Pack School
Fort Sill, Oklahoma, circa 1935
The following are electrostatic copies of unknown origin of
photographs of the Pack School at Fort Sill, OK, in the 1930’s.
The road to the right in the photograph is Geronimo Road,
which runs generally north-south. It intersects
with McComb Road at the bottom right.
The buildings in the lower right, one with a dark roof and one with a
light roof and six windows are the Pack School buildings. The building with the dark roof has since
been demolished.
The long narrow buildings in the center, they are actually
of blue-gray stone with white composition shingle roofs, are also part of the
Pack School. The building in the upper left with the evenly spaced chimneys and
sets of three windows is the Farrier’s School.
The next series of six buildings below the Farrier School are the
stables for the Pack School.
The small building at left, with the truck parked next to
it, is the Pack Artillery School. The ‘Artillery’ part of Pack Artillery
differs little from regular Field Artillery.
Its transportation differs radically.
In the extreme upper right corner of this image are the
original Cavalry Barracks and behind them the Laundresses Quarters and the Sinks
(toilets.) The circular feature in the upper
left, beneath the hand-written word ‘Moore,’
is the remains of one of the original fortifications, a five-sided trench
system that had a 12-PDR Mountain Howitzer in the center.
One 75mm Pack Howitzer, M1, packed on six mules with the
howitzer crew following. This is just
the animals that carried the howitzer.
There were sixteen mules to a section; the Chief of Section rode the spare
mule. Each section, Headquarters, Commo,
Ammo, Anti-Aircraft, Mess Section, etc., had its own set of horses and mules,
about 200 to a firing battery. Service
Battery, which had the Ammunition Section, had about 400 horses and mules. This image was taken between the southernmost
stable and the Pack Artillery School.
I am not sure which building this is, but there is a forge
and anvil to the left, and a dismantled escort wagon in the background. Note the stove, a ‘Cannon Heater,’ in the background.
Saddler’s School. I
am not sure which building this is, but it may be the one in the lower right
foreground. I really want that sewing
machine.
This last image is of the Farrier’s School. It is the long white building in the upper
left in the first photograph with the evenly spaced chimneys and sets of three
windows.
Most of these buildings are still in use as offices and the
paddocks are now a parking lot.
Note the stove, the ubiquitous ‘Cannon Heater,’ in the foreground.
These were still in use in range shacks when I was in service in the
1970’s. They may still be.
