Personal
View of D. G. Benson
My
early experiences in the Signal Service were so strongly impressed
upon my mind that I can readily recall as if it were yesterday
in outline of the offices on both sides of G Street (Signal
Service weather office in Washington, D.C.), the divisions and
rooms, the faces and names of scores from General Greeley down
to the recent and awkward recruit. Some of these are gone and
others are among the leaders of today. It was the military spirit
that impressed one, to which one became attached and it is this
spirit of the old Signal Corps that is the backbone of the enlarged
Weather Bureau service of today.
What
would a young assistant observer of today think of being ordered
to take charge of a station like Savannah for six months after
having been on station for several weeks? This fell to my lot
and my assistant had the extended experience of three weeks
less than myself. This happened as a result of the epidemic
of yellow fever at Jacksonville. It was in mid-summer and no
relief was sent until after freezing conditions in December.
In the preceding epidemic, both men stationed at Savannah died
at the post of duty.