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Petroleum and Water Gallery |
On the eve of the ground war in Southeast Asia in early 1991, Lieutenant
General Frederick Franks, Commanding VII Corps, had many details to consider and
contingencies to plan for. His primary concern was fuel. "Our biggest
challenge…would be fuel. The divisions would burn up to 800,000 gallons a day
[but] the problem would be distribution, not supply. Logisticians can work only
so much magic and I was very aware that my tactical decisions would be
influenced by logistics." General Franks was not the first Commander in
history to know that fuel determines how battles are fought. During World War
II, General George Patton said it this way; "My men can eat their belts but
my tanks got to have gas!" Or as a former Quartermaster put it;
"without fuel, a tank is a 65-ton paperweight."
As important as fuel is to vehicles, water is equally as vital to sustaining soldiers. Supplies of life-sustaining water, or lack of it, has determined the outcome of battles and sieges throughout history.
The importance of fuel and water, and the importance of those Quartermasters who provide fuel and water to the Army, is related in the "Petroleum and Water Gallery", the newest exhibit in the Quartermaster Museum.
This
gallery opened during Regimental Week in May 2002. it traces the changes
throughout history in the way Quartermasters have fueled the force and provided
water to the Army. Artifacts, graphics, and photographs tell the story beginning
in 1916 when the Quartermaster Corps provided trucks, and fuel for the trucks,
that went into Mexico during the Punitive Expedition. The jeep used by General
Patton, complete with Patton himself waiting while a Quartermaster Fuel Handler
fills up the jeep, tells the story of Patton's race across France in World War
II, brought to a halt when gasoline was diverted to another sector. Graphs
depicting how fuel is moved from the refinery to the front show how
Quartermasters insure the continuous flow of gasoline to the Army.
The gallery tells the story of Quartermasters who process and supply fresh
water for fellow soldiers and to those in need during humanitarian relief
operations. Calling themselves "Water Dogs", their story is one of
service and expertise in the performance of this vital mission. The gallery
contains a variety of water purification-related objects, canteens and other
methods of carrying water, and graphics that show the process whereby water from
any source, no matter how foul or brackish, is purified and made drinkable.
For more information on this subject visit the Petroleum
and Water History page.
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