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The WWI uniforms of Carlton Springer Norton-Harjes Ambulance Formation


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Although calling this a "grouping" may be a stretch, it does consist of more than one related artifact so here goes. The following are the uniform tunics of a man named Carlton Stringer who served as a volunteer ambulance driver with the Norton-Harjes Volunteer Ambulance Corps and then later as a purchasing secretary for the American Red Cross in Paris. Enjoy. If there is any interest I will post more information.

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Croix de Guerre

Although calling this a "grouping" may be a stretch, it does consist of more than one related artifact so here goes. The following are the uniform tunics of a man named Carlton Stringer who served as a volunteer ambulance driver with the Norton-Harjes Volunteer Ambulance Corps and then later as a purchasing secretary for the American Red Cross in Paris. Enjoy. If there is any interest I will post more information.

 

The Paris tailor made A.R.C. tunic.

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Carlton Stringer was born May 29, 1892 in Hingham, Mass and volunteered with the Norton-Harjes Formation in July, 1917. He arrived in Paris on August 12, 1917 and spent two weeks at the Norton-Harjes training camp at Sandricourt before being assigned to Section 11 (S.S.U.11) which was then stationed near Berry-au-Bac (which lies north of the city of Rheims). When Section 11 was relived he along with ten other members were sent back out to the front with Section 24 (S.S.U. 24). He remained with Section 24 until they were relived on November 11, 1917 when the U.S. Army took over the civilian volunteer ambulance service. Stringer was deemed physically unfit by the Army so he then enlisted for service with the American Red Cross. He worked as a purchasing agent for the A.R.C. until the Armistice was signed when he returned to the United States via the S.S. Espange on January 25, 1919.

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Unlike the American Field Service that adopted the color red on a khaki background, the Norton-Harjes Formation opted for a gold embroidery on a horizon blue background. The insignia is the "Flaming Bomb" of the French Automobile Service. The "A" stood for automobile rather than ambulance

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Another difference from the American Field Service which was an entirely private organization and completely devoted to the French cause; the Norton-Harjes Formations were technically under the auspices of the Red Cross and worked under the dubious assumption of neutrality. The use of the Geneva cross on their buttons harkened to their affiliation with the Red Cross

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c de g...........excellent research..........great group,thanks for posting,i guess i won't see this in the for sale section :lol:

 

Lol! Thanks for the compliment! I appreciate it! As far as it being for sale, never say never but I don;t imagine it will be going any where for a long time.

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I've looked for ten years and this was the first chance I've had to pick one up. I have some images and loose items but this is the first tunic that has come my way. Here are a couple of rare-as-hen's teeth images of some Norton-Harjes volunteers. The first is a man named Howard Buck that served in SSU 63. The other group is unidentified (possibly SSU 5) other than the photo was taken July 4th, 1917.

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One more for the three people that are interested; :P

 

A trio of unidentified Norton-Harjes ambulance men and a french brancardier (stretcher bearer). Note the french Fiat ambulance. (circa 1916-1917)

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What was the Norton-Harjes Formation? This is from Wikipedia which is a fairly good answer:

"Norton-Harjes Ambulance Corps[1] is the historical name given to The American Volunteer Motor Ambulance Corps, which was an organization started in London England in the fall of 1914 by Richard Norton, a noted archeologist and the son of Harvard professor Charles Eliot Norton. It's mission was to assist the movement of wounded Allied troops from the battlefields to hospitals in France during World War I. The Corps began with two cars and four drivers. The service was associated with the British Red Cross and St. John Ambulance."

 

The "Harjes" part of the name refers to Henry Herman Harjes, a French millionaire banker who wish to help Norton by donating funds and ambulances." This ambulance group known as "the Formation Harjes" in 1915 was accepted into the French automobile service and designated "Section 5", (SSU 5).

 

Richard Norton and Herman Harjes agreed to combine their organizations in 1916 becoming the Norton-Harjes Ambulance Corps.

 

In 1917 when the volunteer ambulance service were absorbed by the US Army, the Norton-Harjes Ambulance Corps disbanded and many of its member volunteered for service in Italy with the Red Cross. Richard Norton died in 1918 and Herman Harjes was killed in a polo accident in 1926; as a result the Norton-Harjes Formation does not have the written legacy the the American Field Service has which combined with the small number of actual volunteers has shadowed them into relative obscurity. The most famous of the N-H volunteers were John Dos Passos, E.E. Cummings and Robert Hillyer.

 

The following are the known Norton-Harjes Ambulance sections:

  1. SSU 5
     
  2. SSU 6
     
  3. SSU 7
     
  4. SSU 11
     
  5. SSU 21
     
  6. SSU 22
     
  7. SSU 24
     
  8. SSU 58
     
  9. SSU 59
     
  10. SSU 60
     
  11. SSU 61
     
  12. SSU 63

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T,

 

I just finished reading "Gentlemen Volunteers" for the 3rd or 4th time, so you posted this group at the perfect time. You just never see any N-H material around, let alone one with all the history like this one. Thanks very much for letter us take a look at this one. Fantastic!

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T,

 

I just finished reading "Gentlemen Volunteers" for the 3rd or 4th time, so you posted this group at the perfect time. You just never see any N-H material around, let alone one with all the history like this one. Thanks very much for letter us take a look at this one. Fantastic!

 

 

Thanks Mark! ;) Here is a close-up of the unusual service stripes that are on the Red Cross tunic. They correspond with the stripes on his ambulance tunic and denote a year-in-a-half overseas service. Although not as sexy as the Norton-Harjes tunic, I feel that the ARC tunic is just as interesting and a rare bird onto itself.

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Tom, The combination of the N-H and Red Cross uniforms to the same man is really amazing. Just think, even though this guy couldn't get into the US Army he felt the need to serve the war effort in some way. You could write a book on the lives of each and every one of the men who went to Europe before the US declared war to serve with the French or British armies. Most of them went on to live fascinating and productive lives after the war.

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Chris Liontas

Unlike the American Field Service that adopted the color red on a khaki background, the Norton-Harjes Formation opted for a gold embroidery on a horizon blue background. The insignia is the "Flaming Bomb" of the French Automobile Service. The "A" stood for automobile rather than ambulance

 

 

Those tabs are awesome Tom!! Only ever seen one other original documented pair. (sans uniform) A Great find

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Tom, The combination of the N-H and Red Cross uniforms to the same man is really amazing. Just think, even though this guy couldn't get into the US Army he felt the need to serve the war effort in some way. You could write a book on the lives of each and every one of the men who went to Europe before the US declared war to serve with the French or British armies. Most of them went on to live fascinating and productive lives after the war.

 

Thanks Mark! "You could write a book on the lives of each and every one of the men who went to Europe before the US declared war to serve with the French or British armies." I'd love to and based upon the feedback I get I feel that I might sell as many as 10 or 12 of those books! :lol:

 

I'm about to wrap up the Thomson book and will start in earnest on Waldo this spring. I'd like to do something on Rheno if I could afford to buy the group or maybe something about all the volunteer ambulance men. I just do the research because I love it and if others enjoy reading it then all the better.

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Those tabs are awesome Tom!! Only ever seen one other original documented pair. (sans uniform) A Great find

 

Thanks Chris, it's tough stuff to find!

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