Artist Michael Wilson opens new "One Man, One War, One Hundred Years" WWI Art Exhibition
By Chris Isleib
Director of Public Affairs, United States World War One Centennial Commission
In Flanders Fields, 30 x 24 inches, oil on linen.Michael Wilson is a visual artist, and a military veteran, who has created a remarkable new WWI-themed art exhibit that we previously wrote about, which will be showing at the Cedar Rapids Museum of Art, Cedar Rapids, Iowa from September 15 – December 30, 2018. This work is endorsed as an official project of the U.S. World War One Centennial Commission, and the Iowa WWI Centennial Committee.
One Man, One War, One Hundred Years commemorates the 100th anniversary of the World War One armistice through the service of one – the artist’s Great Uncle Herbert Thordsen.
In 2012 Wilson’s cousin discovered a small leather datebook in which their great uncle logged dates and descriptions of his experiences serving in World War One. Knowing the centenary was approaching Wilson decided to build an exhibition around his great uncle.
“His entries were short but reading his words was like finally getting to have an adult a conversation with him about the war. The datebook entries were his side of the conversation and our discussions took place somewhere between the lines.”
Among the entries Thordsen records that he: “left New York the 3rd of May on the Carpathia”.
An online search reminded Wilson that the RMS Carpathia was the ship that rescued Titanic survivors. Wilson even found the ship’s roster for May 3, 1918 with his great uncle’s name on it.
Wilson used a World War One re-enactor to model as his great uncle and sometimes used himself (as a child in his Cub Scout uniform) to represent innocence. A mixed-media piece includes an authentic 1917 New York Times front page calling the nation to arms and another painting is based on the World War One poem In Flanders Fields by Lt. Col. John McCrae. Poppy imagery is used throughout the exhibition.
The exhibition includes 12 paintings but Wilson counts them as 11 paintings plus one. For Wilson the number 11 represents the Armistice’s 11th hour, of the 11th day, of the 11th month. The “plus one” painting is a historical genre piece that moves the viewer forward alluding to World War Two.
Read more: Artist Michael Wilson opens new "One Man, One War, One Hundred Years" WWI Art Exhibition
New “Diggers and Doughboys” Special Exhibition at National WWI Museum and Memorial
By Mike Vietti
Director of Marketing, Communications and Guest Services, National World War I Museum and Memorial
KANSAS CITY, MO. – Australian and American troops fought side-by-side for the first time in July 1918 during World War I. Since then, the Diggers (Australians) and Doughboys (Americans) supported each other in every major military conflict, including World War II, Korea, Vietnam, Iraq and Afghanistan.
Diggers and Doughboys: The Art of Allies 100 Years On features incredible artwork from the Australian War Memorial Collection illustrating the unique comradeship between the two countries.
“The relationship between the militaries of Australia and the U.S. stands as one of the most consistent and supportive alliances in the histories of both nations,” said National WWI Museum and Memorial Senior Curator Doran Cart. “This diverse collection portrays a century of military collaboration between these two nations through deeply engaging and impressive artworks from World War I through the modern era.”
On July 4, 1918, Australian and U.S. soldiers fought side-by-side for the first time at Hamel, France in a battle in which the American Expeditionary Forces fought under Australian command. The following day, Lt. General Sir John Monash, Commander of the Australian Corps, noted that this served as “an historic event of such significance that it will live forever in the annals of our respective Nations.”
The Diggers and Doughboys became fast comrades not only because their campaign hats and swagger were similar, but also from their shared democratic outlook on military rules, regulations and officers.
Read more: New “Diggers and Doughboys” Special Exhibition at National WWI Museum and Memorial
Four Questions for Sean Michael Dargan
"Today’s geopolitical world has been shaped by no single factor more than the First World War."
