Annie Oakley is renowned for being probably the best Woman Sharpshooter to ever live. Through her talent with firearms, she became a national celebrity in the United States during the late 1800s and into the early 20th century. While she was most famous for her feats of skill and shooting tricks during her time performing with Buffalo Bill Cody’s Wild West Show, she was also a huge supporter of the war effort when the United States entered into World War I. As Charles Pauley reports, she participated in a number of ways, and even tried to raise a small army to be used at the United States’ disposal. Click here to read more, and learn how (allegedly) at one point, she had the opportunity to “prevent” the war with a single shot. 

In the late 1980s, the chance discovery of a notepad of lined paper on a sidewalk in Menlo Park, California was the beginning of a 30-year odessey by Mike Forester to identify the creator of what appeared to be the diary of an American World War I Doughboy, from June 28th through October 3, 1918. Forester’s dogged and detailed research paid off with the eventual identification of the diarist as Private Rabb Forest Mobley. But that wasn’t the end of the story. Click here to read more, and learn how Forester’s research eventually reunited the diary with Mobley’s family over 100 years after it was written.

Most rising high school seniors have enough to keep them occupied just looking forward to graduation, and deciding where to go college or work. But Charlotte Yeung had a little time on her hands, and while an intern at the American Battlefield Trust last year, she decided to write an illustrated (by her) book on battlefield preservation aimed specifically at children. Click here to read more, and learn how, in the process of authoring her newly-published book Isabelle and the Magic Bird, she learned a lot about both World War I, and the importance of memorials honoring those Americans who served their nation in wars.

With the Fourth of July just around the corner, writer Bob Alvis wanted to look back at America’s involvement in World War I, and specifically those daring young men in their flying machines: a group of volunteers who would become legendary in the world of American aviation: the famous Lafayette Escadrille. But his research for the article in Aerotech News took some unexpected turns. Click here to read more, and find out about those early day American volunteers and the true meaning of their sacrifice on the world’s behalf, and the restoration of the memorial to their service in France.

The City of Lakewood, Washington is recognizing two men who have helped preserve a living memorial to the thousands of American soldiers who died in World War I: the Boulevard of Remembrance Oaks. Shortly after WWI, 500 oak trees were planted along the highway running from Fort Lewis to Tacoma, a memorial to those who served and died in the war. But in the decades since the highway was expanded into I-5, encroaching upon the boulevard, and only 31 of the original 500 oaks remain standing. Click here to read more, and learn how two men who have been working on a solution to restore the memorial trees have been honored by the city.

The phrase “Retreat Hell!” has been the motto of one of the Marine Corps’ most-decorated infantry battalions for more than two decades, and has long served as a motivational quote to inspire Marines past and present. Writing on the Task and Purpose web site, Paul Szoldra (a Marine himself) recalls how “on June 2, 1918, a captain named Lloyd Williams thought to say the iconic cool guy quote in the heat of battle during World War I, and in so doing cemented himself in Marine lore.”

Writing on the Business Insider web site, Benjamin Brimelow gives the context for the famous saying in the Marines’ orders from Headquarters: “No retirement will be thought of on any pretext whatsoever” in Belleau Wood, and discusses how the Marine’s first battle in World War I still influences the Corps a century later.

Palm trees planted in the median of Las Olas Boulevard as a World War I memorial in the 1920’s were the beginnings of the iconic Fort Lauderdale boulevard that won a national competition for most beautiful street in America some years ago. But the coming redesign of the 2.4-mile historic corridor has tongues wagging and keyboards clacking, with residents blasting their opinions on social media and in emails to City Hall. “Removing … the center trees is crazy to me,” one man from Las Olas Isles griped. Click here to read more about the project, and the divisions it has created in the communities along the famous road.

Nearly everyone can identify with the feeling of finding long-forgotten items stored in the attic. But when the items are more than a century old, such a find becomes newsworthy. Commander Mike Ferro of the Akroyd Houde Post 132 American Legion recalls that Marlborough resident Matty Sargent, a Navy reservist and ardent history buff, recently asked about taking a look in the attic to see if there were any interesting artifacts stored up there. Click here to read more, and learn how what Sargent unearthed in the Post attic sheds new light on the World War I service of area residents, and even created something of a family reunion a century later.

Stony Brook University on Long Island, NY assigned students in certain courses to study the history and literature of World War in the Spring of 2021. A few students elected to fulfill an experiential learning requirement visiting, researching, and writing about a WWI memorial on Long Island. Click here to read the report of student Jun-Yi Wu on the WWI Memorial at the Copiague, Long Island train station, which was created just after WWI, but augmented significantly during the war’s Centennial.

Norwich City Historian Dale Plummer connected the dots meticulously to make a solid connection between National Doughnut Day on June 4, and the effort to resume fundraising to restore the city’s World War I howitzer and create a lasting memorial to local soldiers of that war. Click here to read more, and learn how the event also raised awareness of the many nonfighting groups that played a role in the Great War, such as the Knights of Columbus, American Red Cross, YMCA, and other organizations.

Dracut, MA is a small town, but it is not lacking on volunteers. From the Dracut Scholarship Foundation to Old Home Day, the people of Dracut always come together for a good cause. One new volunteer project underway in town is being organized by Dracut High School student Richard Silvio, founder and president of the World War I Rededication Committee. Its purpose: to restore the town’s WWI memorial, and to educate the public on Dracut’s efforts during World War I. Click here to read more, and learn how and why a high school student has taken the lead in remembering and restoring the town’s World War I legacy.

