An American Dies in the Battle of the Somme 100 Years Ago

By Adam Bieniek and Kate Lyons
Staff Writers seeger Alan Seeger was one of 24 American soldiers who died in the French Foreign Legion during World War I

One hundred years ago this month, one of the bloodiest battles in history began near the Somme River in France. In July of 1916, the United States had not yet officially entered World War I, but that did not stop some Americans from joining the Allied cause. One such volunteer, Alan Seeger, would pay the ultimate price during the first week of this carnage.

Alan Seeger was born on June 22nd, 1888, in New York, although he and his family moved frequently. He was accepted to Harvard University in 1906, where he was classmates with several well-known American poets and authors such as T.S. Elliott and Walter Lippman. After graduating from Harvard, Seeger moved to Paris in 1912 and fell in love with his new home. This love eventually roused him to join the French Foreign Legion on August 24, 1914, soon after the outbreak of World War I. seeger monument crop Artist Jean Boucher used Alan Seeger’s photograph as inspiration for the French monument to all American volunteers.

Seeger was an advocate for American involvement in the War, and even wrote to his mother on one occasion, “there should really be no neutrals in a conflict like this, where there is not a people whose interests are not involved.” He wrote the famous poem, “Rendezvous with Death” during his time in the French Foreign Legion. This poem would decades later become one of President John F. Kennedy’s favorites.

By the time he put pen to paper for these immortal verses, his unit had already participated in one major offensive in Champagne, France, in September 1915. This poem shows Seeger’s desire for a glorious death in service of the home he had come to love so much. This attitude was further echoed in his letters home, one of which reads, “I expect to march right up the Aisne borne on an irresistible [spirit]. It will be the greatest moment of my life.”

100 Cities / 100 Memorials restoration program launches on July 15

At the end of World War I, thousands of war memorials of every size were built in local communities across the country. Over the decades, under exposure to the elements, these memorials have aged. We must act now – to restore both their physical beauty and our awareness of the men and women they memorialize.

140820 blog photo wwi memorials york pa The York County World War I Fairground Memorial (1921) in York, PATo help motivate and support this restoration, the 100 Cities / 100 Memorials program is launching on July 15, 2016 with $200,000 in initial funding provided by the World War One Centennial Commission and the Pritzker Military Museum & Library for matching grants. These two organizations continue to seek other major funding partners nationwide to expand the funds available to encourage and match the fundraising efforts of the awardees.

The purpose of 100 Cities/ 100 Memorials is to motivate and support the efforts of local organizations across the country to honor the memory of their hometown war heroes, to build awareness of the war’s impact on their local communities, and to restore and provide for the ongoing upkeep of their local World War I memorials, all in time for the nation’s centennial celebrations scheduled for November 2018 – celebrations that will also include the unveiling of the new national World War I Memorial in the nation’s capital.

Six Questions with R.G. Head

By Adam Bieniek and Kate Lyons
Staff Writers

Brigadier General R.G. Head, USAF (Ret.) is the author of “A Chronology of World War I Aviation Events,” a truly immersive and enthralling timeline of the history and development of aviation in World War I.

Q: What inspired you to produce the complete World War I aviation timeline?

rg head 350 Brigadier General R.G. Head, USAF (Ret.), author of the "A Chronology of World War I Events in the Air" timelineFirst, I was educated at the US Air Force Academy, so my interest is in aviation. I was inspired to develop a chronology of aviation events in World War One by the work of the Centennial Commission and the fact that I was working on WWI research for a book at the time and had been for about four years. Four years ago I built a five-foot wingspan model of the Fokker Dr. I flown by Manfred Von Richthofen, the Red Baron, which now hangs in the Coronado, CA, Public Library. Two years ago I built a six-foot model of Oswald Boelcke’s Albatros D. II, to museum quality, and it now resides in a beautiful case in the San Diego Air & Space Museum, along with the Blue Max and others of his medals. I made several public presentations with each of these two models. After completion of the Albatros, my wife suggested putting much of the research material I had gathered on Oswald Boelcke into a book. I had previously connected with the Commander of the German Tactical Fighter Wing 31 that was named after Oswald Boelcke. I also had the assistance of a German archivist who was a member of the Boelcke Tradition Association, in Eschweiler, Germany, and he helped me gather a whole host of memorabilia and literature about this famous pilot. Finally, I was just then writing a Chronology of Oswald Boelcke’s life to include in the book, so when I got in contact with the WWI Commission, it was a natural step to volunteer to expand the Boelcke Chronology more broadly to WWI aviation events. I turned the Chronology over to the Commission, and Theo Mayer and Chris Christopher, with the brilliant work of two interns, transformed the Chronology into the Excel Timeline and made it accessible on the Internet.

One of my professional beliefs is that writers of 20th Century military history have traditionally focused on the ground or sea war and neglected the role of aviation. Maybe this is because they are not familiar with it. Regardless of the reason, once the airplane was invented, it immediately created not only the Air Combat role between opposing air forces, but the contribution to the ground or sea battle by reconnaissance or direct attack. My hope is that the Great War in the Air Timeline will provide to historians and the public some air events for their consideration.

Four Questions for Sabin Howard

By Adam Bieniek and Kate Lyons
Staff Writers

Sabin Howard is the sculptor half of the partnership that is developing the design for the National World War I Memorial to be built in Washington, D.C. during the centennial period of America’s involvement in World War I.

Q: You recently visited the home of Daniel Chester French, who is known for sculpting the famous statue of Abraham Lincoln inside the Lincoln Memorial. What was that experience like? What did you take away from it?

