THIS DAY IN 1918 IN THERECORD
Wednesday, July 24, 1918. The Watervliet police are struggling to bring an end to traffic congestion caused by war workers parking their cars around the arsenal, The Record reports. “Parked in and around the arsenal in every available space every day and to a somewhat less extent every night are scores of cars from a score of places,” our Watervliet correspondent writes, “People have become accustomed to look with wonder and interest at auto license plates from other states.” Wonder turned to anger this week when the placement of gun carriages and other equipment in the arsenal parking lot forced workers to park on the streets. This morning, residents call the police to complain that Fifth Avenue north of Eighth Street has been completely blocked by parked cars. Acting police chief Charles H. Noller sends patrolmen to the arsenal to inform night- shift workers that they can no longer park their vehicles in the streets, and to keep day- shift workers from occupying the same spaces. Noller urges arsenal personnel to make arrangements to house their cars in garages, both to relieve congestion and for their own safety. “He thought economy was the chief consideration in the mind of the autoist when he left his car in the streets,” our writer notes, “Suppose a car disappeared, as might easily happen. What a job for the police!”
Noller is “surprised more cars weren’t reported as having disappeared,” but the very congestion he decries probably makes car theft unlikely.
Sergeant Norton Writes Sergeant Thomas J. Norton of the 105th U.S. Infantry regiment is the son of former Troy corporation counsel John T. Norton, who shares a June 24 letter from somewhere in France with Record readers.
Sgt. Norton was recently attached to a British Army division and became one of the first men from the Troybased 105th to experience real trench warfare.
“Dad, I want to tell you that it is certainly Hell up there,” Norton writes, “and any one that has been here for four years in the line [the British have been fighting since 1914] deserves all the credit in the world. You cannot imagine the mental stress strain you are under until you come out.
“The safest place in the whole line is No Man’s Land. There you are at least free from the artillery bombardment. The little machine gun plays a great part in the war up there, but the bursting shrapnel is about the worst thing and the hardest to which to become accustomed.”
As of last month, the 105th was stationed five miles behind the lines. Where they are now remains unclear to folks back home.