By Chris Isleib
Director of Public Affairs, United States World War One Centennial Commission
Sean Michael Dargan is a professional singer, songwriter, guitar player, and highland bagpiper, who lives in Madison Wisconsin. He has a deep interest in military history, and even was the piper for a British army reenacting group that portrayed WWI BEF units. Sean contacted us with an incredible story -- He and a group of his professional musician/professional artist/professional historian friends got together, and decided to mark the centennial of WWI, and the war's impact and relevance, in their own way. As a result, they created a remarkable series of multimedia shows that will take place in Madison this fall.They include art exhibits, concerts, film screenings, all culminating in a show entitled THE GREATEST WAR which will take place on Nov 11th. A video teaser for the upcoming series of events & shows can be found here: https://thegreatestwar.org/multimedia/. We asked Sean a few questions about this remarkable event.
WOW! Tell us about what you're doing in Madison?
Sean Michael DarganWe are organizing a program of events to commemorate the 100th anniversary of Armistice Day. The series includes music, film, and art. The culmination of these events is a multi-media production titled “The Greatest War: World War One, Wisconsin, and why it still matters.”
It is a live rock 'n' roll history show that combines music (both original songs and period traditionals) with images (photos, film, art), plus live readings of contemporary letters, diaries, articles, and speeches. The historical focus is WWI from Wisconsin's point of view, so we are using as much written and visual material of and by Wisconsinites as possible.
The show is Sunday 11 November 2018 at the historical Barrymore Theatre in Madison. (www.thegreatestwar.org).
Tell us how your group got involved?
Ken Fitzsimmons (Artistic Director), John Wedge (Education & Outreach), and Sean Michael Dargan (Marketing & Music) are all long-time movers and shakers in the Madison music scene, each leading their own successful rock bands. They are also good friends who share a deep love of history, particularly the complicated events of that unfolded after 1914.
Meuse-Argonne Offensive: Sacrifice and triumph against all odds
By Frederic W. “Fritz” Knaak
via the Star Tribune Newspaper (MN) web site
The bone-chilling fog still drifts between the clusters of woods and farm fields that 100 years ago were soaked with over a month of seemingly endless rain. To walk on these fields then was to go ankle- to knee-deep in a limey, greasy mud that got into everything. It never got quite cold enough to freeze the ground or the rain, which would have been blessed relief. It was, in the words of one who experienced it, a “pluperfect Hell.”
Meuse-Argonne American Cemetery in France.It is now the location of the largest American burial ground outside of the United States, the Meuse-Argonne cemetery just outside the small village of Romagne sous Monfaucon in France. Originally, there were more than 26,000 Americans buried there. Reinterments back to the States, mostly in the 1920s, dropped the number down to under 15,000, but the effect of this serene, meticulously maintained place is stunning and somber for anyone who sees it.
Even if Americans seem to have forgotten it, almost every day it is visited by young French students who research the names on the white crosses and stars and remember. It remains the source of wonder and awe to them that all of these men came all the way across the sea to fight for, and die for, French freedom. America’s first African-American Medal of Honor recipient is buried there, as are several others.
In 1918, Romagne was ground zero, the central objective of an American attack through what were considered by both the German and the French to be an impenetrable, deep defensive sector, miles deep, between the Argonne Forest and the Meuse River. There was reason for the German focus on defense here: Just to the north, in Sedan, were critical railroad junctions that were essential to supplying the entire German front in France.
Capture of Sedan would mean the collapse of the entire front. The French had spent four years trying to move back the Germans in this sector. In most places, what progress they had made could be measured in a few yards. Elsewhere, the gains were all German.
The Americans, under Gen. John J. Pershing, had a new, large, mostly very green army that had now been assigned this seemingly impossible task. The French and British, it seems, thought the Americans might keep the Germans occupied on this key flank while they pushed forward with their own offensives farther to the west.
What ensued was the Meuse-Argonne Offensive, which remains to this day the largest battle ever fought by the American Army.
Read more: The Meuse-Argonne Offensive of 1918: Sacrifice and triumph against all odds
Gun crew from Regimental Headquarters Company, 23rd Infantry, firing 37mm gun during an advance against German entrenched positions during the Meuse-Argonne Offensive in 1918.
U.S. WWI Centennial Commission to attend
Centennial Ceremonies September 23 for Meuse-Argonne Offensive, Largest Battle in U.S. Military History
By Chris Isleib
Director of Public Affairs, United States World War One Centennial Commission
WASHINGTON D.C. — The largest battle ever in the history of the U.S. military involved well over a million people, almost a thousand aircraft, and 400 tanks.
