On June 28th, in honor of the Centennial Anniversary of the Treaty of Versailles, a day of remembrance, commemoration, and education, will take place in Versailles, France. The first of The Paris Peace Treaties, this treaty officially ended the state of war between the European Allied Nations and Germany. Presenting Sponsor, the Pritzker Military Museum & Library, along with National WWI Museum and Memorial, and the Doughboy Foundation, will support the activities hosted by the legendary Palace of Versailles. Click here to read more about the Treaty of Versailles Centennial commemorations, and how proceeds from one event will benefit the construction of the new National World War I Memorial in Washington, DC.

Eagle Scout Service Projects are supposed to be challenging, but Aiden Coleman was more ambitious than most. His project: erect a World War I memorial in his Indiana hometown to honor those locals who served in the Great War. Aiden notes that “My troop leaders weren’t so enthusiastic, I think they thought it might be ‘too ambitious.’ And in some ways they were correct.”  But Aiden overcame the challenges of researching the local WWI veterans, and raising the needed funds, and the new Memorial was dedicated on Armistice Day 2018.  Click here to read the whole story of an Eagle Scout’s project that aimed high because “I wanted to do something more meaningful. I knew that I wanted to do something based around World War I.”

The scheduled Olympics in 1916 were canceled due to World War I. While the Olympics resumed in 1920, a seminal event featuring renowned athletes from across the world took place in 1919 in the aftermath of the first truly global conflict in human history. Held from June 22 – July 6, 1919 outside of Paris near the site of the 1900 Olympics, the Inter-Allied Games featured hundreds of male athletes from nations across the world aligned with the Allies during World War I competing in 13 sports. During the course of the completion, more than 500,000 spectators witnessed some of the globe’s best athletes – past, present and future. Click here to read more about how the Inter-Allied Games came about, and how the games “served as a vehicle for healing the wounds from the most catastrophic war to that time in human history.”

A poignant service was held in Scotland to commemorate the centenary of the scuttling of the German High Seas Fleet in Scapa Flow in 1919. More than 50 German ships were sunk in the waters off Orkney to prevent them becoming spoils of war on 21 June 1919. A service was held above the sunken wreck of the warship Dresden. During the service a bell recovered from the wreck of the Von der Tann was rung by the grandson of German commander Admiral Ludwig von Reuter. Click here to read more about the scuttling 100 years ago, and the joint UK/German commemoration events.

The United States Supreme Court ruled last Thursday that a gigantic Latin cross on government land in Bladensburg, Maryland, does not have to be moved or altered in the name of church-state separation. The justices reasoned that the 40-foot cross was erected nearly a century ago as a World War I memorial, not an endorsement of Christianity.  Conceived in 1919 by bereaved mothers of the fallen and completed by the American Legion six years later, the war memorial has become part of the Bladensburg town landscape. Click here to read more about the Supreme Court’s ruling, and the possible effects on other WWI memorials with religious symbolism.

Police are looking for two people who vandalized the Dedication Wall of the National WWI Museum and Memorial in Kansas City early Tuesday, June 18. The vandals struck about 1 a.m. at the Liberty Memorial, when two people were seen spray-painting  the words “Glory to the fallen martyrs . . .” before running away. The graffiti appears to reference the June 1986 prison revolts in Peru where 250 inmates died. The Dedication Wall holds the bronze busts of the five Allied leaders — Gen. Baron Jacques of Belgium, Gen. Armando Diaz of Italy, Marshal Ferdinand Foch of France, Gen. John J. Pershing of the United States, and Sir Admiral Earl David Beatty of Great Britain — present during the site dedication on Nov. 1, 1921. Click here to read more about the vandalism, and efforts to apprehend the perpetrators.

When Mary Fritts noticed three log-shaped monuments in Lyons, Nebraska with “World War I” and the same last name–Crowell–on each of them, she took a closer look. “One inscription read Eva Crowell, WWI nurse. Being the only woman from Lyons to serve in WWI, I wanted to learn her story,” Fitts recounted. Click here to read more about Fritts’ research, and how Eva Crowell came to be added to the new Lyons Veterans Plaza memorial.

In June 21st’s edition of the World War I Centennial News Podcast, Episode 128, host Theo Mayer put together a special edition of World War I Centennial News: an expert panel of historians and subject matter experts for a lively discussion of the complicated and consequential peace process that followed the war. The participants come from three countries and have different academic, literary, and professional credentials. Click here for a fascinating look at an extraordinary time in world history, as told by the people who study it.

