General Order 

 No. 3 



An Appreciation 



Hq. 20th Engineers (For.) 



U. S. M. P. O. 717 



December, 191 8 



To the Officers and Soldiers of the Twentieth Engineers and Attached Service Troops: 



ON November 25, 1917, the first board was cut in 

 France by American Forestry Troops at a little 

 French mill in the Jura Mountains. At the same 

 time, another detachment was getting out 50-foot piling in 

 the Landes on escort wagons drawn by hand. The total 

 cut during December, 1917, was 321,000 board feet of 

 lumber and 12,000 railroad ties. 



When the armistice was signed on November 11, 

 1918, the 20th Engineers 

 were operating 81 Ameri- 

 can Sawmills and produc- 

 ing 2,000,000 feet of lum- 

 ber and round products 

 every working day. Up to 

 December 1, we have cut a 

 total of 272,500,000 feet 

 of lumber, including 2,728,- 

 000 railroad ties, together 

 with 38,000 pieces of piling, 

 2,739,000 poles of all sizes 

 and 892,000 steres of fuel- 

 wood. 



Recent reports from the 

 various depots and con- 

 struction projects of the 

 A. E. F. show that the 

 Army was at the time 

 of concluding the armistice 

 well supplied with lumber. 

 When ties were called for 

 in large quantities to sup- 

 port the advances of our 

 troops at St. Mihiel and 

 the Argonne, they were 

 ready. At practically every 

 dock project, deliveries of 

 piling and lumber were well 

 ahead of the construction. 

 In other words, the Fores- 

 try Troops have made 

 good on the work for 

 which they were brought to France. Notwithstanding 

 the difficulties in obtaining equipment and transporta- 

 tion, notwithstanding the enormous increase in the size of 

 the A. E. F., and the work which it undertook 

 over the original estimates, the Army has been given the 

 lumber which it needed, and the suspension of hostilities 

 finds us with a substantial surplus which will be used for 

 the restoration of France. This is an achievement in 



COL. JAMES 

 Commanding 20th 



which every man in the Forestry Troops may well take 

 pride, for every one of you have had a share in it. Your 

 part in winning the war has been as important as that of 

 any other troops in the A. E. F. Your loyalty and 

 enthusiasm have been put to a hard test. You wanted 

 to get to the front, but could not. You have had to put 

 in long hours of the hardest kind of work, month after 

 month, without glory or excitement, and without the 



special forms of recogni- 

 tion given to combat troops. 

 The Medical Officers have 

 told us that the Forestry 

 Troops were being worked 

 too hard, but the only an- 

 swer has been a steadily 

 increasing cut of lumber 

 from month to month. You 

 have failed in no task that 

 has been assigned to you. 

 You have gotten more out 

 of sawmills than had ever 

 been dreamed of by mill 

 operators at home. Time 

 and again, in spite of dif- 

 ficulties such as lumbermen 

 never contended with be- 

 fore, you have exceeded 

 our expectations. Your 

 record as members of the 

 A. E. F. will be a 

 source of pride and satis- 

 faction to you as you re- 

 turn to civil life. It will 

 be your recompense for the 

 sacrifices which many of 

 you have made to come to 

 France. 



As Commanding officer 

 of the 20th Engineers, I 

 thank you for the untiring 

 and uncomplaining way in 

 which you have done your work. I am glad to have 

 been identified with such a body of American soldiers. 



A copy of this order will be sent to every company 

 and detachment of the 20th Engineers, and attached' ser- 

 vice troops ; read to the troops, and posted on the Com- 

 pany or Detachment bulletin board. 



J. A. Woodruff, 



Colonel, Engineers. 



A. WOODRUFF 



Engineers (Forestry) 



