In this latest episode of the World War I Podcast, we are joined by Lillian Pfluke, a retired U.S. Army major and a member of the pioneering first class of women to graduate from West Point in 1980. After her military career, she spent ten years working for the American Battle Monuments Commission as the Private Memorials Administrator of the European Region before founding American War Memorials Overseas, an organization dedicated to identifying and preserving the thousands of U.S. war memorials found around the world. In this conversation, we discussed the many private World War I memorials overseas, what they commemorate, and why they continue to matter more than a century later. 

Learn more about American War Memorials Overseas.

Links to photos of memorials discussed: 

WWI Medal of Honor awardee in Montenegro: https://www.uswarmemorials.org/html/monument_details.php?SiteID=1379&MemID=1812

Dudley Tucker: https://www.uswarmemorials.org/html/monument_details.php?SiteID=155&MemID=235

Aviation Training Center Monument with 171 training accident death: https://www.uswarmemorials.org/html/monument_details.php?SiteID=614&MemID=897&keyword=paudy

Is-sur-Tille: https://www.uswarmemorials.org/html/monument_details.php?SiteID=227&MemID=350&keyword=is+sur+tille

Murville link:  https://www.uswarmemorials.org/html/monument_details.php?SiteID=483&MemID=750 

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www.macarthurmemorial.org 

In the history of the United States, 31 of 45 presidents have served in the military, with two dozen of them serving during wartime. Yet only one president was a combat veteran of World War I: Harry S. Truman. The war shaped an entire generation of leaders, and Truman often said his service profoundly influenced his life and leadership. To explore Truman’s World War I service and its impact, the World War I Podcast hosted Mark Adams, Director of the Truman Presidential Library and Museum. 

To listen to a presentation by Mark Adams about President Truman's relief of General MacArthur in 1951, please visit the MacArthur Memorial Podcast.

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www.macarthurmemorial.org 

In 1917, with Paul von Lettow‑Vorbeck’s forces fighting a desperate guerrilla campaign in East Africa and supplies running dangerously low, the German Navy proposed an almost unbelievable solution. They would send a single airship from Bulgaria on a nonstop, one‑way mission across the Mediterranean, over enemy territory, and deep into the African interior. It was one of the most daring and least‑known operations of World War I. 

To explore the story of the Africa Ship, the World War I Podcast hosted historian and author Dominic Etzold, author of The Africa Ship: Ludwig Blockholt, Zeppelin L 59, and the Most Daring Rescue Mission of World War I. 

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www.macarthurmemorial.org 

The First World War is often talked about as a global event that had a tremendous impact on everything, but how did the nations, organizations, and people involved in the war actually “frame” or understand the conflict they were fighting? That's the question at the heart of Framing the First World War: How Divergent Views Shaped a Global Conflict, a recently published collection of essays that draws on diverse fields and methods to shed just a little more light on a war that remains incompletely understood. To discuss some of these “frames” of understanding, the World War I podcast hosted the editors of Framing the First World War: Dr. Michael P.M. Finch, Dr. Aimée Fox, and Dr. David G. Morgan-Owen. 

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World War I historiography is heavily focused on the Western Front, and the memoirs of soldiers of the Central Powers—especially for English language audiences—are often rare or inaccessible. 

A Tale of Two Fronts: A German Soldier’s Journey through World War I helps fill this gap. Written by Hans Schiller, who enlisted in the Imperial German Army at age seventeen, the memoir covers his service primarily on the Eastern Front, his experiences in the war’s final months in the West, and his postwar fighting with the Freikorps until May 1920.

To discuss these experiences and his perspective of the war, the World War I Podcast hosted his granddaughter, Karin Wagner, and the editors of his memoir, Dr. Gregory Loving and Dr. Frederic Krome. 

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Arthur MacArthur III is less well known than his younger brother General Douglas MacArthur and his father, the Civil War hero Arthur MacArthur Jr., but his military career was also quite consequential and full. From the Spanish-American War to his untimely death in 1923, he distinguished himself as a very brave, resourceful, and energetic officer. Unlike his father and brother, however, he did not serve in the US Army. Instead, he served in the US Navy.  

Historian Jeff Acosta joined the World War I podcast to share what is known about Arthur's World War I service.

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General Douglas MacArthur is arguably the most decorated American military officer in American history. For a career that spanned five conflicts and about 50 years of active duty, it is an impressive record. His service in World War I accounts for nearly 20% of his 100+ decorations, and many military historians view the combination and number of his U.S. and international honors from 1917–1918 as truly unique. To discuss these World War I awards, the World War I Podcast hosted Sherman Fleek, a military historian and former command historian at West Point who has published on General Douglas MacArthur and the history of the US Military Academy.

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From massive national memorials to simple plaques in tiny villages, the need to remember and try to make sense of World War I was universal. Though World War I memorials stand across the U.S. it wasn’t until 2021 that a national World War I Memorial was created in Washington, D.C. To explore the significance of the National World War I Memorial and its place in history, the World War I Podcast hosted Chris Christopher, a member of the Doughboy Foundation Board.

To access additional resources and view images of the National World War I Memorial, please visit the Doughboy Foundation website: https://doughboy.org 

September 12 Symposium Registration: https://thedoughboyfoundation.ticketspice.com/inaugural-world-war-i-symposium-the-generation-that-changed-the-world-voices-from-the-great-war 

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2025 marks the 60th anniversary of the release of The Sound of Music, an enormously successful Hollywood film with fans all over the world. As with any story Hollywood translates to the silver screen, the film is a mix of fact and fiction. What is not fiction, however, is that the leading male protagonist, Captain Georg von Trapp, had served in the Austro-Hungarian Navy and was a decorated veteran of World War I. To explore this fascinating history, the World War I Podcast hosted Johanna II von Trapp and Shela Gobertina von Trapp, Co-Founders of the Georg & Agathe Foundation, and Boris Blazina, Historian at the Institute of Lexicography in Zagreb, Croatia, and editor of the Croatian translation of Georg von Trapp's 1935 WWI memoir published.

Learn more about the Georg & Agathe Foundation and Captain von Trapp's military service: Georg & Agathe Foundation

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Edward Mandell House, better known as Colonel House, was a pivotal figure in American politics and diplomacy during World War I, serving as President Woodrow Wilson’s closest advisor and confidant from 1913 to 1919. A wealthy Texan, House was a skilled political operator who shunned public office but wielded immense influence behind the scenes. His role during World War I was particularly significant in shaping U.S. foreign policy and Wilson’s vision for peace. To discuss House, the World War I Podcast hosted Andrew Phillips, Curator at the Woodrow Wilson Presidential Library and Museum in Staunton, VA.

Part 2 of 2

Listen to Part I.

Learn more about the Woodrow Wilson Presidential Library and Museum.

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www.macarthurmemorial.org