In a massive and little-remembered project after World War I, the U.S. sent out 74,000 questionnaire cards asking the families of dead soldiers if they wanted the body of their loved one shipped home for burial, and then tried to fulfill their wishes. The repatriation effort came about as the United States was preparing for the solemn homecoming of the lone unknown soldier in November, 1921. Click here to read more about the challenges, obstacles, and successes of the colossal task which “Neither the United States nor any other nation up until that time had ever attempted.”

When the Durham, NC WWI memorial went up in 1921, it listed Durham County men who’d died in the war, with the names of the white soldiers etched into the front of the monument, and the names of the Black soldiers on the back. This year, the city unveiled a plaque in front of the memorial, complete with historical context and a full list of the men who died in that war. Click here to read more, and learn how the names on the revised memorial are organized not by race, but in alphabetical order. More than a hundred years after those men could have died together in a trench, they are listed together in a prominent place in their home county, which they once departed never to return.

Glimpses from the Great War, a documentary more than 30 years in the making by filmmaker Jim Nowak (left), tells the story of World War I through the eyes of Pvts. Howard Sweet and William Claus, both Toledoans who served together in the Ohio National Guard’s 37th “Buckeye” Division with the 135th Field Artillery from 1917 to 1919. The last surviving veteran of the World War I died in 2012, but the last stories of the war didn’t die with her. Nowak’s film provides a glimpse of why: while Claus passed in 1993 and Sweet in 1994, Nowak interviewed both in 1986. Click here to read more, find out where to view the documentary, and learn how his own family tragedy led Nowak to record the videos at the core of the film.

Rep. Sara Jacobs of California has asked the Navy to name a new ship after Telesforo Trinidad, a Filipino American sailor who received the Medal of Honor in 1915. Trinidad, who saved his crewmembers after boiler explosions aboard the armored cruiser USS San Diego, is the only Filipino American and the only Asian American sailor to receive the Medal of Honor. A future USS Telesforo Trinidad would be the first warship named after an American of Filipino descent. Click here to read more about the recommendation that Trinidad’s name be used for a future Navy surface combatant.

A widespread sense that time has split into two — or pandemics creating a “before” and “after” — is an experience that’s associated with many traumatic events, say experts. This social phenomenon is both psychologically and practically relevant, in that pandemics — including the 1918 influenza and Covid-19 pandemics — significantly affect how we assess and act on risk, or stay resilient, but also how we work, play and socialize. Click here to read more, and learn how the startling and harrowing nature of the 1918 flu and its fatal consequences induced a sense of caution that, in some places, had permanent implications for how people would respond to disease outbreaks in later decades, and may be reflected again in our own pandemic a century later.

A man is only missing if he is forgotten.

Our Doughboy MIA this month is Private Leroy Sealey, Machine Gun Company, 369^th Infantry Regiment, 93^rd Division.

Sealey has the distinction of being the first MIA we are featuring from the famous ‘Harlem Hell Fighters’, the 369^th Infantry, of which there are 27 names on the MIA roll. The 369^th was an all-black regiment created from the old 15^th New York National Guard infantry regiment (the 15^th ‘Heavy Foot’), an old and well-regarded regiment.

Unfortunately, with the National Archives still closed, we were only able to gather limited information on Sealey’s story. ‘Roy’, as he was generally known, was born in the British West Indies, most likely in 1896. His mother’s name was Marion and he was the middle of three children (two boys and a girl). It appears the family arrived in New York in about 1907. The family was living on west 99^th Street in New York City when Roy enlisted in the 15^th New York on August 8^th, 1916. Following the declaration of war, he was called to active duty on July 15^th, 1917 and assigned to Company I on July 25^th. It is believed that with them he sailed to France aboard the USS Pochahontas, arriving in France on December 27^th, 1917 though no shipping manifest has yet been found containing his name.

The 15^th was federalized as the 369^th Infantry in France and was first assigned labor duties at the docks, unloading incoming ships, before finally being assigned to the French army on April 8^th, 1918. Welcomed into the French forces, they were issued with French weapons, helmets and combat gear and entered the trenches on May 8^th, 1918.The regiment would gain an enviable combat record spending 191 days on the front line, more than any other U.S. regiment, and suffer some 1,500 casualties – almost a third of their numbers –  by the time of the Armistice, as well as the respect of the Germans they faced.

Roy Sealey was assigned to the Machine Gun Company/369^th on June 4^th, 1918, which was armed with the M1914 Hotchkiss heavy machine gun, and he would see combat in the Berzieux, Minancourt and Cahiere sectors. He was killed in action on September 28^th, 1918 but nothing concerning his death is known at this time. He is memorialized on the Tablet to the Missing at the Meuse-Argonne American Cemetery at Romagne sous Montfaucon. In 1931 his mother participated in the Gold Star Mother’s Pilgrimage.

Wish you could help us account for America’s missing servicemen from World War I? You can! Consider making a donation to Doughboy MIA today. Simply go to www.ww1cc.org/mia and click the donation link. It’s quick, easy, tax deductible, and our non-profit organization uses the money to continue research and, soon, to mount field expeditions – all of which costs money. Your donation gives you the chance to help out and be part of the solution.

Can you spare just ten dollars? Give ‘Ten For Them‘ to Doughboy MIA and help us make a full accounting of the 4,423 American service personnel still listed as missing in action from WW1. Make your tax deductible donation now, with our thanks.

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