The storage and distribution of the bulk of Quartermaster Supplies were handled through the depot system established on the Line of Communications, but the handling of gasoline, for which the Chief Quartermaster, A.E.F. (American Expeditionary Force), was solely responsible, posed special problems.
An Army marches on its wheels these days, and without fuels and lubricants those wheels bog down in a morass of despair and ultimate defeat.
D-Day for the French invasion was just another busy day in the life of the Quartermasters who ran the Petrol, Oil and Lubricants (POL) dumps in England.
Getting fuel from the beach to the front lines as U.S. Divisions raced across France in 1944.
The war in Korea came at a time when Far East Command petroleum stocks were, in general, in good supply . . . but were not sufficient to meet a prolonged war in Korea without the speeding up of resupply from the United States.
Based on the results of a field survey, there is a definite need for both the drum 55-gallon and the drum 5-gallon (hereafter referred to as the 5-gallon can) as containers of petroleum products in the supply of military units.
Utilizing ocean-going tankers, fixed and rotary wing aircraft, tanker trucks, and multi-product pipelines, the 1st Logistical Command distributes more than 100 million gallons of jet, diesel, aviation and motor gasoline monthly to U.S. and allied military forces in all four tactical zones of the country.
In March 1968, the 259th Quartermaster Battalion, a U.S. Army Reserve unit from Pleasant Grove, Utah, was called to active duty in Vietnam. It was one of only 35 Reserve units activated for Vietnam service.
The following are some first-hand observations of noncommissioned officers (NCOs) in the 267th Quartermaster Company, 240th Quartermaster Battalion, after deployment to Operation Restore Hope in Somalia.
