|
|
|
|
|
|
Over 100 years ago, on August 5, 1917, the entire National Guard was drafted into U.S. Army service for World War I. This represented the culmination of several steps declared by President Woodrow Wilson that would mobilize the National Guard into the "Great War" and which sent troops into Europe for the first time. This act stands among a series of laws and military decisions in the early 20th century that resulted in the transformation of the National Guard from a traditionally local military organization into professional military force. Read the whole story about this sea change for the National Guard and the nation here.
|
Honoring World War I's finest: The Rainbow Division
On August 28 in Montgomery, AL, a Korean War veteran and Silver Star recipient will honor his father and the many others who served in the 4th Alabama National Guard, which became part of the the 42nd Rainbow Division after they were federalized. Rod Frazer, who is also an author and historian, will officially unveil and dedicate a bronze monument marking exactly 100 years since 3,677 Alabama Guardsmen, including his father, William Frazer, hopped onto one of eight trains from Union Station to fight after the United States entered WWI in April 1917. Read this Rainbow Division tribute story here.
|
World War I, often overshadowed by the consequent World War II, rarely finds a spotlight in pop culture. One, seemingly unlikely, story that found mass acclaim and multiple incarnations is the story of a horse serving in France and his owner's attempts to bring him back. The popular 1982 English novel War Horse found itself adapted into a play in 2007 and a blockbuster movie in 2011. Michael Morpurgo, author of over 300 books along with War Horse, spent some time with us to talk about the origins of the story beloved by younger readers that was able to reach such a wide audience.
|
There is a great new online resource available from the Department of Homeland Security, that focuses on the World War I centennial. Specifically, this site tells the incredible story of the history of immigration and naturalization in the United States during the war. Site admins Allison Finkelstein and Zack Wilske from the DHS’s U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services History Office and Library. We caught up with Allison and Zack, and they told us about the site, and their work to create it.
|
During World War I, there was an overwhelming effort to assist those Americans serving abroad. Before America even joined the war, organizations such as the American Red Cross and the American Fund for the French Wounded had issued pleas for warm clothing for soldiers—or, as a Navy League poster put it, to “Knit a Bit.” After April 1917, the Red Cross and the Comforts Committee worked together to mobilize ever larger numbers of knitters, with a request for 1.5 million knitted garments. The need for warm clothes, particularly socks, was desperate. Men at the front were fighting in the atrocious conditions—muddy trenches and frigid winters—with inadequate footwear. Read about how knitting was promoted as a patriotic duty--and how America's knitters--some surprising--came through in the stitch of time.
|
The WW1 Centennial News Podcast is about WW1 THEN: 100 years ago this week and its about WW1 NOW: News and updates about the centennial and the commemoration.
Available on our web site, iTunes, Google Play, and TuneIn.
Highlight of Episode #31 include:
- Civil rights march in NYC 100 years ago
- Draft dodging, bobbing and weaving
- Passchendaele: the battle of the MUD
- “The Song of Mud” by Mary Borden
- The Storyteller and the Historian
- On being an intern at the US WW1 Centennial Commission
- Event Picks of the week
- 100C/100M Profile - Memorial Park in Mobile Alabama
- Motorcycles and Memorials
- Working on America’s WW1 Memorial
- Dazzle Camouflage and Peach Pits
|
 |
|
Our WWRITE blog explores WWI’s Influence on contemporary writing and scholarship.
Would you like to contribute to WWrite? Know someone who could write an awesome post? Want to get students to post or use as a resource? Want to put in requests for topics or themes? Have any comments or suggestions? If you've said yes, then you will want to read this week's WWrite post that explores these questions in detail, Contribute, Share, Teach: All About WWrite.
Don't miss this opportunity to contribute your voices to this important moment in history!
|
|
|
|
A Story of Service from the Stories of Service section of ww1cc.org
Submitted by: Georgia Harris {daughter)
OUR FATHER, CHARLES EDWARD DILKES, kept a DAILY DIARY of his military service. His memoir, based on this diary, begins with the night of him leaving America. He wrote: "I wish you could share my anticipation with me when on August 6, 1917, at 6:30 p.m. all men were assembled with full field equipment and at 7:00 p.m. we marched through the huge iron gates...full of spirit and hope." Finally arriving in Hoboken, New Jersey, he boarded the transport Finland, dropped down the bay off Tomkinsville, New York, while the "throbbing of engines acquainted us with our departure from the shores of America." It did not take long for the situation to change. A few weeks later on August 20, 1917, his fleet was within the danger zone. "I was coming on deck when a big explosion occurred, shaking the ship...The Captain from the bridge shouted out, "Why the hell don't you shoot that submarine!...Immediately our fore gun blazed away sending forth its deadly shell..."
When the U.S. declared war on Germany in April 1917, our father’s patriotic spirit rose within him; he volunteered on the 1st of May. With an engineering background, he was assigned to Company F as a combat engineer in the 1st Division of the American Expeditionary Forces (AEF) and fought under the command of General John J. Pershing. He earned the rank of sergeant, and was consistently called upon to lead his men to build first aid stations, communication trenches, and stables; to repair roads and parapets of the trenches; and to prepare the terrain for battle. This work was often done while he and his men were under enemy fire, which often meant putting down the shovel and picking up the rifle. His recordings of daily and significant enemy encounters stand out not only as consistent with history, but offered great personal insight into the rigors of war. He did not complain. He did not shirk his duties EVER in War, in his work, or with his family.
|
|
|
|
|
Signature Events Major Moments
Video Streaming video resources
Publications Dispatch, Sync-Call and more