In June 7th’s edition of the World War I Centennial News Podcast, Episode 126, host Theo Mayer interviewed historian Dr. Jennifer Zoebelein from the National World War I Museum and Memorial. Zoebelein, who’s a special projects historian at the Museum, recently took on directing a Commission project to create a series of World War I focused Educators’ Toolkits, generally sponsored by the Andrew Mellon Foundation. Click here to learn more about Zoebelei, and her new project to create a series of toolkitson topics that address various social issues related to World War I.

The WW1 Centennial News Podcast is about WW1 THEN: 100 years ago this week, and it’s about WW1 NOW: News and updates about the centennial and the commemoration.  Available on our web site, iTunes, Google Play, Podbean, TuneIn, Stitcher Radio on Demand.  Spotify  listen on Youtube. New – Comment and ask questions via twitter @TheWW1podcast

Episode #128
Special Edition

Making Peace!
Harder Than Making War?

Host – Theo Mayer

This special edition is dedicated to exploring the Paris Peace Negotiations and the resulting Treaty of Versailles. For our exploration, we are joined by an extraordinary panel of guests including:

• Military Historian, Sir Hew Strachan
• Professor of International History, Margaret MacMillan
• Woodrow Wilson Biographer, Professor Patricia O’Toole
• American History Author, Garrett Peck
• Citizen Historian and Artist, Katherine Akey
• Former NPR Correspondent and WWI blogger, Mike
  Shuster

Final Post!

WWI Literature and Authority – Readers With a Vision of Peace

By Phil Klay

“Froth-corrupted lungs,” “a ballet,” “lies,” “the most wonderful war in the world.” These terms present the diverse ways writers have described WWI in literature. But which is the most accurate when it comes to relating the real experience of war? Who has the authority to tell the real story?

These are the questions National Book Award Winner, Phil Klay, contemplates as he surveys various literary works on WWI, written by soldiers, officers, nurses, writers, and intellectuals. In WWrite’s closing post, Klay also provides insight into the ways reading and writing WWI have shaped contemporary thought on war’s impact on culture.

Read “WWI Literature and Authority – Readers With a Vision of Peace” this week!

The night of May 16, 1916, Lieut. Ewart A. Mackintosh’s actions earned him the Military Cross for conspicuous gallantry, as he attempted to rescue two of his seriously wounded men, injured in a raid on German trenches.

Read here one of the most poignant poems of the Great War, Mackintosh’s “In Memoriam” written for Private David Sutherland and others who died that night.

A man is only missing if he is forgotten.

Monday’s MIA this week is is Private First Class James Crooks. Enlisting at Fort McPherson, Georgia, on 23 May, 1917, James O. Crooks was originally born in Seneca, South Carolina in 1894, the son of James E. and Alice Crooks. James junior was one of 11(!) children of this farming family. Assigned to Company K, 47^thInfantry for training, he was transferred to Company K, 9^th Infantry in August, 1917, when he was also promoted to Private First Class. The 9^th was part of the 2^nd Division and it was with them he went to France in September, 1917. By 18 July, 1918 PFC Crooks had seen considerable combat when he was killed in action at Soissons. He is memorialized on the Tablets to the Missing at the Aisne-Marne American Cemetery at Belleau Wood. Nothing else is known about his case at this time.

Want to help shed some light on PFC Crooks’ case? Consider making a donation 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.

“Lest We Forget: The Great War”

World War I Prints from the Pritzker Military Museum & Library 

As the United States commemorates the centennial of World War I, one of the nation’s premier military history institutions pays tribute to the Americans who served and the allies they fought beside to defeat a resourceful enemy with a lavishly illustrated book.  It is an official product of the United States World War One Centennial Commission. The story of WWI is told through the memorable art it spawned―including posters from nations involved in the conflict―and a taut narrative account of the war’s signal events, its major personalities and its tragic consequences; and the timely period photographs that illustrate the awful realities of this revolutionary conflict. Most importantly, this book is a tribute to those who served in the Army, Navy, Marine Corps and what would become the Air Force. Proceeds from the sale of this book help fund the WW1 Memorial in Washington, DC.

This and many other items are available as Official Merchandise of the United States World War One Centennial.

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“If one had taken a short hike on Flag Day in Elysian Park in Los Angeles on the one hundredth anniversary of the dedication of the park and passed by the World War One monument there, your heart surely would have taken a patriotic beat at what you witnessed. A proud display by a striking color-guard, a moving rendition of our National Anthem, and heroic tales of bravery in the field all added to the remarkable feeling of dignity and gratification at being an American.” So writes Bill Betten, California WW1 Centennial Task Force Co-Director, of the ceremony in Los Angeles last week.  Click here to read Bill’s entire report on the Centennial event in Los Angeles.

