Pennsylvania in the First World War
Links
Descendants and Friends of the 314th - remembrance oganization dedicated to honoring and preserving the story of their fathers, grandfathers, and family members in the First World War. The 314th Infantry was a regiment of the 79th Division, American Expeditionary Forces.
Home Before the Leaves Fall - Great War web site created by organizations and individuals in the Mid-Atlantic region.
GREATER PHILADELPHIA in the GREAT WAR- online database of the thousands of Philadelphia-area residents who served in the First World War.
Roads to the Great War: Penn State Goes to War: How an American College Supported the War Effort - how Penn State supported the war
Pittsburgh World War I History - A Short History of Pittsburgh and Western Pennsylvania Soldiers in World War I (1917-1919) - a special feature on the contributions of Pittsburgh and Western Pennsylvania to the Great War carried at the time in the Pittsburgh Press is re-created here.
World War I Memorial Inventory Project - A project to mark the war's centennial by assembling a comprehensive online inventory of World War I memorials and monuments in the United States. Pennsylvania has WW1 memorials that still need to be documented.
313th Machine Gun Battalion - information about men of the 313th Machine Gun Battalion, 80th Division, who served in World War I by Andrew Capets.
The State Museum of Pennsylvania
Pennsylvania at War
Pennsylvania at War - Facebook
Click here for Pennsylvanians who died serving in the British armed forces
Events
Western Front Association East Coast - Spring 2019 Symposium
Western Front Association - East Coast Branch presents:
The Spring 2019 World War I History Symposium
Date: June 15, 2019
Place: Reckord Lounge, Fifth Regiment Armory, 219 29th Division Street, Baltimore, MD 21201
Located about 2 hours drive from Harrisburg and Philadelphia.
Sign-in, meet and greet, and refreshments begin at 9:00am with opening remarks at 10:00am.
Mail in registration deadline: Tuesday, 11 June 2019
Download Spring 2019 Event Flyer and Registration Form
Pennsylvania 2017 World War One History Symposium
at the United States Army Heritage and Education Center, Carlisle, PA - 2017 MAY 13
See the 2017 & 2018 Symposium videos on our YouTube Channel
Books
Philadelphia in the World War 1914-1919, Philadelphia War History Committee, 1922 - compiled by the committee as a tribute to Philadelphia's contribution to the U.S. war effort. Permanent record of the wartime activities that took place in Philadelphia during WW1.
Pittsburgh in World War I: Arsenal of the Allies, Elizabeth Williams, 2013 - written by a Pittsburgh native, this narrative recounts the Pittsburgh area's contribution to the war effort.
Philadelphia: The World War I Years, Peter John Williams, 2013 - Pete Williams, a lifelong resident of Philadelphia tells the story of the changes that swept through the city during WW1.
Spirit of Philadelphia: A 100th Anniversary of WWI Story, G. J. House, 2017 - A story of honor and resilience spanning Pennsylvania & Europe. Perhaps the only, historical fiction for the 100th Anniversary of the U.S. in WWI. A window into America’s earlier culture, and vivid characters, with a youth wanting employment. There's love and heritage, and work at the world’s largest ship building site -- Hog Island (now Phila. Int. Airport).
Toward the Flame: A Memoir of World War 1, Hervey Allen, New York, 1926 - First hand account written by a Pittsburgh native and Lieutenant in the 28th Division. Includes the flame-thrower attack on his company in August, 1918 at Fismette while under French command.
To Conquer Hell: The Meuse-Argonne, 1918 The Epic Battle That Ended the First World War, Edward G. Lengel, New York, 2008 - A most readable summary of American involvement in WW1 focusing on America's largest and costliest battle, the Meuse-Argonne Offensive, Sep.-Nov., 1918. Draws in part on the diaries and memoirs of American soldiers who fought in WW1, and includes the stories of all three Pennsylvania divisions, the 28th, 79th and 80th, in the Meuse-Argonne, along with the 92nd and 93rd Divisions in which African-Americans from Pennsylvania served. One of the best.
Betrayal at Little Gibraltar, William Walker, New York, 2016 - A story of disobeyed orders, careless handling by the A.E.F general staff of plans for taking Montfaucon, that led to a debacle at the very beginning of the Meuse-Argonne Offensive that cost untold American lives, and it's final cover-up by General Pershing himself.
With Their Bare Hands: General Pershing, the 79th Division and the Battle for Montfaucon, Gene Fax, New York, 2017 - How the 79th Division was given the task of taking the critical high ground of Montfaucon on the first day of the Meuse-Argonne Offensive, a task for which the inexperienced unit was unfit. This mismanagement of the initial attack by the U.S. high command led to the stalling of the entire offensive.
