A Thanksgiving Day Artifact

My father, James Eulis Creasy, joined the United States Army in September of 1939. After basic training he was assigned to the "Demonstration Regiment" of the Army, the 29th Infantry Regiment. The 29th was stationed at Fort Benning, Georgia. Raised in abject poverty in rural Lauderdale County, Alabama, he must have found his first banquet (Thanksgiving Dinner, 1939) quite impressive as he kept this beautiful little program for the remainder of his life (he passed in 2010). He is listed on Company G's roster with the rest of his fellow privates. The clerk spelled his name wrong as usual – should not be "ey" but just "y."







A question for you U. S. Army veterans and historians; I noticed that only two officers are listed on the program. Would Company G's platoon leaders have been NCOs during this peace time army environment (pre-World War II)? I know company G later had a plethora of first and second lieutenants listed in a similar program for a 1941 Christmas banquet.

 

a SALUTE to your father.....
very nice memorabilia here IMO...do you keep it encased?? great point on the impressive meal he enjoyed......Fort Benning GA, but Virginia Baked Ham..!..Cigars and cigarettes......very interesting question about the officers...someone is bound to enlighten us..I would like to know also.. ..great date to post this thread--menu dated 23 November

 

Thanks for the kind remarks, bronk7. No, I keep this and the 1941 Christmas program sealed in a plastic zip lock bag and stored in a box with some other family documents and photos.

 

AFAIK, that would be correct for the peace-time Army. I also think that it was when the parent Division was still in the "Square" formation(4 divisions), and before it change to the new Triangular formation(3 divisions).

 

Takao,

Technically, from 16 October 1939 the 29th Infantry was relieved from its nominal assignment to the 4th Division and became a Separate Regiment. However, even before that the 4th Division was only notionally organized as a "square" division, since its 39th Infantry was a Regular Army Inactive unit and the division as a whole was inactivated on 21 September 1921 except for the 8th Infantry Brigade and the 29th Infantry. It was only formally activated as a 'triangular" division on 1 June 1940.

The 29th Infantry, like all other active Regular Army infantry regiments during most of the 1920s and 1930s, was at very reduced strength. At Benning, it consisted of just the 1st and 2d Battalion, the 3d Battalion was at Sill. Further, each of its six rifle companies (A, B, C, E, F, and G) at Benning only had three of its four platoons active. Then, since one of its primary functions was training officers of the Organized Reserve, its junior officer structure was purposely skeletonized. Nominally the regiment had 120 officers, but it was filled up with Reserve officers only during the "school year" summer session (the 3d Battalion performed the same function for Reserve officers west of the Mississippi).

Cheers!

 

Thank you so much, Takao, RichTO90. That information is so helpful. It means a lot to piece together yet another bit of my fathers military experience.