A National Weather Service Publication In Support of The Celebration of American Weather Services
...Past, Present and Future

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.