from The World War One Centennial Commission Act, January 14, 2013
World War One was a watershed in American history. The United States' decision to join the battle in 1917 "to make the world safe for democracy" proved pivotal in securing allied victory — a victory that would usher in the American Century.
In the war's aftermath, individuals, towns, cities, counties, and states all felt compelled to mark the war, as did colleges, businesses, clubs, associations, veterans groups, and houses of worship. Thousands of memorials—from simple honor rolls, to Doughboy sculptures, to grandiose architectural ensembles—were erected throughout the US in the 1920s and 1930s, blanketing the American landscape.
Each of these memorials, regardless of size or expense, has a story. But sadly, as we enter the war's centennial period, these memorials and their very purpose—to honor in perpetuity the more than four million Americans who served in the war and the more than 116,000 who were killed—have largely been forgotten. And while many memorials are carefully tended, others have fallen into disrepair through neglect, vandalism, or theft. Some have been destroyed. Watch this CBS news video on the plight of these monuments.
The extant memorials are our most salient material links in the US to the war. They afford a vital window onto the conflict, its participants, and those determined to remember them. Rediscovering the memorials and the stories they tell will contribute to their physical and cultural rehabilitation—a fitting commemoration of the war and the sacrifices it entailed.
We are building a US WW1 Memorial register through a program called the Memorials Hunters Club. If you locate a memorial that is not on the map we invite you to upload your treasure to be permanently archived in the national register. You can include your choice of your real name, nickname or team name as the explorers who added that memorial to the register. We even have room for a selfie! Check the map, and if you don't see the your memorial CLICK THE LINK TO ADD IT.
White granite monument - Sponsored by Cherokee Garden Club 1949.
Inscription: “Honoring all who served and dedicated to the memory of those from Mitchell County who made the supreme sacrifice for the freedom of all men from oppression.”
Individual names are inscribed, but appear faded and are unreadable in the photographs.
The Georgia General Assembly designated U.S. Highway 78 from Monroe to Athens, through Walton, Oconee and Clarke counties as the “Moina Michael Highway” in honor of the originator of wearing the memorial poppy for Veterans Day. Michael was born near Monroe and was a faculty member at the University of Georgia.
The Georgia Department of Transportation has planted beds of memorial poppies along the median of the highway to bloom in the springs of 2017 and 2018 as part of the observance of Georgia’s role in World War I.
A small plaque in memory of Moina Michael (1869-1944), originator of the idea of the memorial poppy in honor of Armistice (later Veterans) Day. It is in a small park in the median of Broad Street directly in front of the UGA Arch, adjacent to the Confederate memorial monument.
The Moline World War I memorial was dedicated in 1929. Around a flagpole is a sculpture by C.S. Paolo consisting of a circular grouping of bronze figures. The figures include a soldier, an angel of glory, an angel of mourning, a boy, and father time. Another angel stands behind holding a semicircular garland.
“Dedicated to all Monroe Countians who served our country and in memory of those who made the supreme sacrifice. They died that others may live free. Erected 2010 by the citizens of Monroe County.”
The World War I “Honor Roll” monument contains thirteen names.
Monument honoring the fallen soldiers from Monroe County, located on the Monroe County Courthouse in Tompkinsville.
This monument in the Monroe Green is a boulder honoring World War I veterans and was dedicated in 1931. A plaque on the monuments south face, measuring 17" wide by 22" tall, bears the dedication "In grateful recognition of the valor and devotion of the young men of this community who served in the world war for liberty and justice 1914-1919. The plaque lists 24 names and indicates that two were killed in the war.
Atop a triangular granite pedestal is a bronze eagle perched on a ball. On the pedestal is a relief showing soldiers boarding battleships with women and children watching from the docks, with a plane dropping bombs in the background. This is a tribute to the Ashland veterans of WWI and WWII. To each side of the monument are small granite markers honoring ihe veterans from the Korean and Vietnam Wars.
The inscription on a plaque in front of this tree, erected in 1919 by the Red Cross, reads:
This tree was planted
by the
Red Cross
May 30, 1919
in memory of
Monterey’s sons
who made the
supreme sacrifice
in the World War
The World War I Montfaucon American Monument, dedicated in 1937, is located seven miles south of the Meuse-Argonne American Cemetery and Memorial and 20 miles northwest of Verdun, France. It consists of a massive granite doric column, surmounted by a statue symbolic of liberty, which towers more than 200-feet above the war ruins of the former village. It commemorates the American victory during the Meuse-Argonne Offensive during the period September 26, 1918 to November 11, 1918, when the American First Army forced the enemy to conduct a general retreat on this front. On the walls of the foyer are an engraved map of the operations with a narrative and a special tribute to the American troops who served here. The observation platform on top of the memorial is reached by 234 steps and affords magnificent views of this battlefield.
A featured item in this library is a collection of WWI Selective Service registration cards.
There have been few monuments in the history of Clarksville that have had as long a lifespan as the Doughboy. This statue of an American soldier holding a grenade in one hand, his rifle in the other, was dedicated to those who fought for the U.S. during World War I. It is one of Clarksville’s most beloved pieces of civic art.
Since its dedication in 1929, this statue has had an interesting existence. It has seen generations of Clarksville High School students grow up before its marble eyes. It has also been relocated around Clarksville several times.
According to The Leaf-Chronicle, the statue spent 43 years in front of Clarksville High School, before being moved to the armory on Ft. Campbell Boulevard in 1972.
On April 15, 2010, the Doughboy was rededicated in front of the Transit Station on Legion Street, in downtown Clarksville. Many descendants of World War I veterans were in attendance for the rededication ceremony, including the children of Alvin York, one of Tennessee’s most iconic World War I heroes.
In 2015, the Doughboy was relocated yet again to the Brigadier General Wendell H. Gilbert Tennessee State Veterans Home.
It was one of the few Doughboy statues of its type made out of stone. The Clarksville Doughboy is a rarity because it was sculpted from marble. Most of them were cast out of bronze. The inscription reads:
In honor of
Montgomery County's Soldiers
and Sailors, World War
1917-1918
World War I Doughboy
Dedicated June 9, 1929
Restored and re-dedicated by the City of Clarksville, April 15, 2010
To those who fell and those who served: Soldiers, Sailors, Marines and Airmen
Individual Contributors
(List of those who contributed money to restore the monument)
