Motor Transport Corps

The Motor Transport Corps (M.T.C.) was formed out of the Quartermaster Corps on 15 August 1918, by General Order No. 75. Men needed to staff this new corps were recruited from the skilled tradesmen working for automotive manufacturers in the US.

The first director of the M.T.C. was Brigadier General Meriwether Lewis Walker of Lynchburg, Virginia. Walker was chief engineer of the Pancho Villa Expedition in 1916–17. He was later governor of the Panama Canal Zone. The deputy director was Col. Francis Horton Pope of Kansas. The M.T.C. was headquartered in Tours during the duration of World War I.

General Order No. 75 spelled out the functions of the Motor Transport Corps as:

General Order No. 75 also defined a "motor vehicle" as:

Excluded from this definition were:

These were to be under the control of the Ordnance Department.

The American Expeditionary Force that deployed to France during World War I was in need of an organization that could log, track and maintain all needed motor transportation. A school and a network of parks were set up to accomplish this.

All M.T.C. and some non-M.T.C. personnel were to attend training programs to learn operation and repair of motor vehicles. Some courses offered:

Vehicles were unloaded, uncrated and assembled at these parks, then assigned a registration card and markings. Detailed records were kept on each vehicle's whereabouts and conditions. Vehicles and spare parts collected in these parks awaited assignments to specific army units as requested. With the exception of the highest-ranking officers, no officer had his own personal car during the war. A large reception park was located in St. Nazaire.

Designed to make repairs not requiring much time or heavy equipment, these mostly mobile workshops carried a limited stock of spare parts and were mainly assigned to combat zones. Because of their temporary and mobile nature, the service parks were often operating in the open, under canvas, or in any shelter found to be available.

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