These troops attacked over a fifty mile-long front line – rushing in after a three-hour artillery bombardment, that expended more ammunition than was used in the entire Civil War.
During seven weeks of combat, wave after wave of American troops attacked against some 450,000 German soldiers from forty-four divisions.
The battle took a horrific human cost – over 122,000 American casualties. By its end, 26,277 Americans lost their lives in the battle, and 95,786 Americans were wounded.
Yet, this awful sacrifice was successful in its aim to help end World War I.
Today, the battle of Meuse-Argonne is not well known. However, the sacrifices are remembered, and will be honored by ceremonies in France, hosted by the American Battle Monuments Commission (ABMC) and supported by the U.S. Defense Department (DoD).
The DH4 "Liberty Plane" on static display on the Experimental Aircraft Association AirVenture grounds last summer.
De Havilland DH-4 Set Tone for U.S. Military Aviation
By Frederick A. Johnsen
via the Experimental Aircraft Association (EAA) web site
Allied collaboration saw a miracle American engine and a durable British airframe combined to make the American-built DH-4 of 1918. Arguably the first American-made combat aircraft of any consequence, the DH-4 served into the 1920s (a few into the 1930s) and gave rise to mail plane derivatives.
In July, a DH-4 that is being groomed for flight in September is on static display at several prominent AirVenture venues. This rare biplane was the subject of a Warbirds in Review session Monday afternoon.
Geoffrey de Havilland’s 1916 design first saw service with the Royal Flying Corps in 1917. Powered by a variety of English engines, the DH-4 was a viable bomber of the day. When the U.S. entered the war, the need for combat aircraft was acute. The DH-4 was then selected for production in the U.S. The rapidly designed American V-12 liquid-cooled Liberty motor was chosen to power American DH-4s. This 400-hp engine proved so impressive that later British DH-9 versions employed the American engine.
In the 1950s, an era when too few people cared about the aging aircraft of World War I, movie pilots Paul Mantz and Frank Tallman scoured the countryside for examples they could put before Hollywood cameras. A Mantz DH-4 later found in Washington made its way to the Friends of Jenny organization in Tennessee, where new life was breathed into the vintage hardware in time for EAA AirVenture Oshkosh 2018.
Its original Liberty engine, built by Lincoln, once was part of the legendary Cole Palen’s Old Rhinebeck Aerodrome collection in upstate New York. The airframe is an unmodified example built by Dayton-Wright, but some other DH-4s received welded tube fuselages in the 1920s as upgrades.
Dorian Walker shepherds the DH-4, both in restoration and exhibition. He points out details like the original metal mounts for the ample wooden wing struts. They’re fine for static display, but new metal will afford a known margin of safety when this DH-4 tests its wings later this year. True to its history, this DH-4 has only a skid, not a wheel, under the tail. So it’s limited to flights starting and ending on grass fields. The group plans to truck the DH to show destinations, where it will be reassembled and rigged (they’ve done it in seven hours) before flying.
Read more: De Havilland DH-4 Set Tone for U.S. Military Aviation
From the World War I Centennial News Podcast
Updates From the States: New Jersey
In September 7th's WW1 Centennial News Podcast, Episode 88, Host Theo Mayer spoke with Sarah Cureton and Veronica Calder about the New Jersey WW1 Centennial Committee. The following is a transcript of the interview:
Theo Mayer: This week for our 'Update from the States' we're headed to the Garden State, New Jersey. Joining us to tell us about the New Jersey World War One Centennial Committee, its origins, its projects and programs for the last few years and it's plans beyond the armistice are Sarah Cureton, executive director of the New Jersey Historical Commission and Veronica Calder, archivist at the New Jersey State Archives. Sarah, Veronica, it's great to have you in the show.
Sarah Cureton: Good to be here.
Veronica Calder: Thank you for having us.
Theo Mayer: We started working together and talking to each other several years ago when you came in to the New Jersey Centennial Commemoration process. You're both with the New Jersey government in an organization. How did New Jersey World War One Commemoration come about? How are the efforts structured?
