Dr. Jerry Sanson
Louisiana Maneuvers and Military Museum
October 2025
Even though the U.S. Army and other military forces involved in World War I used vehicles of many different types, World War II was the first truly mechanized war. A collection of Camp Beauregard Quartermaster Corps records from 1941 in the Louisiana Maneuvers and Military Museum collection reveals how mundane but important the needs were to keep the Army’s fleet of trucks in operation at the camp during the year of the largest Louisiana Maneuvers, how the Army’s presence gave local businesses an opportunity to sell goods and make money, and how the Army’s demand for exacting paperwork does not change.
Mechanized equipment needs new parts to replace those that wear out from the heavy use required in the Army. A list of “Parts Issued On Trucks For The Week of 22nd to 27” (unfortunately, no month is identified on the document) includes parts for Dodge, Ford, Chevrolet, Federal, International, and REO brand trucks. (Ransom Eli Olds established the REO motor company after he left his Oldsmobile company in 1905. He used his initials instead of his last name to identify the new company in order to avoid trademark disputes. The Federal Motor Truck Company was established in 1910, built more than 10,000 heavy trucks for the military beginning in 1918 in addition to its civilian production, and ceased operations in 1960.)
The list reveals that Dodges, Internationals, and REOs needed two parts for each brand, Fords and Federals needed only one each, while Chevrolets needed seventeen parts. This number does not conclusively mean that Chevrolets were unreliable or needed repairs more than others because none of the records indicate how many trucks of each brand the Army stationed at Camp Beauregard. Perhaps Chevrolets heavily outnumbered other brands and therefore the number of parts needed had to be greater than for the other makes.
Local businesses benefitted from Army trade. Copies of requisitions and receipts from the Quartermaster records show that Camp Beauregard conducted business during 1941 with Air Reduction Sales Company in Shreveport for oxygen and acetylene; Ree Sales Corporation in Dallas, Texas, for steering gear, gaskets, and washers; Andress-Abbott Ford for bearings, linings, a radiator, hoses, brackets, and other items; Southern Chevrolet Incorporated for seals, mufflers, tail pipes and other parts; Parts & Battery Supply Company for platinum points; United Service, Incorporated for armature exchange, housing, and washers; John Eskew, Incorporated for sealed beam headlamps, distributor points, carburetor gaskets and pump plunger, and choke assembly,. Transactions with the last five companies directly benefitted the economy in Central Louisiana because the businesses were all located in Alexandria.
The documents also contain detailed instructions and forms for distributing the Army payroll. This is obviously an important and sensitive component of Army finance, so the procedure was documented and witnessed. Officers had to pay and return to the finance office all undistributed money, records, and moneybags by the close of business of the day following receipt. A commissioned officer other than the class “A” agent paying the roll had to witness payment after which the witness had to confirm all changes in the “Balance Paid” column by writing “pd $___” to the right of the signature of each enlisted soldier and initialing the entry. More detailed instructions followed for unusual circumstances.
All of these requirements are understandable because the disbursing agents were handing out Army money and should have been required to keep detailed records, but Army procedures for purchasing seemed unnecessarily complex to farmers and small business owners unused to Army procedures.
Louisiana farmers enjoyed selling their produce to the Army when they had the opportunity even though they complained heartily about the paperwork required for the transaction. Small business owners also enjoyed selling goods to the Army but shared the farmers’ consternation with Army forms. They were used to receiving money, perhaps writing a simple receipt, and handing a customer his or her purchase, and they found Army paperwork exceedingly cumbersome. They complied begrudgingly in order to hear Army money jingle in their tills.