28th Division: Summary of Operations in the World War (PDF), American Battle Monuments Commission, 1944 - front-line infantry historical study, including casualty and strength tables, compiled by ABMC.
79th Division: Summary of Operations in the World War (PDF), American Battle Monuments Commission, 1944 - front-line infantry historical study, including casualty and strength tables, compiled by ABMC.
80th Division: Summary of Operations in the World War, American Battle Monuments Commission, 1944 - front-line infantry historical study, including casualty and strength tables, compiled by ABMC.
92nd Division: Summary of Operations in the World War, American Battle Monuments Commission, 1944 - front-line infantry historical study, including casualty and strength tables, compiled by ABMC.
93rd Division: Summary of Operations in the World War, American Battle Monuments Commission, 1944 - front-line infantry historical study, including casualty and strength tables, compiled by ABMC.
First World War in General
The Guns of August (1962) & The Proud Tower (1966) - Barbara W. Tuchman, in single volume by Library of America (2012), Edited by Margaret MacMillan, includes the essay "How We Entered World War I". The Guns of August won a Pulitzer Prize and covers the first month of the war. The Proud Tower covers the 25 year period leading up to the First World War. Some of the finest writing about The First World War.
Over Here: The First World War and American Society (1980), David M. Kennedy. Pulitzer prize winning author. Covers the events in the United States during the nineteen months of American belligerency. Uses the occasion of the war as a window into early twentieth century American Society. The First World War truly marks the genesis of modern American society.
The Great War (BBC 1964) Part 01 of 26 - On The Idle Hill Of Summer - 26 part video series produced by the BBC for the 50th anniversary of the First World War. First Broadcast: Saturday 30th May 1964. Veterans of the Great War were still living and numerous interviews with them are included. An excellent telling of the story of WW 1 from beginning to end. The page for each episode has a link to the next episode.
The Great War Channel on YouTube - a new video comes out each Thursday. Created by Indy Neidell, it covers the war as it unfolded week by week.
Artifacts, Articles, & Local History
Allentown Fairgrounds - Mobilization and Training Camp for Medical Department Units, Camp Crane, Allentown, PA
Camp Crane was established in May, 1917, primarily to afford a mobilization place for recruits for the United States Army Ambulance Service, the recruiting center for which was located in Philadelphia; later it was used for the mobilization of Medical Department units of all kinds. Details about Camp Crane at the Allentown Fairgrounds.
Eddystone Munitions Company
Kurt Sellers
Major, U.S. Army (retired)
Eddystone Model 1917 Rifle
Kurt Sellers
Major, U.S. Army (retired)
Eddystone Model 1917 Rifle Bibliography
Kurt Sellers
Major, U.S. Army (retired)
Eddystone Rifle Plant - History of the Last Remaining Building
Kurt Sellers
Major, U.S. Army (retired)
The Eddystone Story
by Walter J. Kuleck, Ph.D.
Articles by Chris Gibbons related to the First World War published in The Philadelphia Inquirer
A Philadelphia Chaplain’s Heroic World War 1 Acts - published January 1, 2017
Beat the Drums Slowly - published May 26, 2013
In Search of Roman's 'Lost Boys' of World War 1 - published May 27, 2012
Love and Loss on the Home Front - published May 9, 2016
Philadelphian Gave His Life as Nation Found Its Soul - published May 25, 2014
Revelations in Quest for Roman Alum in World War I - published September 11, 2015
The Doughboys of St. Columba’s - published April 6, 2017
Last of the Doughboys - Published in the Philadelphia Daily News, May 25, 2007
Great War-related local history articles in The Luminary, the weekly newspaper that serves the Muncy, Montgomery and Hughesville area in eastern Lycoming County.
The working women of World War I
Muncy's American Legion bears name of WWI aviator
Razor or bullet, both became a close shave
Lauding local Legion Post's First Commander Raymond Lee Hill - May 15, 2017
Preservation of Historic 7.7 cm German Field Gun, Crozer Park, Chester, PA - a war trophy that had suffered many decades of neglect was professionally repainted through the efforts of volunteers from the Pennsylvania World War One Centennial Committee, the Fisher Tank Company, Chester, PA, and G.C. Zarnas & Company, Bethlehem, PA. When discovered in 2017 by volunteers from the Pennsylvania World War One Centennial Committee, the 100 year old gun, a model Fk 1916, serial number 22915, built in 1917 by Hannoversche Maschinenbau AG had already suffered substantial corrosion.
