Excerpt from America's Largest Cantonment: Camp Lewis

When the great conflagration which had been sweep ing over Europe for two and a half years reached that point where it was impossible for the United States to remain any lenger a neutral and the nation sent out a call for men to march under the stars and stripes in defence of human rights, one of bho mast serious handicaps under ihich re labored was the lack of concentration points where large numbers of men could be trained for werfer The story of how American contractors startled the world it the rapidity with which they erected our great cantonments has not yet been forgotten in building circles. Before those great camps went up, the men were assembled at the army posts and the encampment grounds of the National Guard. The Second washington National Guard, later the 16lst Infantry, and the Eighteenth Engineers which was recruited from among northwestern men by Col. J. B. Cavanaugh, were sent to the encampment grounds at Hurray to be whipped into shape.

Following out the plans which had been formulated by the National War werk Council, the was on the job as soon as the men reached camp. Ivan B. Rhodes of Portland, District Secretary for the states of Washington, Oregon and Idaho, had already made a survey of the field and had also selected the man vho was to have charge of the army work in this section. The man selected was Orno E. Tyler who for seven years had been holding the pos1tion of army and navy secretary vith the Bremerton Association. On June 1, 1917, Mr. Tyler went to Tacoma and on June 14 received his appoint ment from the western Department office at San Francisco as Camp General Secretary. Mr. Tyler was eminently Qualified for the task to which he had been called. As a soldier he had served with the army during the war in the Phillipines. Later; having taken up work, he was a secretary with the American forces on the Mexican border. During that period from July 5, 1916 to January 1, 1917 he accompanied the punitive expedition which advanced under General Eershing 180 miles into Mexican territory.

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