Sync Call for Wednesday December 21, at 12pm EDT
News at a Glance
1. General John “blackjack” Pershing Museum Slated for Laclede Missouri
2. New WW1CC commissioner Terry Hamby gets sworn in
3. Arlington National Cemetery / American Battle Monuments Commission Exhibit
4. New episode ‘The War to End All Wars” Symposium - “War, Death, and Remembrance” exploring the effects of the war on the social psyche.
5. Memorial Hunters Club data show there are 3,500 WWI Memorials in the US and that ⅔ of them have gone missing
6. Interview with Terry Schow on the Ogden Utah Doughboy Memorial
7. 1914 Christmas Truce video by Dr. Jay Winter Author and Professor of History, Yale University
Read more below - Watch the video above
Sync Call Minutes
December 21, 2016
Update from the states
Missouri
News from Missouri… The town of Laclede will soon be home to a new museum honoring the legacy of General John. “blackjack” Pershing. Laclede is the boyhood home of the man who would one day grow up to become the commander of the American Expeditionary Forces during World War I. The Pershing Park Memorial Association plans to build a museum complex right across the street from the General’s boyhood home. The 7,800-square-foot building is being remodeled to serve as the Pershing Memorial Museum and Leadership Archives, and is scheduled to open in 2017. We’re posting a link to an article about this new museum in the chatroom.
Link
http://www.fultonsun.com/news/missouri/story/2016/dec/12/generals-ubringing/652824/
News and Announcements
Terry Hamby
The US World War One Centennial Commission welcomes Commissioner Terry Hamby, who was appointed by Senate Majority Leader, Senator Mitch McConnell. He was officially sworn in at the Commission offices in Washington, DC last Wednesday,
Mr. Hamby is a Vietnam War veteran and a businessman. He founded BMAR & Associates, which provides services to the Department of Defense. From all of us here at the commision We would like to extend a warm welcome to you Commissioner Hamby.
Link
http://www.worldwar1centennial.org/1667?utm_source=US+World+War+1+Centennial+Commission+Publications
Arlington National Cemetery / American Battle Monuments Commission Exhibit
The Arlington National Cemetery and the American Battle Monuments Commission have teamed up to create an exhibit that will open next year on April 6th., the centennial of America’s declaration of war.
The exhibit will focus on the American experience in World War One. The Arlington National Cemetery receives between three and four million visitors a year. So this exhibit could become the most visited World War One exhibit in the country. We are posting a link to an article where Cemetery Historian Christopher A. Warren Talks about the timely new exhibit and how it came to be.
Link:
http://www.worldwar1centennial.org/index.php/communicate/press-media/wwi-centennial-news/1668-four-questions-for-christopher-a-warren.html
OSU Symposium
This week we have another episode available from ‘The War to End All Wars” Symposium, held at Ohio State University. This week’s episode is called “War, Death, and Remembrance” exploring the effects of the war on the social psyche.
It is presented by Professor Bruno Cabanes, the Donald G. & Mary A. Dunn Chair in Modern Military History.
As always, the presentation is preceded by a poem. This week it is "Break of Day in the Trenches" by Isaac Rosenberg.
We are posting a link to this interesting 50 minutes exploration of the war’s effect on society from fashion to art.
Link:
http://www.worldwar1centennial.org/index.php/educate/history/the-war-to-end-all-wars.html
100C / 100 M
Missing Memorial
THE MEMORIAL HUNTERS CLUB DATA SHOW THERE ARE 3,500 WWI MEMORIALS IN THE US and that ⅔ of them have gone missing!
A new post on the 100 Cities / 100 Memorials blog walks you through the data, research and the math that has led to that assertion.
This estimate is three times higher than the often quoted 1000-1100 WWI memorials. Follow the link in the chatroom to read the post and let us know what you think.
Link:
http://www.worldwar1centennial.org/index.php/100-cities-100-memorials-blog.html
Ogden Utah Doughboy Memorial project
Also from 100 Cities / 100 Memorials, we have an update about the Ogden Utah Doughboy Memorial project. This memorial was originally at the local American Legion post, but was donated to the City of Ogden in the 50s and is now located in the Veterans Section of the Ogden City Cemetery. The Ogden Doughboy sculpted by renowned sculptor Gilbert P. Risvold who also sculpted a series of Doughboy statues in Illinois.
The Commission’s 100 Cities / 100 Memorials program manager, Theo Mayer got a chance to speak with Terry Schow about his project.
Link to project Profile:
http://www.worldwar1centennial.org/index.php/resources.html#project-profiles
Thanks to Terry Schow, the American Legion and all the veterans organizations that are supporting the program.
Great War Channel
Alright, the Great War Channel on youtube has several new videos up this week. This week they have:
- Exploring WW1 Forts in Ukraine
- Deportations - Strikes - Evacuations
- The Mesopotamian Front Awakens - Joseph Joffre Gets Sacked
For those of you that have never checked them out, you can find the link to their YouTube page in the chatroom.
Link:
https://www.youtube.com/user/TheGreatWar
Great War in the Sky
Next, Theo is going to wrap up the Great War in The Sky for 2016. Take us up Theo.
12/21/16
As we wrap up 2016 in the Great War In The Sky, it has clearly been the year of German air dominance.
Led by Boelke, the Jasta 2 squadron - renamed the Boelke squadron in December of 1916, in just 4 months, they managed to down 86 aircraft while only loosing 10 - a 9:1 ratio is a pretty convincingly dominant position.
Zeppelins created aerial terror over the UK, bringing the air war from the fighting front to an urban citizenry in their homeland.
Germans even managed to bomb London with heavier than air craft.
New technologies, new capabilities and new planes came onto the scene.
At the same time, it was in 1916 that the Lafayette Escadrille was established with American pilots flying under the french flag.
Near the end of the year, the Brits decide to invest much more heavily in air power expanding their forces, squadrons and aircraft.
As RG Head, the curator of our War in the Sky timelines talked about at the start of this series, the pendulum of power in the sky is about to swing in a new direction for 1917.
So here we go into a brand new year - and in the coming 2017, we look forward to continuing to bring you the story of the Great War In the Sky - 100 years ago this week!
Thank you. See you up there next year.
Thanks Theo.
Link:
www.ww1cc.org/warinthesky
Great War Project
And now it’s time for our weekly update from Mike Shuster from his Great War Project blog:
Mike, what is the headline of the story this week?
Link:
www.greatwarproject.org/
Christmas Truce
Thanks Mike. We are not going to have a Sync Call next week - So to end our show today, and the Sync Calls for 2016, we want to take you back to a very special moment that occurred 102 years ago. On the Christmas eve 1914, singing started drifting across the opposing lines on the Western Front. The sound of Christmas wafted across No Man’s Land… and soon troops from both sides began to exchange greetings resulting in a spontaneous cessation of hostilities - not a negotiated truce by the command - but simply line soldiers taking a break from hate and hostility to celebrate christmas. This would become known as the Christmas Truce.
This video is available through the Education Newsletter and thought it would be a great way to end the show, and the great year with you on the Weekly Sync-Call.
Link to Video
http://exhibitions.theworldwar.org/christmas-truce/introduction
Happy Holidays from all of us here at the US World War One Centennial Commission. We look forward to seeing you again in 2017.
LINK TO SUBSCRIBE TO DISPATCH
http://www.worldwar1centennial.org/1258
Have a great week and thanks everyone, for supporting our doughboys!
Sync Call Minutes ww1cc.org/sync-call
SEE YOU NEXT YEAR! Register here.