Through a series of fortunate circumstances, metal storage tank fabricators Fisher Tank Company of Chester, PA took an interest in the preservation effort and engaged their painting contractor G.C. Zarnas to sandblast and spray paint the gun without charge to the City of Chester, owners of the gun. Both companies are public-spirited and local community-oriented and did an excellent job. The Pennsylvania World War One Centennial Committee volunteers worked to get permission from the City of Chester for the project, wire-brushed the loose rust from the gun, and recruited the Fisher Tank Company who steered the project to completion. G.C. Zarnas & Co. staff carefully sandblasted the gun before spraying on a sealer coat, a prime coat and a finish coat of Sherwin-Williams urethane enamel in a field gray color suggested by the Pennsylvania WW1 Committee to reflect as accurately as possible the gun's appearance as it left the factory in 1917.
Pictures as found SEP 2017
Pictures of repainted gun, 10 OCT 2018
Kurt Sellers' Narrative of the German 77 mm Field Gun History and Preservation -
On Oct 10, 2018, the preservation project on a war trophy German field gun was completed. Preservation began as an individual effort by myself and Barry Johnson, Pennsylvania World War Centennial Committee. Fisher Tank Co. and G.C Zarnas & Co. generously volunteered to professionally complete the project. The gun was in abysmal shape when I found it - flaking paint and badly rusted. All fine details like screw threads, breech markings and knurling on the sight knobs were obscured. Sadly some parts are broken or missing. It has now been sandblasted, rustproofed, primed and painted with all markings preserved.
The gun is off Concord Ave in Chester (Lat: 39.84992 / Long: 75.37740) in what was the south end of Crozer Park before I 95 was constructed. In 1954, the adjacent veterans monument (1936), mother's arch (1937) and nearby Finnish settler monuments were relocated from the path of the interstate and rededicated in 1955. The gun was not present in 1955, but apparently was sited ca. 1960. Research is ongoing. Unfortunately no maintenance appears to have been done on it since that time, and it badly deteriorated.
The gun is 77mm Model 1916 Field Gun (Feldkanone 16). It should not be confused with the more common 77mm German Model 1896 n/a of the same war. Total production is uncertain, but at war's end German still possessed 3,020 of this type. After the war, some were modified with longer tube and used by Germany in WWII. Only 44 of the WWI guns are known to exist in the world of which only nine are in the United States.
The FK 16 was arguably the best light field gun of the war and with a range of about 9,100 m with the standard roughly 15 lb shell and 10,700 m with a lighter shell (about 13 lb) introduced in 1918 for long range fire. Both rounds considerably out ranged the French 75 and British 18 pounder. It was the only light gun to use semi-fixed ammunition. However, the gun used the same carriage as it sister 105mm model 1916 light field howitzer (leicht Feld Haubitze 16) and was somewhat heavy at about 2,900 lbs. An lFH16 is in the Chester Rural Cemetery.
This particular FK16 gun was made in 1917 by Hannoveresche Maschinenbau, A.G. (Hannover Machine Works, Inc.) who was one of several manufacturers. (After the war the firm was renamed HANOMAG and is known for production of the ubiquitous German SdKfz. 251 armored half track of WWII). Undoubtedly this gun was captured by the U. S. Army in 1918. There is a bullet hole in the shield and a possible bullet strike on a component near the rear right side seat.
Breech Markings: Nr 22915
1917
H.M.A.G.
Other markings are recoil cylinder serial numbers and bore sighting notches at the muzzle.
Kurt Sellers
Major, U.S. Army (retired)
100 Years Later: The World War I Army Field Diary of Lancaster Ophthalmologist Dr. Harry Culbertson Fulton by Peter C.Wever, M.D., Ph.D. Clinical Microbiologist, Jeroen Bosch Hospital, ’s-Hertogenbosch, The Netherlands in the Journal of Lancaster General Hospital - Spring 2018 - Vol. 13, No. 1 - read the article
Black Americans - Montgomery County - The outbreak of World War One caused a dwindling work force and a diminished flow of immigrants from Europe who had previously been hired as laborers. At the same time wartime industrial expansion led to the recruitment of black workers, particularly in the steel industry. The Alan Wood Steel Company of Conshohoken recruited black workers from as far away as Saluda County, South Carolina, and erected a tent camp for laborers until the new workers could find permanent housing. Blacks held mostly undesireable jobs until the Second World War when further labor shortages compelled the company to offer blacks skilled jobs and to discontinue discriminatory promotion practices. Blacks were also drafted separately into a segregated army.
Franklin County Red Cross Nurses Who Lost Their Lives During the First World War - Listed among the eighty-six names on the Franklin County War memorial in Chambersburg, PA are those of six Red Cross nurses who lost their lives during the World War. By Suellen Burkey, used by permission of the Franklin County Historical Society.
Nurse Katherine Patterson Irwin
Liberty War Scrap Book compiled in three volumes by Emily Price Flynn, Easton, PA. The book was a gift from her mother December 25, 1917. From the collection of Charles A. Miller.
Wissahickon Valley Historical Society displays
Uniforms donated to WVHS by the Robert Detweiler family
