This washing machine is a replica of the original Model 1951 washer designed by Hal Spencer of Athens while he was in Korea. Hal was a member of Co. B, 1343rd (Combat) Engineer Battalion. The 1343rd was an Alabama National Guard unit activated in Athens, Decatur and Hartselle, Al., in 1950 to serve in the Korean Conflict.
The Army laundry service was less than desirable, so necessity again proved the mother of invention. While Company B was in areas more remote from enemy action, they supplemented their personal laundry service by employing South Korean “Washie-Washie” ladies to do their laundry. The ladies washed clothing in local streams. They would rub or pound the soiled spots with smooth stream rocks as a substitute for soap they didn’t have.
The Washie-Washie laundry service came to a screeching halt when headquarters learned of it. So Hal improvised. He used two scoured-out oil drums for the wash and rinse cycles, powered by a gasoline motor. Brig. Gen. (Ret.) H. Clyde Mabry of Athens, who commanded “the boys,” says he never inquired where the gasoline motor came from and no one volunteered the information. It seems “midnight requisitions” were commonplace among the units.
Removing laundry from an industrial-sized washer, Sgt. Martin K. Smith, from Chillicothe, Ohio, is one of several laundry, bath and renovation specialists who serve units at Logistics Supply Area Anaconda, Iraq U.S. Army photo by Staff Sgt. David Bennett
World War I Laundry truck attached to mobile hospital No 39, Aulnois-s/-Vertuzy, France, 23 June 1918
The LADS consists of laundry processing and water recycling equipment and a 30-kilowatt tactical quiet generator mounted on a 30-foot M871 trailer. The LADS has two 200-pound-capacity drums and is capable of processing laundry for 500 soldiers a day. It uses the latest technology to wash and dry clothes in the same drum. Dirty clothes are placed in the drum and removed clean and dry at the end of the cycle. The reliability of the LADS also far exceeds that of the M85. In addition, the number of vehicles, trailers, and personnel required to process laundry will be reduced by 75 percent with the arrival of the LADS. FP 1 and 2 units are due to receive the LADS by fiscal year 2003; other fieldings will occur through fiscal year 2013.
