Sidewalks of New York
After the 1st Division’s return to the US in September 1919, moved to its first stateside duty station at Camp Zachary Taylor, Kentucky. It remained there recruiting, training, and occasionally conducting riot control at miners’ strikes until the summer of 1920 when it was transferred to Camp Dix, New Jersey. Two years later, the division was transferred once again, but this time, the brigades, regiments, and smaller units were sent to garrison small posts all over the northeastern US. The 16th Infantry was posted to Fort Jay, New York, on Governors Island in the middle of New York harbor. The regiment would remain there until 1941, during which time it became known as, “New York’s Own” and adopted as its regimental song, “The Sidewalks of New York.”
The units of the 1st Division were transferred to various posts in the eastern seaboard states of the United States in mid-1922. The headquarters and 2 battalions of the regiment were ordered here to Governors Island. The island also served as the Headquarters of the Second Corps Area and the Atlantic Branch of the US Disciplinary Barracks (located in Castle William, the circular structure in the right foreground).
In 1923, regimental commander Colonel Charles Gerhardt designated the child silent film star Diana Serra Carey, aka “Baby Peggy” as the first “Daughter of the Regiment.” Miss Carey was visiting New York for her birthday and to promote one of her new films. Here, Colonel Gerhardt has just pinned Baby Peggy with one of the new regimental distinctive insignias (i.e., crest).
The 16th Infantry Regiment traveled to Washington, DC, to help dedicate the 1st Division monument there on 4 October 1924. The impressive monument was dedicated to the over 3,000 comrades of the Big Red One who made the ultimate sacrifice during the Great War. Since then, the monument has been updated with the names of the division’s dead from all other conflicts and members gather there every Memorial and Veterans Day to remember them.
The wagons of the regiment’s Service Company on a rest halt, en route to Camp Dix. Late every spring, the regiment journeyed, mostly by marching, from New York City to Camp (later Fort) Dix, New Jersey. There they would conduct their annual weapons qualification and field training, as well as assist the training of Army Reservists, R.O.T.C. Cadets, and C.M.T.C. candiates.
The billeting of the regiment in Fort Jay was uncomfortable and cramp. The Army saw fit to acquire funds to build a new barracks on Governors Island for the entire regiment. The result was this, the aptly named “New Barracks.” The barracks opened in 1929 and the 3rd Battalion moved over from Fort Wadsworth at that time to join the rest of the command.
These strac looking troops are part of the Honor Company of hand-picked men from the regiment to garrison Camp George Washington at the New York World’s Fair. The men still carry the 1903 Springfield rifle, but they will soon swap them for M-1s and begin an ever increasing training tempo. Little do they know that the days of spit and polish at Fort Jay are coming to an end and they will soon be preparing for war in earnest.