"S" is for Selfless Service

On a Saturday night, January 28th, 1921, hundreds of movie-goers took their seats in the well-known Knickerbocker Theater in downtown Washington D.C. and waited for the evening’s entertainment to begin. Few were aware that outside a blizzard had begun. One of the worst snowstorms in the history of our nation’s capital. As the evening wore on the snow continued to mount, more than three feet deep, with shoulder-high drifts stopping all traffic.

Then suddenly without warning the roof gave out a loud creak and came crashing down upon the audience – carrying the balcony with it, and burying men, women, and children under tons of concrete, steel, plaster, and snow. Leaving 98 dead and more than a 150 injured.

As bad as it was, the toll would have been far worse, the suffering much greater ... had it not been for the quick response and SELFLESS SERVICE of Quartermaster personnel stationed in the District of Columbia.

The frantic call for help went out around midnight. Minutes later, Captain C. W. Hoover, US Army Quartermaster Corps, responded by leading a 5-truck convoy through the treacherous snow-covered streets of Washington. Upon arrival at the scene of disaster, he and his QM drivers immediately set about rescuing the scores of dead and dying victims trapped below. They continued their efforts untiringly for the next 36 hours – and were credited with saving many lives.

Days later, the District Commander, in a letter to The Quartermaster General, praised the Quartermaster Corps for the "splendid service" rendered by Captain Hoover and his troops. And concluded by saying: "It must be to you a cause of much gratification that all of the members of your Corps upheld in such a fine manner the traditions of the United States Army."

Compiled by the U.S. Army Quartermaster Corps Historian Fort Gregg-Adams, Virginia