An interesting new World War I-themed photo book project will come out later this year. The 640-page book, entitled “„In the Centennial Footsteps of the Great War“, the book will be a tribute to the centennial of the First World War, done through contemporary imagery. We spoke to the book project’s author, Attila Szalay-Berzeviczy, about the book’s photography, and the book’s aims. Attila has an interesting background — he is an economist, a photographer, the founder of Historical Military Photos Ltd, and the former President of the Budapest Stock Exchange. Attila took some time to talk to us about his amazing World War I project, and share some of the incredible photography featured in the volume.

The Centennial Commission has been partners and friends with a number of organizations over the years. Among them is a very special group — the Society of the Honor Guard, Tomb of the Unknown Soldier. This group has a strong focus — to make certain that the individuals that made the ultimate sacrifice of their life for our freedom are not forgotten, and that the general public understands this price of freedom. The members of the Society are preparing for the Centennial of the arrival of the first Unknown at Arlington National Cemetery. To help us all mark this special anniversary, Society members have developed a new initiative to help us to remember the service of our veterans, and the memory of our fallen. We were able to talk with the Project Director, Richard Azzaro, about the project.

Over the last several summers, visitors to the Charles Lindbergh Historical Site have had the chance to take a look into the lives of people on the home front of World War I, thanks to volunteers and staff reenacting life on the Lindbergh property at the time. That will come to an end after this summer. In its final year, visitors can come enjoy the program Saturday July 6, July 20, Aug. 3, Aug. 17 and Aug. 31. Through a tour of the Lindbergh home, visitors learn  some of the things people went through during the war on the Home Front. Click here to read more about the World War I programming at the Charles Lindbergh Historical Site in Minnesota this summer.

20 years ago, Cathedral of the Rockies music director Paul Aitken composed a choral piece that captures the hope and despair felt by World War I soldiers on the fields of Flanders in Belgium. This month, Aitken will travel to Flanders to conduct a performance of “Flanders Fields” on June 23. He recently joined Idaho Matters to talk about the importance of the piece and performing it at the site of its inspiration.  Click here to listen to the PBS interview, and watch a video of the choral performance.

The Great War ended on Armistice Day in November 1918; by June 8, 1919, the city of Reading, PA was dedicating a memorial to the 224 soldiers from there and surrounding communities. Reading rededicated its World War I ‘Doughboy’ Monument during a ceremony Saturday, June 8, the 100th anniversary of its original dedication. Click here to read more about the centennial rededication, including the unique story of the Doughboy sculpture atop the memorial structure.

In June 7th’s edition of the World War I Centennial News Podcast, Episode 126, host Theo Mayer interviewed Colonel Arthur Tulak, Chairman of the Hawaii World War I Centennial Task Force. Colonel Tulak discusses Hawaii’s role in the First World War, the activities of the Task Force, and an upcoming academic symposium in Honolulu. Click here to read the entire transcript of this podcast interview.

In May 31st’s edition of the World War I Centennial News Podcast, Episode 125, host Theo Mayer spoke with Phil Mazarra, Director of Development and the Chief Fundraiser for the National World War I Memorial in Washington, D.C. Read on to learn more about the Mr. Mazarra’s experience in the fundraising field, and the ongoing effort to raise enough money for the National Memorial- what he calls “the most meaningful project he’s ever raised money for.” Click here to learn more about Phil, and the status of fundraising for the National World War I Memorial in Washington, DC

In May 31st’s edition of the World War I Centennial News Podcast, Episode 125, host Theo Mayer spoke with Rebecca Kleefisch about the background, mission, and plans for the Women’s Suffrage Centennial Commission, of which she is the Executive Director. Click here to read a transcript of the interview, and learn more about to tell us about the Commission, the mission, and the plans for the centennial commemoration of the passage of the 19th Amendment.

The WW1 Centennial News Podcast is about WW1 THEN: 100 years ago this week, and it’s about WW1 NOW: News and updates about the centennial and the commemoration.  Available on our web site, iTunes, Google Play, Podbean, TuneIn, Stitcher Radio on Demand.  Spotify  listen on Youtube. New – Comment and ask questions via twitter @TheWW1podcast

Episode #127
Highlights: Stars and Stripes

Aftermath of WWI Perspective – Host | @ 02:25

Stars And Stripes Last WWI Issue – Host | @ 04:15

Insights into Stripes – Robert H. Reid | @ 06:45

Preserving the Stripes’ Legacy – Laura Meyer & Sue Mayo | @ 10:05

Germany in Shock at Peace Treaty – Mike Shuster | @ 13:55

War Memoirs From WWI: “John Lucy” – Dr. Edward Lengel | @ 18:15

WWI Genealogy Research Guide Update – Host | @ 23:50

American POWs in WWI – Col Greg Eanes, (USAF ret.) | @ 25:30

Mobile WWI Museum Update – Keith Colley | @ 32:20

Dispatch Highlights – Host | @ 40:15

WWrite Tripleheader!

