Affidavit of Edward Mervin Stannard - 1953
E. M. Stannard, Formerly Lieut.- Col. Stannard, Signal Corps, U. S. Army, Director of the Telephone and Telegraph Service of the S. O. S., Who Was Decorated with the Legion of Honor by the French Government and Specially Cited by General Pershing, Has Come to the Michigan State Telephone Company as Traffic Engineer. Bell Telephone News, December 1919. GGA Image ID # 19a603cfbe
State of Michigan County of Wayne, ss:
Edward Mervin Stannard, 17611 Whitcomb Avenue, Detroit, Michigan, being duly sworn deposes and says:
1. During World War #1 I served on the staff of the Chief Signal Officer, A.E.F. as Director of Telephone operation and operation engineering and also as Director of Telephone and Telegraph services.
2. The Overseas Telephone Operators Units organized and used by the Signal Corps A.E.F. for the greater part of the war came completely and constantly under my direction and supervision.
3. Their pay was established and adjusted as conditions required through conferences I arranged with the Adjutant to the Commanding General. Services of Supply following approval by the Chief Signal Officer A.E.F.
4. Although these operating units were required to pay for their uniforms it is a fact that the Signal Corps specified the type of uniform to be worn both on and off duty.
5. These operating units were quartered in billets obtained by the Quartermasters Department, U. S. Army, by the Signal Corps in some cases and in other cases the Signal Corps arranged for housing with the Young Women’s Christian Associations Overseas division.
6. In every case the operating units came directly under the Management and Supervision of Signal Corps personnel and the Signal Corps prepared all house rules regardless of who might be selected to manage particular billets.
7. Further Uniform and off duty conduct regulations were established and supervised by the Signal Corps.
8. These operators units served in the services of supply and in the Advance Zone of the Army accepting operation conditions and hazards with the same degree of service as was expected of every soldier in those areas.
9. The one reason they were not inducted into the military service in the beginning was due to lack of a policy and also to an urgent demand by the Signal Corps for their service overseas. So due to lack of a policy and failure to obtain the necessary authority to obtain such a policy the operating units were deprived of a military status which in my opinion they are entitled to in reward for their outstanding service.
Edward Mervin Stannard.
Subscribed and Sworn To before me this 30th day of September, 1953.
_______ ___________,
Notary Public, County of Wayne, Mich.
(My commission expires Aug. 31, 1954.)
[Attachment 8] Affidavit of Edward Mervin Stannard - 1953, in Hearing before the Committee on Venteran's Affairs, United States Senate, Ninety-Fifth Congress, First Session on S. 247, S. 1414, S. 129, and Related Bills, Washington DC: US Government Print Office, 25 May 1977, pp. 323-323.