Sarah Cureton: Well, this is Sarah and the agency I work with is the New Jersey Historical Commission and we are the state agency in New Jersey that is charged with organizing programs for major historical anniversaries so this was a natural way for us to get involved with. We then turned to our wonderful partners around the state and they happily came onboard. We were quickly joined by the New Jersey State Archives, the New Jersey State Museum, the New Jersey State Historic Preservation Office, Rutgers University Libraries and Special Collections and the New Jersey National Guard Militia Museum. We quickly formed a planning committee but then one of the great benefits we have here at the historical commission is that we have a grant program and through the grant program, we were able to provide funding to historical organizations all around the state to do their own World War One project.
From the World War I Centennial News Podcast
Labor Day 1918
In August 31st's WW1 Centennial News Podcast, Episode 87, we took a look back at a truly exciting, and consequential, time in American history: the first week of September 1918. The following is a transcript from the Podcast:
Theo Mayer: We're going to kick off the first week of September and the Labor Day weekend with a look at some amazing domestic events from a hundred years ago. We'll weave together Labor Day, the unions, sedition, bombs, baseball, the Babe, and Butte, Montana as we jump into our centennial time machine to explore the war that changed the world.
We're back in 1918 and this week the nation celebrates Labor Day, a holiday with an interesting heritage and major heft in 1918. The holiday has its genesis in the late 1800s, a time when the trade union and labor movement grew. In the US, a September holiday called Labor Day was first proposed in the early 1880s. By the time it became an official federal holiday in 1894, 30 US states were already celebrating Labor Day. This year, 1918, is the 24th anniversary of the holiday and the Wilson Administration is determined to make this the biggest Labor Day celebration in the nation's history, to remind the American worker of their important role in the war effort.
From the World War I Centennial News Podcast
WW1 Then: September Roundtable
In September 7th's WW1 Centennial News Podcast, Episode 88, our own Theo Mayer and Katherine Akey joined forces with podcast regular Dr. Edward Lengel for a roundtable discussion about the month of September, 1918. The following is a transcript of the conversation:
Theo Mayer: To provide a context for September 1918, Dr. Edward Lengel, Katherine Akey, and I got together to explore what was happening a hundred years ago this month, the overarching themes, the events, and the happenings of September 1918. Here's what we talked about. Ed, let's start with you. In September, what was the main theme?
Edward Lengel: World War One kicks into high gear for the American Forces on the Western Front and indeed for the Allies in general. Ferdinand Foch's master plan for concentric offensives on the Western Front goes into operation with the different Allies attacking from different points along the front. The Americans first enter into combat with the US First Army. This is the first time an American commanded army will launch an offensive on the Western Front at Saint-Mihiel on September 12th. Then it [the First Army] shifts over to the northward on September 26th as a part of Foch's plan to launch the massive Meuse-Argonne offensive that's going to pull in one million American troops, and to this day, it remains the bloodiest and largest battle in American military history.
From the World War I Centennial News Podcast
100 Cities, 100 Memorials:
Caswell Beach, North Carolina
In September 7th's WW1 Centennial News Podcast, Episode 88, Ron and Dr. Norma Eckert of the Friends of Fort Caswell Rifle Range joined the show to discuss their project with host Theo Mayer. The following is a transcript of the interview:
Theo Mayer: Moving on to our 100 Cities/100 Memorials segment about the $200,000 matching grant challenge to rescue and focus on local World War One Memorials. This week, we're headed to Caswell Beach, North Carolina. Here to tell us about the project are Ron and Dr. Norma Eckart, speaking for the Friends of Fort Caswell Rifle Range. Welcome to the podcast.
Ron Eckart: Well, thank you very much and we are very, very honored to be selected long with the NC State Bell Tower and we thank you Theo and Katherine for this occasion.
Theo Mayer: Kind words. Thank you very much. I remember first seeing your grant application when it came through and your project was very different because you weren't a "memorial" per se, but rather a preservation project for a firing range in the middle of what today, I think, is an urban development. Can you tell us a bit about the project?
Entrance to the National World War I Museum and Memorial in Kansas City, MO.
