(click on the map above for an interactive one on the AHEC website!
AHEC is located near Harrisburg, PA and conveniently located near Routes 76, 81, and 11.
By MEGAN HART, Staff writer
Sunday News
Published: Jul 08, 2007 12:08 AM EST
VALLEY FORGE - When the soldiers of the 314th Infantry Regiment built their officers' club in 1917, they never imagined that it would be a mobile home.
Now, the Descendants and Friends of the 314th Infantry Regiment are hoping to move the cabin from its current site in the midst of Valley Forge to Carlisle, among like artifacts.
"It would be somewhere where it would fit in with the rest of the surroundings. ... We hoped it would become part of a larger memorial to World War I," said Thomas Timoney of Gwynedd.
The regiment was composed mostly of eastern Pennsylvanians and was part of the 79th Division of the American Expeditionary Force, sent to fight in France during World War I. Timoney's father and uncle were members.
About 20 Lancaster-area men joined the 314th Infantry; more belonged to the 316th, another regiment in the 79th Division.
The cabin and the artifacts within are bound for the U.S. Army Heritage & Education Center, which features archives and artifacts from the French and Indian War through the Vietnam War. It has already taken some photos and papers that were in storage.
The cabin will join a new interactive trench exhibit commemorating World War I.
"It's a one-of-a-kind cabin, so the Army's very interested in it and the collection in the back," said John H. Shetler of Pequea, whose grandfather was a cook for the machine gun company.
Artifacts in the cabin include Pat, a (now-stuffed) German dog that became Company M's mascot; weapons and uniforms; a painting of Col. William H. Oury, who led the 314th; and the Perpetual Light, an electric flame dedicated in 1946.
The World of Scouting Museum also has space in the cabin and will find a new home after the move.
"As soon as we have our money, the cabin's going to Carlisle. They want it badly," said Shetler.
He estimates that it will cost about $250,000 to move the structure.
"We're trying to go to different organizations like banks and some of the local representatives," said Joseph Patti of Norristown, whose father was a member of the regiment.
"They needed something they could build quickly," said Timoney.
The soldiers "scrounged," said Jean Harlow of Paoli, using trees and any other available wood. Her father was part of the staff at headquarters and was also chairman of the committees to both build and reconstruct the cabin.
After the war, the veterans bought back their cabin from the War Surplus Department for $50. It was torn down and reassembled in Valley Forge, at a cost of $4,160. Each stone and log was numbered so that the cabin could be rebuilt exactly as it had been.
It was dedicated in 1922 to the 362 men from the 314th who died in the war, many of whom had helped to build it.
On the back wall of the cabin is a series of plaques bearing the names of the 4,001 men of the regiment. Those who died in France have gold stars beside their names.
The soldiers later created a trust fund for the care of the cabin. As their ranks began to thin they turned the fund over to Washington Memorial Chapel, a small Episcopal congregation in Valley Forge, which oversees the cabin's maintenance.
The major American allies were Great Britain, France and Russia. Opposite them were Austria-Hungary, Germany and the Ottoman Empire, based in modern-day Turkey.
Americans joined the war in 1917. Then-President Woodrow Wilson believed that by careful balancing of power in the post-war world and the formation of a League of Nations, it might be the last war ever fought.
"The thing to know about the war was that there was a stalemate for four years ... until the Americans arrived," said Timoney.
Though the war was largely stationary, it was hardly bloodless.
"They didn't stay in the trenches," said Shetler. "That's why they had such heavy casualties."
"They said, 'You're going over in this big ship ... but the ones who are coming back ... will be in a rowboat,' " said Martha Blazosky Douglas, whose father fought.
"They really sacrificed," she said, recalling a story of when her father went five days without food because the supply line was disrupted.
Patti's father lost an arm during the fighting in France.
Even Shetler's grandfather, who did not fight, was not entirely safe.
"He wasn't on the front line like the rest of those people were," said Shetler, "but [the cooks] still managed to get themselves shelled and blown up."
Timoney observed that World War I is often a forgotten war, much like the Korean War.
"The fourth generation did not know these men," said Alfred Douglas, husband of Martha Blazosky Douglas. He did not have a relative in World War I, but got interested after meeting Shetler's father.
"I'm rare," said Shetler, a member of the third generation. "People's lives get busy, and they lose interest in their history."
He added, however, that the mailing list is increasing, and more people are looking for ancestors because this year marks the 90th anniversary of the United States entering World War I.
Timoney said Descendants and Friends want to do more than preserve a building. "Part of the effort here is to perpetuate our history, make sure it's not forgotten."
The Descendants and Friends are accepting donations, which are tax deductible, toward moving the cabin. Visit www.314th.org, or write Thomas Timoney, 400 Maryland Drive, Fort Washington, PA 19034.
Megan Hart is a staff writer for the Sunday News. Her e-mail address is mhart@lnpnews.com.
(click on the map above for more detailed information about travelling to AHEC
Members of the Board of the 314th were interviewed by the Lancaster, PA newspaper concerning the move of the 314th Log Cabin to AHEC,
and those interviews are now online at the Lancaster Online website
http://local.lancasteronline.com/4/206591
On the move
World War I cabin to be moved from Valley Forge to Carlisle with help from soldiers. relatives here and across eastern Pennsylvania.
Witness to history
The cabin was originally built as an officers' club at Camp Meade, Md., where the men trained before boarding a ship for France. At the time, Camp Meade was new and offered few amenities.
'War to End All Wars'
World War I began when Austrian Archduke Franz Ferdinand was assassinated in Serbia in 1914, bringing allies from as far away as Great Britain and Russia into the conflict.
This Log Cabin Memorial - Veterans 314th Infantry Regiment A.E.F. www.314th.org web page
(
www.314th.org
) at
173.12.39.201
last modified:
August 4, 2007