Questions From Our Visitors

1. Where was the Battery McCrea position on Ft. Drum? I understand it was named for Tulley McCrea who commanded a battery at Gettysburg. That battery killed my great, great granddaddy who served with the 26th NC on the 3rd day and was killed at the angle. (Al Wright).

• Battery McCrea was located on the north side of Fort Drum.

Tulley McCrea.
Born in Mississippi ca 1840
Appointed to USMA from Ohio 1858
Appointed 2nd Lt 1st Artillery 6-17-1862

Received brevet promotion to 1st Lt for gallantry and meritorious service at Battle of Antietam September 17, 1862. Received brevet promotion to Captain for gallantry and meritorious service at Battle of Gettysburg July 3, 1863
Promoted 1st Lt 11-4-63
Received brevet promotion to Major for gallantry and meritorious service at Battle of Olustee, February 20, 1864
Served as regimental quartermaster, 1st Artillery 6-20-to 11-20-1866
Promoted Captain, 42nd Infantry 7-28-1866 [refused?]
Served as unassigned 4-22-69 when reassigned to 1st Artillery, 12-15-1870
Promoted Major and transferred to 5th Artillery12- 4-1888
Promoted Lt Colonel 3-8-98
Promoted to Colonel and transferred to 6th Artillery 7-15-1900
Transferred to Artillery Corps February 2, 1901
Promoted Brigadier General, February 21, 1903
Retired February 22, 1903 with 45 years of service

First post commander of Fort Hancock New Jersey.
Many thanks to Bill Gaines and Mike Murray of the CDSG for the biography

• Is there a roster of troops who were at Ft. Drum when Corregidor surrendered?  (Al Wright).

There are copies of four pages on the website. Click Partial Rosters Fort Drum (March 1945) on the Table of Contents page.

• Greetings, I hear 2 stories and looks like you could set the record straight. One is that Ft. Drum can still be toured, the other says it is closed. Which one is correct? Thanks, Michael

Response From Terry McGovern (CDSG). "Fort Drum is an abandoned site.  It has no fresh water or electrical power.  Access is by boat through one of the two sally ports or landing on the top deck by helicopter.  Depend on the type of boat you have and the sea state getting aboard can be very difficult.  The sally port entrance is about six feet above sea level and there is no protection for the boat hull against the raw concrete on site.  The standard banca is very low in the water and given the outriggers cannot come alongside.  I have visited the Fort four times and each landing has been very different due to the type of vessel and the weather. Once inside you can visit shatter remains of the various levels.  You must take care as it is very dark and there are holes the weaken floors (due to the removal of the “I” beams throughout).  You can climb your way to the top deck though the remains of one of the 6-inch emplacements.  The bottom line is that you visit at your own risk and you need to prepare in advance for gaining access.

Does anyone have any information on Walter P. Allen ?

Hi,

My uncle was stationed on Fort Drum at the start of WWII.  He was in the Army and a POW in Japan during the war working in mines.  He told me that he was at a machine gun for 32 hours during the battle.  His name was Walter P. Allen, though his real name is Walter Allen Wycoff.  He was from Gardena, California. I believe he was a Private.He lost three fingers on one hand and had a lot of shrapnel in his hand.  He had his little finger and thumb left, so he could still do a lot of things. He died several years ago.

Does anyone of your group know anything about him?

Thanks, Roy Ericksen

Looking For Information on PFC Andrew Galayda of Trenton, NJ,

Dear Sir,
My uncle, PFC Andrew Galayda of Trenton, NJ, was serving in the Coast Artillery Corps at Corregidor, and likely served from time to time on Fort Drum, when Corregidor fell on 7 May 1942. He was captured by the Japanese forces. In June 1945, my father received word from the War Department that the Japanese Government, in communications via the International Red Cross, included my uncle's name on a list of POWs lost on 24 October 1944, when the ship in which he was being transported with 1,775 other POWs, was sunk by submarine action in the South China Sea, while the POWs were being transported from the Philippine Islands to Japan.

My uncle was captured with the forces, military and civilian, on Corregidor Island on 7 May 1942, held in POW Camp #1 in the Philippines until 11 October 1944, when he was loaded onto the civilian-controlled Japanese ship the Arisan Maru with nearly 1,800 other POWs for transit to Japan. On 24 October, a little after 5 in the afternoon, the Arisan Maru was sunk by an American submarine, either by the U.S.S. Shark or U.S.S. Snook, the records are uncertain; the Shark was sunk later during that patrol and the USN ended up giving credit for the sinking of the Arisan Maru to the Snook, but again, records are uncertain. From what I read, now available on the World Wide Web, the sinking of the Arisan Maru resulted in the greatest number of American lives lost in a single ship loss.

Does anyone have any information please on PFC Andrew Galayda?

Thank you.
Sincerely,
Thomas A. Galayda
Lt. Colonel, USAF (Ret)
Rome, New York
tgalayda@twcny.rr.com

Who or What is Fort Drum named for?

War Department G.O. 245, Dec. 13, 1909, named Fort Drum in honor of General Richard C. Drum, "who served with distinction during the Mexican War and the Civil War and who died October 15, 1909."

General Richard C Drum Information Click Here

Hi,

 I read your site because I have been inside Fort Drum. I read in your question and answer that it cannot be toured.

 I am a Filipino and the answer is YES there is a tour. Sun Cruises makes that tour. True, bancas cannot do the tour but now there are bigger bancas that can safely make you enter Fort Drum. If you want a proof, just email me and I can send you pics that we are inside Fort Drum. The whole 34 people where we made this summer company outing just last week. Thanks for the site. Our employees were thrilled to be inside Fort Drum. We even wrote our names on the cannons (hehe with rocks and just scrapping the rust. No harm done though and took a pic also). :-)

Just making this record straight.

Thanks

Bobby