National WWI Museum and Memorial Named One of Top 25 Museums in US by TripAdvisor
By Mike Vietti
Director of Marketing, Communications and Guest Services, National World War I Museum and Memorial
KANSAS CITY, MO. – TripAdvisor, the world’s largest travel site, named the National WWI Museum and Memorial among the top 25 museums in the United States for the fourth time in the last five years as part of its 2018 Travelers’ Choice Awards.
The National WWI Museum and Memorial, which houses the most comprehensive collection of World War I objects in the world, earned a No. 23 ranking from TripAdvisor among the more than 35,000 museums in the U.S.
The Museum and Memorial was one of only three recognized on the top 25 list from the Midwest and the only museum from Missouri or Kansas to receive the distinction. Less than 1 percent of organizations listed on TripAdvisor earn Travelers’ Choice status.
“We are ecstatic to earn this award once again and we dedicate this recognition to our supporters,” said Dr. Matthew Naylor, National WWI Museum and Memorial President and CEO. “As the centennial of the Armistice of World War I approaches on Nov. 11, it’s fitting that this spotlight shines on America’s only official World War I museum and memorial.”
Read more: National WWI Museum and Memorial Named One of Top 25 Museums in US by TripAdvisor
World War I reenactors, equipment, and experts are marching toward Governor's Island in new York City for the annual Doughboy Days September 15-16, 2018.
Saturday and Sunday, Sept. 15 and 16, 2018
Camp Doughboy Returns to NYC - Bigger than Ever!
By Kevin Fitzpatrick, East Coast Doughboys
Special to the United States World War One Centennial Commission web site
A company of living history reenactors will bring World War I soldiers to Governors Island National Monument on Saturday and Sunday, Sept. 15 and 16, 2018, for a free exhibition. Hear WWI authors and experts give free talks about Great War subjects. See demonstrations and hear stories as reenactors portray 1914-1918 combatants at the third annual Camp Doughboy WWI History Weekend.
The centennial of the Armistice to end “The War to End All Wars” is in 2018. A group of 100 volunteer reenactors will share the story of the war with displays and demonstrations. Both men and women will be in full uniform. Vintage cars, trucks, ambulance, and motorcycle circa 1918 will be displayed. Living history experts will provide displays on artillery, communications, infantry, medicine, and the veterinary corps. They will be joined by representation from American Indian House to honor Native American soldiers. The vital role of women in the war is explored in living history exhibitions.
Other areas of interest are a history and genealogy area to trace your WWI ancestors, a fully functioning replica of a U.S. Army field kitchen, and 1918 field music.
Camp Doughboy is held on the Parade Ground of Governors Island National Monument, a 22-acre historic park maintained by the National Park Service. The events are free, open to the public, and run 10:00 AM to 4:00 PM. Ferries run from Brooklyn and Manhattan beginning at 10:00. Ferry information: https://govisland.com/visit-the-island/ferry
Left: Poster from movie premiere at St. Helena High School; top: Teacher Frank Mazzi (left) with the last surviving US World War I veteran Frank Buckles; lower right: Mazzi with the St. Helena High School class members with whom he produced the "An American Experience in World War I" movie.
My High School Elective Class — Making a WWI Film
By Frank Mazzi, Teacher (Retired), St. Helena High School, St. Helena, CA
Special to the United States World War One Centennial Commission web site
In the fall of 2008, I began a history elective class on World War I. The class title was The St. Helena High School World War I Research Institute. I taught the class until my retirement in June 2014, though I continued to meet with students for two more years as we completed a six-year film project on the American experience in the war.
The original goal of the class was to research topics on the American experience in the war and compile never-before-published information on the experiences of American men and women who had served in the war. We uploaded to our class website our summaries of those topics and our biographical treatments of men and women whose WWI experiences had never before been published.
Among our other projects was conducting a filmed interview (in November 2008) of Mr. Frank Buckles, the last surviving United States veteran of the war. That interview is viewable online at the Library of Congress Veterans History Project. We also created a WWI Museum in a dedicated area of the high school’s library, and we set out to produce a film on the American experience in the war.
Read more: My High School Elective Class -- Making a WWI Film