Name/Title
StereographEntry/Object ID
2023.055.3.0155Description
A black and white stereograph. Image is of a large group os sailors standing at attention in front of a large building. Above the image "W202 (Star)" is printed, below the image "19193 Thousands of Uncle Sam's Sailors, Training Station. Great Lakes, Ill." is printed, to the left of the image "Keystone View Company Copyrighted, Manufacturers MADE IN U.S.A. Publishers" is printed, to the right of the image "Meadville, Pa., New York, N. Y., Chicago, Ill., London, England." is printed. On the reverse the following is printed:
19193
THOUSANDS OF UNCLE SAM'S SAILORS
Here is the Grea Lakes Training Station, a school which turned out thousands of sailors during the war. It is situated about 40 miles north of Chicago on a bluff overlooking Lake Michigan. The grounds are immense, more than 300 acres of level Illinois praire land, extending for nearly a miles along the shore of the lake and as far back into the country. At times more than 20,000 men were in training. On the parade ground, dressed in white, they make a fine appearance.
The immense area was divided into separate camps each containing several thousand men, each with its own central drill grounds, its own central steam heating plant, hospital and mess halls. All buildings were lighted by electricity and their appointments complete in every essential particular. The most caerful attention was given to hygine, and absolute personal cleanliness was required of every man.
The men came from all over the country. Not a state in the Unoin but was represented - a splendid lot of vigorous young Americans. They lived in barracks 120 feet long and about 30 feet wide, comfrotable barracks heated by steam and warm even in the severe winters of northern Illinois. The men slept in canvas hammaocks slung from iron piping. Their days were busy ones, filled with drill and work and study. In the evenings the boys wrote letters or read or prepared lessons for the coming day. The food that was served was exceptionally good - plain, simple, nourishing. It was cooked at a central plant, placed in aluminum kettles and served piping hot; at 6:30 breakfast, 11:30 dinner, 4:30 supper.
Copyright by The Keystone View CompanyCollection
Photograph Collection