Historian - January 2008

Many men in our Lodge have experienced the difficulty of marching on the fields of battle and can attest to the great importance of proper care of a soldier’s feet. General Orders No. 26 of the War Department was issued on August 16, 1912 with the intention of increasing the marching capacity of United States’ troops. It did this by requiring company commanders to personally measure and fit the shoes of men in their commands. The Order detailed instructions on how to properly size the foot. They included having the soldier stand up straight with a forty pound pack on his back and with his bare foot to be measured standing on a wooden scale. A sliding wooden block on the scale would then be moved into position just touching the “great toe.” The shoe size would be determined by adding 2 to the reading on the scale. Shoes would then be selected and tried on with particular attention paid to their comfort. To break in the new pair of shoes, the Order suggested that the men stand in their new pair of shoes in 2½ inches of water for five minutes until the leather was fully pliable and moist. He should then walk for about an hour, on a level surface, letting the shoes dry and mold themselves to the irregularities of the feet. When removing the shoes, a very little amount of neat’s-foot oil should be rubbed into the leather to prevent it from hardening and cracking.

A manual was subsequently written to incorporate the requirements of the General Orders on foot care. It was entitled, “A Manual on Foot Care and Shoe Fitting for Officers of the U. S. Navy and U. S. Marine Corps.” It was published in 1920 by the Philadelphia publishing house of P. Blackiston’s Son & Co. The initial pages of the book state that, “mobility is the first requisite of the soldier and to insure this, the infantry officer should devote as much attention to the care of the feet of the men of his unit as the cavalry officer devotes to the care of the feet of his horses.” The author quotes Napoleon saying, “more battles are won by strength of leg than by force of arms.”

This 110 page wonderfully detailed manual has 58 illustrations that show everything from carefully designed shoe fitting platforms and the features of the Marine Corps Foot Inspector’s case used in expeditionary work, to hand-drawn details of the twenty-six bones of various shapes and sizes that make up the structure of the foot. It is a remarkable book, though honestly, I do not recommend that you take it out from the Public Library unless perhaps, you have a painful bunion that you want to treat yourself.

I’m sure by now you’re wondering what this has to do with St. John’s Lodge…. It wasn’t just Bro. Arthur Wesley (The Duke of Wellington who, by the way, defeated Napoleon at Waterloo) who thought that “the most essential part of a soldier’s equipment is a good pair of shoes, and –, another good pair of shoes.” Rear Admiral William Leake Mann, Jr. also thought it was important. Admiral Mann served our nation in both World Wars and dedicated his career to the care of military feet. In 1903, Dr. Mann was granted a Doctor of Medicine Degree from Southwestern University. In his highly distinguished military career, he was an expert in amphibious medicine with the U. S. Marine Corps and, in 1940 he served as the first Commanding Officer of the newly opened Naval Medical Research Institute co-located with the Naval Medical Center in Bethesda, Maryland.

And, yes, Rear Admiral William Leake Mann, Jr., MD was a member of the Masonic Fraternity having joined St. John’s Lodge on December 6, 1911.

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