This week, WWrite features three new posts in preparation for ending the blog series in June. National Book Award winner, Phil Klay, will write the last post next week, but before we say this final, exciting goodbye, we are honored to present the following authors this week:

1. They Shall Not Grow Old – and Neither Have We
By Teresa Fazio

This past January, amid headlines of US negotiations with the Taliban and lingering Syrian ISIL strongholds, former Marine Officer and award-winning freelance writer, Teresa Fazio, escaped internet news for an afternoon of 3D immersion in They Shall Not Grow Old, by Peter Jackson. But when she forked over twenty bucks for a ticket, she didn’t know that what would strike her even harder than this impressive technical reconstruction was the similarity of the youthful soldiers to my Marines in Iraq in 2004. Don’t miss “They Shall Not Grow Old – and Neither Have We,” by Teresa Fazio this week at WWrite!

2. Movies That Made Me – A Farewell to Arms
By Jenny Pacanowski

Often people ask former Army medic, Jenny Pacanowski, at her poetry events if she started writing before her deployment to Iraq in 2004 or before. She answers that it was watching old movies on her parent’s couch, that made her a poet. This week, she shares inspiration gained from the 1957 version of Hemingway’s iconic WWI novel, A Farewell to Arms. While the time and circumstances were different, Hemingway’s tale from almost100 years ago resonates with her experience as a medic in Iraq. Read Movies That Made Me – A Farewell to Arms by Jenny Pacanowski at WWrite this week!

3. When the War Didn’t End
By Rob Bokkon

Every WWI aficionado knows the date and the hour. 11AM, Paris time, November 11, 1918. The Armistice and the end of the Great War. The world was free from tyranny. Safe for democracy, in the words of President Woodrow Wilson. As writer Rob Bokkon, this week’s third WWrite contributor attests, however, on the global scale, tragic stories abound about how the war didn’t end on November 11, 1918. Part of these unknown stories involve American troops fighting the Bolsheviks in the nascent Soviet Union, and the lynching of African-American veterans in the South, often by their own brothers in arms. Read Bokkon’s post, When the War Didn’t End, to understand why he thinks these stories are just as much a part of the Great War narrative as the tales of heroism at WWrite this week!

General George S. Patton is best known for his leadership in WW2, but in WW1, he served with the US Tank Corps.

Not many people know that Patton was also an enthusiastic writer of poetry: his poem dedicated to the tanks he commanded is one of his quirkier literary efforts.

A man is only missing if he is forgotten.

Monday’s MIA this week is Private Earl Cliett. Born in 1891 at Cairo, Georgia, Earl I. Cliett was the son of Lee and Amanda Cliett, farmers by trade, and one of four children. He was living in the town of Reno, in Grady County, Georgia when he enlisted in the Regular Army at Fort Thomas, Kentucky on 3 April, 1917; just days before President Wilson declared war on Germany. He was immediately assigned to Company I, 28^th Infantry. He sailed on 14 June aboard the troop ship Tenedores, bound for France – one of the first contingent of American soldiers to arrive ‘Over There’, where the 28^th Infantry would be an integral unit of the newly forming 1^st Division. Private Cliett served in all the battles the 28^th Infantry was involved in until he was killed in action on 20 July, 1918. He is memorialized on the Tablets to the Missing at the Aisne-Marne American Cemetery at Belleau Wood. He was the first soldier from Grady County, Georgia killed in the war and his family received word on 2 August, 1918.  Nothing else is known about his case at this time.

Want to help shed some light on Private Cliett’s case? Consider making a donation to 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.

Commemorative Ball Cap

Inspired by the iconic image of a U.S. Doughboy, you can wear your American pride with this Made in the USA hat. The poignant lone silhouette of a soldier in trench warfare serves as a reminder of those who sacrificed so much one century ago. The Navy hat with white Doughboy embroidery is a 100% cotton, structured with contrasting pancake visor, sweatband and taping, and pre-curved bill. The velcro closure features U.S. flag emblem. A Certificate of Authenticity as Official Merchandise of the United States World War One Centennial is included. Order your Doughboy Commemorative hat here.

This and many other items are available as Official Merchandise of the United States World War One Centennial.  Proceeds from the Official WWI Centennial Merchandise help to fund the building of the national World War One Memorial in Washington, D.C.

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