1918: Jerome Sternberg Goes to War

Jerome Sternberg was inducted into the Army on May 6, 1919, a little more than a year after the US entered World War I by declaring war on Germany. Below is a copy of his World War I Service Card that details his time in the Army.

As you can see, he was first assigned to the 157th Depot Brigade, located at Camp Gordon (now Fort Gordon), in Georgia. According to Wikipedia,

The role of the Depot Brigades was to receive and organize recruits, provide them with uniforms, equipment and initial military training, and then send them to France to fight on the front lines. The Depot Brigades also received soldiers returning home at the end of the war and completed their out processing and discharges.[1]

Jerome went from there to Bakery Company 330, where he served overseas from June 10, 1918 to June 26, 1919. He was promoted to PFC in July of 1918. He was discharged on demobilization, July 12, 1919.

Though he was involved in no battles and received no wounds, his role was important to the war effort. Bakery Companies were charged with baking bread for the troops, and while at war, they baked bread in the field. The website SeaBeeCook.com provides this explanation:

According to 1916 edition of the Manual for Army Bakers, the bakery company baked bread for the troops in the field and in garrison. Since the bread ration in 1916 consisted of 18 ounces per man, the company could produce almost 34,000 pounds of garrison bread each day.

In wartime, companies were established at the rate of one per Army division. However, they were not considered as an organic organization within the division. As a unit of the Quartermaster Corps, bakery companies reported to the commander of the line of communications. One or more companies could be located at a permanent or semi-permanent camp to provide bread for nearby troops. If needed, a company could be divided into sections or units to bake bread for smaller troop concentrations. (SeaBeeCook.com)

Below is a YouTube video from the National Archives that shows troops baking bread in France during WWI:

The caption provided by the uploader for this video reads:

National Archives description: "Biscuit dough is rolled, biscuits are punched, and baked bread and biscuits are packed for shipment at Bagnolet, France. Bread dough is mixed, ovens are loaded and unloaded, bread is loaded on trains, and flour is carried from storage rooms into mixing rooms at Dijon, France."  National Archives Identifier 25016

One of the men in this video could have been Jerome Sternberg!

One sad note: Jerome's mother, Ida Rogers Sternberg, died April 18, 1919, only a few months before Jerome returned home from the service.