A Spot of History: The CRB officially came
to life at a London meeting in late October 1914. Work was begun immediately on
multiple fronts, including buying foodstuffs from international markets, chartering
ships around the globe, and organizing a transportation center in Rotterdam
that would coordinate all cargo vessels and the transfer of goods into Belgium.
But what of
the critical guarantee made to England that no food would fall into German
hands? The English didn't trust any promises the Germans made, and couldn't
rely on the assurances of the Belgians, who were open to intimidation and
control by their German captors.
The CRB
needed neutral boots on the ground to guarantee the guarantee.
So where to
find American men willing to go into German-occupied Belgium who spoke French
and/or German, would work for free, were available immediately and could think
on their feet and act with great tact in a war ravaged country controlled by a
brutal conqueror?
It would
takes weeks, if not months, to recruit people from America (the crossing alone
could take 10 days or more).
As George
Spaulding -- one of the first 10 CRB delegates to enter Belgium later explained:
"It occurred to Hoover to apply for volunteers among the American students
at Oxford University."
It made
practical sense: Fall term would be ending soon and the students would have six
weeks off for winter break. It just might be the stop-gap measure needed until
permanent staff could be recruited from back home. On Nov. 24, Hoover sent a
telegram to 25-year-old Perrin Galpin, second year student at Oxford,
asking that he find men "with some experience roughing it, who speak French,
have tact, and can get on with the Germans." Because there were 10 areas
of supervisory concern in Belgium, Hoover asked for 10 men who could commit to
at least six weeks.
Galpin enlisted
the aid of two fellow students -- C. G. Bowden and Emile F. Hollmann [a.k.a.
Holman], who was president of the American Club at Oxford. Together, they held
an informal meeting that drew 25 interested U.S. students.
There were
more questions than answers, primarily because neither Hoover, nor anyone else,
could say exactly what the work would entail. The CRB was -- by the necessity
of attempting such massive relief for the first time -- making it up as it went
along. Additionally, conditions within sealed-off Belgium were sketchy at best.
This was a country that had put up fierce resistance when the Germans invaded
and had experienced unparalleled retaliatory destruction because of it. Now, in
terms of infrastructure and status of the Belgians, few outside the country knew what to expect within the
country.
While such a
lack of information might have scared off career-oriented applicants, it spoke
deeply to adventure seeking students. In short order, Galpin sent a list of 10 who were ready
and added notes on their qualifications (albeit slim due to their young ages).
On Saturday,
Dec. 5 -- less than two weeks after Hoover's initial telegram -- the first 10
CRB delegates (Oxford students; eight Rhodes scholars and two others), headed
for Rotterdam and their final destination, Belgium. All in their mid- to early
20s, they each carried a small suitcase, 20 to 30 English pounds, and little
clue as to what they were getting into.
"What
we were to do, no one exactly knew," said Hollmann. "We had visions
of sitting on the top of box cars or sleeping on the decks of small canal
barges in their long journeys from Rotterdam into Belgium...we expected to see
German savages prowling around ready at the slightest provocation to scalp
women and children and perhaps provoke a quarrel with us for the same
purpose!"
What they
found, they hadn't expected.
But even
before they reached Rotterdam, Galpin received a terse
telegram back at Oxford: "Hoover just returned from Belgium we must have more men send along at once"
And so the
CRB story began...
[Sources: "The
Commission for Relief in Belgium and the Chateau de Mariemont," by George
Spaulding, Alan Hoover Collection, Box 8, Herbert Hoover Presidential Library;
Perrin Galpin's Papers, Box 1, Hoover Institution; Emile Holman Papers, folder
1, Hoover Institution.]
My Post: Every day I come across new
pieces of this wonderfully intricate and complex puzzle. My biggest fear is
that I won't properly index the best stories so I can access them
when I begin writing.
In my mind,
it's like the ending of the first Indiana Jones movie, Raiders of the Lost Ark,
where the Ark of the Covenant is wheeled into this gigantic warehouse stuffed
so full that the audience knows the Ark will never be found or seen again. Just
like that, I'm worried that if I read a great CRB story and don't index it
correctly, when I move onto to the next document the first piece will never be
seen again...lost in the growing warehouse of my research.
So, to help
my 60-year-old brain remember each worthy tale, I'm relying on four critical
tools:
1. Index
cards. My 1980s work created approximately 1,000 index cards. I've already
handwritten nearly 500 new cards and believe I'll end up with an additional
1,500 to 2,000 cards by the time I'm finished.
2. An
Extensive Profiles excel spread sheet (38 pages so far) that includes all known
CRB delegates and other ancillary persons who will be part of the story. Each entry includes (where known) multiple items from age and physical
description to a photo (if available) and stories that might have relevance.
3. A
chronological historical narrative excel spread sheet (25 pages so far) that
identifies all possibly relevant stories and the sources for those stories. I'm
hoping that when I'm done researching, this document will help me "see"
the flow of the stories in relation to time and all the other stories.
4. A self-explanatory Great Quotes word document
that's divided into 18 categories. Not one of these quotes I want to forget --
they're just too good! The document is 29 pages and growing every day.
As you can
probably tell, I'm currently into quantifying things. This might not seem too
creative, but it's my way of giving myself a feeling of progress when working
on any long term goals. While I may be number crunching now, though, I promise
I'll get creative when it's time to start writing.
Speaking of
which, I'm hoping to start writing in late August/early September. I already
have a general idea of how I want to construct this book, and happily the
research is confirming and refining my idea nicely.
But even if I start writing in late August, that doesn't give me much time to produce a good book that's 350 to 500 pages by early 2014. So I've been working through the weekends, I've given up my newspaper/Starbucks time (haven't been there in months) and, sadly, I've put an indefinite hold on my once-a-week piano lesson. The way I figure it, by early 2014, even if I don't have a completed book, I should, at least, have enough of it done to determine its overall quality. From that determination will spring my next steps.
That's a
long way off, though, so now I'll just put my head back down and continue the
slog through the research.
Thanks again
for taking the time to read my blog.
End of Post
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