I was born April 16, 1895 on a farm in the town of Bovina, NY. My parents were Douglass Davidson and Margaret Hoy Davidson. I was the youngest of the family of four. Mary, the eldest, died in infancy, Vera Lillian ( Mrs Wm J. Storie) died in 1967, John George died of whooping cough before I was two years old. I attended grade school at District #4 in Bovina Center in the building now converted to the Bovina Public Library. I attended Delaware Academy at Delhi, NY (the old white building recently demolished) for three years graduating with the class of 1913. After one year in Forestry Course at Cornell University I switched to the study of electricity at The Bliss Electrical School, Takoma Park (now College Park), Maryland, graduating in Class of 1916. Before graduation I was employed by Western Electric Co. to do telephone switchboard installation at Bryant Exchange, 38th St. N.Y.C., John Exchange on Gold St. and a new exchange at Bayonne, NJ where the newly devised message register system was installed.
Coming home to vote in the November election, I was interviewed by Homer Mason,
Delhi's electrical contractor, who induced me to go to work for him, wiring the Canon House in Delhi, the Meridith Inn at Meridith Square, installing motors at Andes creamery. Also started the electrical work on the new dairy barn being constructed on the campus of Delhi Ag & Tech, But his work slackened so that it was not a full time job so I secured employment on the testing and inspection floor of the Diehl Electric Motor Co. (now Singer) at Elizabeth, NJ. While attending Cornell University I received the usual military training, then required at all land grant colleges. Also while I was at Bliss Electrical School I became a member of the American Legion, an organization which sponsored preparedness and where members pledged themselves to volunteer for service if war should erupt. So when war was declared against Germany on April 6th, 1917 I went to the Marine Corps recruiting office in N.Y.C. and was accepted into service. (When the present American Legion was formed in Paris in 1919, the old Legion surrendered its charter to them).
I was sent to boot camp at Paris Island, but due to quarantine, etc was not sworn in until May 20th. After the usual boot training I was sent July 31st to the new training camp being built at Quantico, Virginia. Here I was assigned to the first Machine gun Company ever to be formed, but we drilled as infantry one day then worked on construction the next day, for three weeks before the Lewis machine gun equipment arrived.
After two months of intensive training a proficiency test was held in disassembly and
assembly of the guns while totally blindfolded. A man named Williams and I were the two
highest scorers so we were removed from field training, both promoted to Corporal and
sent to a machine shop for intensive training in overhaul and repair. The upkeep of all
equipment of the Company became our responsibility for the duration.
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