Sabin in studio Howard says visiting French’s studio and seeing his maquettes got him excited about the next steps of the design process.“It was really interesting, because I’m not a modernist in this way of thinking, that you have to reinvent the wheel. I see it as there are a certain amount of art forms out there, one of them being classicism, so I’m playing it forward, and it’s my responsibility to play it forward. So I went to his studio and of course I had a tremendous amount of kinship looking at the plasters and [his] work. The last piece he did was, “Andromeda,” the female reclining figure, and there is such a high level of energy and you can see it in how all of the pieces are put together, thinking about two really big elements: great attention to the structure of the figure, or how the skeleton is gestured. The poses are very calculated carefully. There’s a lot of rhythm - meaning curves, which is a lot of how muscle inserts can go from an origin to an insertion. So you can see how he’s manipulating to his knowledge on the body put together, and that’s the kinship that I felt. Here’s a man 100 years ago who was doing something to serve his country using his art form, and I think that’s something that I didn’t understand until I got into this process, that drives you to a higher level artistically. It’s a kinship because I’m working the same way, translating it into sculpture and that form of translation is classical.”

Q: So how would you compare or contrast your style with French’s?

“I think it’s different style because we live in a different time. Now there’s a tremendous amount of visual input in our society. Back then the photo was just coming into effect, now it’s pervasive. So you have come up with this hyper-realism, that we’re involved with today. It’s like amping it to the next level. That’s why I’m saying I’m playing it forward. So I’m doing that same thing he’s doing, but the things that I’m seeing are amplified because of the circumstances of our culture."

Cher Ami: The Pigeon that Saved the Lost Battalion

By Adam Bieniek
Staff Writer

Many of us have heard of the Lost Battalion, and know some of the story. What is not commonly known is the role of a remarkable pigeon, named Cher Ami. That little bird became one of the greatest heroes of World War I.

Cher Ami at the Smithsonian Institution. (Photo by Armed Forces History, Division of History of Technology, National Museum of American History)Cher Ami was one of almost 600 carrier pigeons employed by the US Army Signal Corps during the First World War. Carrier pigeons were invaluable , in spite of the advances in communications technology during the war. Radios were not as reliable since they were large and still bound by delicate wires. It also was not always possible to lay new wires quickly, and often could be extremely dangerous. While not necessarily a popular form of communication, pigeons did prove a reliable one. The average homing pigeon can fly approximately fifty miles per hour, making them a quick method of communication. Still, these pigeons often proved popular targets to enemy gunfire despite their speed. In fact, German machine gunners trained diligently to both spot and kill these birds with their deadly MG 08s, which could fire over 500 rounds per minute. Pigeons could also be a very risky way to communicate, because if a pigeon was shot down, the message could easily be intercepted by enemy forces. cher ami 2

The US Army Signal Corps used some 600 pigeons in WW1.

It was during the Meuse-Argonne Offensive of 1918 where the carrier pigeon was finally recognized for its valiant efforts. On October 2nd, 1918, American soldiers from the 77th Division pushed too far into the Argonne Forest and became trapped behind German lines on the slopes of a hill. Cut off from reinforcements and supplies, roughly 550 men from the 306th, 307th, and 308th regiments under Major Charles Whittlesey held their ground against a far larger German force for several days. Far beyond radio range, the only way the Americans could communicate with their own lines was via carrier pigeon. However, it did not take long to realize that the skies were as dangerous as the ground. Trapped in a horrible meatgrinder of machine guns and rain, the Lost Battalion held their ground against vicious German attacks.

Chronology highlights aviation history of WW1

By Adam Bieniek and Kate Lyons
Staff Writers

There is no one way to look at history, and World War I is no exception. The war can be viewed from the trenches, the seas, the home front, or even the skies. Unfortunately, the latter is often left by the sidelines, completely obscured from modern audiences. However, thanks to the diligent work of retired Air Force Brigadier General Richard G. Head, and his willingness to work with the World War I Centennial Commission, that is about to change.

The World War I Centennial Commission is pleased to unveil an exciting new addition to the Commission’s website: A Chronology of World War I Aviation Events. Created by retired Air Force Brigadier General Richard G. Head, this timeline is a truly impressive feat of advanced research and modern technology. With over six hundred entries, this timeline illustrates year-by-year the high-flying and in depth developments in aviation as they happened throughout the war.

The war in the air is often an overlooked battlefield in the study of this conflict. The many epic tales of bravery and sacrifice in the skies are largely unknown or forgotten. Some of which include aces like Captain Eddie Rickenbacker, who scored an impressive 26 victories in the air, and Captain John Hedley, who against all odds survived falling out of his plane by being caught mid-air thanks to his pilot’s maneuvering.

These pilots fought thousands of feet above the devastated fields of France, with nothing for protection aside from their wit and training. Being in the days before parachutes, their only recourse during a crash was a pistol attached to their belts. These epic tales of incredible daring, and scores of others, are all illustrated on the timeline.

The timeline is entirely user-friendly as well. Readers can scroll through the events date by date to see major highlights of the developments in the skies. The information is presented in an easy to understand manner, and gives viewers a real sense of scale to the conflict.

World War I Centennial News

An American Dies in the Battle of the Somme 100 Years Ago

100 Cities / 100 Memorials restoration program launches on July 15

Six Questions with R.G. Head

One-woman show on World War 1 nurses premieres in DC

"Tap" leads to story ideas, details make stories come alive

WWI video game may raise awareness of Great War in younger audience

Partnership formalized between Oshkosh Airshow and the World War One Centennial Commission

French officials visit Centennial Commission offices in DC

Four Questions for Sabin Howard

Author Hew Strachan to receive 2016 PMML Lifetime Achievement award

Cher Ami: The Pigeon that Saved the Lost Battalion

Chronology highlights aviation history of WW1

Introducing the new 2016 Summer Interns at the Commission office

WSU professor helps Dayton, WWI exhibit

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