1917. San Mateo, CA. Two unidentified members of the San Mateo, CA County Red Cross Chapter proudly display their new uniforms and their shiny Motor Corps vehicle in a photo taken sometime during World War I.
The American Red Cross Motor Service this month observes the 40th anniversary of its beginning in the nation’s capital. The District of Columbia Chapter had the first “Motor Corps,” as it was then called, authorized by the national organization in April 1917, shortly after the United States entered World War I.
Mrs. J. Borden “Daisy” Harriman, one-time US Minister to Norway and long active in the Democratic party, was the first “colonel” of the Motor Corps and designed its military-type uniform.