Wednesday, August 7, 2019

August 7, 1919. Big Springs to Kimball, Nebraska. 86 miles in 11 hours.

On this day in 1919, the Motor Transport Convoy picked up speed and made 86 miles in a little over 11 hours.
Not that the day was without trouble.  The tarpaulin on a Liberty Truck caught on fire as it pulled into camp.

Lunch was had at Sydney Nebraska, now famous as the home of Cabelas.  When I was a university student at the University of Wyoming, we thought Sydney sufficiently close to Laramie to drive there, although it made for a really long day.  Looking it up now, it was 148 miles. . . further away than I'd bother to drive to look at a store today. The store at that time was the old Cabelas, in downtown Sydney, not the big one by the Interstate that people visit today.

After lunch, the convoy trekked on to Kimball, Nebraska.

Cheyenne was anticipating their arrival.


On the same day, in eastern Siberia, the U.S. Army and the Red Army came to blows when respective patrols made contact.  The Red Army unit attacked at Novo Litovoskaya with the result that the they sustained significant casualties while the Americans took none.  The action featured the bravery of Cpl. Frankenfield who overran a Russian position single handedly armed only with his M1911 pistol.

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