from the Tallinn University of Technology in 2018. The principal by which he lives is do unto others as you would want done to yourself.

Side note: The armory drill floor is due to be refinished this year and the battalion is planning on embedding the 126th regimental crest in the center. They have also completed refinishing the LTG Clarence C. Schnipke Room, which for many years served as the brigade’s conference room and officers’ club. The room also houses a tribute to President Gerald R. Ford.

Panographic view of Camp Custer taken in 1918 by elevating a camera 500 feet off the ground with kites. Source is the Library of Congress. The rail lines and terminal along the bottom were the electric interurban trains from eastern and western Michigan cities.

Like us on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/126thRegiment/

5

Complete this form, cut out the registration, and mail it to the address indicated along with payment.

Like us on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/126thRegiment/

6