Smith, Benson
survey sheet - handwritten

 

 

On front of survey sheet:

"Date of Enlistment: March 26, 1918
Military Camps to which went:
* Went to sea right away.
Units to which belonged:
* Naval overseas Transportation service
Date of trip overseas: --
Service there:
* I made 6 trips over & back, was on the first merchant ship to enter Hamburg after Armistice.
Date of return: June 12/[19]19
Date of demobilization: June 2 [1919], but on inactive duty.
Honors received: --
(over)"

One reverse of survey sheet:

"I first joined the Navy in
Feb. 14, 1911 and was paid
off on Jan. 25, 1915. While
there I was in active duty
in Vera Cruz, Mexico in 1914
and in Haiti of the same
year.
----------------------------
Will send you a picture
later."

 

 

NOTES
Mexican Revolution: Occupation of Vera Cruz (About.com. Military History)
http://militaryhistory.about.com/od/battleswars1900s/p/veracruz.htm

United States Occupation of Vera Cruz (Wikipedia)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_occupation_of_Veracruz

Intervention in Haiti, 1914 (GlobaSecurity.org)
http://www.globalsecurity.org/military/ops/haiti1914.htm

U.S. Navy. Naval History Division. History of the Naval Overseas
Transportation Service in World War I, by Lewis P. Clephane.
Washington, DC: The Division, 1969. (Ibiblio. Hyperwar)
http://www.ibiblio.org/hyperwar///////AMH/XX/WWI/USN/NOTS/index.html

The Hamburg Revolution - Heinrich Laufenberg (Libcom.org)
http://libcom.org/history/hamburg-revolution-heinrich-laufenberg