WW1 Centennial News

• May 1918 Preview Roundtable - Ed Lengel, Katherine Akey, Theo Mayer | 02:50

Welcome to World War 1 centennial News - episode #70 - It’s about WW1 THEN - what was happening 100 years ago this week  - and it’s about WW1 NOW - news and updates about the centennial and the commemoration.

This week:

• Dr. Edward Lengel, Katherine Akey and I sit down for our
  

• Mike Schuster, from the great war project blog with a story of conflict within the Allied forces.

And lots more... on WW1 Centennial News -- a weekly podcast brought to you by the U.S. World War I Centennial Commission, the Pritzker Military Museum and Library and the Starr foundation.

I’m Theo Mayer - the Chief Technologist for the Commission and your host. Welcome to the show.

[MUSIC]

Before we get going today, I wanted to tell you about some great new features for the WW1 Centennial News Podcast.

First of all, you can now listen to the latest episodes of WW1 Centennial News on YouTube -  if you happen to prefer listening that way!

And something I think is really exciting and useful when you go to our podcast web site at ww1cc.org/CN (Charlie Nancy). When you click the “read more” of the episode, just below the highlights you will find the full and accurate transcript of the show - interactively linked to an audio player. With it, you can scan OR search --- the text of the transcript and wherever you double click - the audio will play. Or if you are listening and want to copy and paste a segment of the transcript for you newsletter, school report or blog, just pause and scan down the scranscript, The section you were hearing is highlighted in blue.

This very cool, new interactive transcript technology has been provided by a great little startup called Jotengine… and we have added it to make our podcast even more useful for students, teachers and everyone who wants to share the story of the war the changed the world.

[SOUND EFFECT]

Alright... The first week of every month, we invite you to our preview roundtable where Dr. Ed lengel, Katherine Akey and I had talk about the coming month and the key events that happened 100 years ago.  The question on the table as we sat down was, “ what WERE the big stories and themes in May 1918… What follows is our conversation.

[roundtable - see transcript for details]

[SOUND EFFECT]

So that is an overview for the coming month - but now let’s join Mike Shuster - Former NPR corresponded and curator for the Great War Project blog as he explored another key battle that plays out on the Western Front… The battle between the Allied Generals and American General John J. Pershing.

They did not see eye-to-eye at all… and Black-Jack Pershing was not going to waver from his belief about how the US army needed to engage.

It sound like it was more than just a little contentious Mike!

[MIKE POST]

Mike Shuster from the Great War Project blog. The links to Mike Shuster’s Great War Project blog and the post -- are in the podcast notes.

LINK:

http://greatwarproject.org/2018/04/29/the-allies-quarrel/

[SOUND EFFECT]

America's Top-Scoring Ace Scores his First Victory

It is a changing of the guard,  for the War in the Skies over Europe 100 years ago this April and May.

In April 1918, Germany’s Manfred von Richthofen falls,

and in May America’s Raoul Lufbery.

One of the new names that rises among these ashes is that of a Columbus Ohio native every bit as much of a flamboyant character as the early fliers. Before joining the service, he was a famed race car driver who set a land speed record at Daytona of 134 miles per hour - a tough guy, technically too old to be accepted into flight school, and a guy who claimed he was afraid of heights - His name was  Eddie Rickenbacker…

Born the oldest son of 5 siblings 1890  -- young Eddie had to step up to become the major family breadwinner, quitting school at only 12 years old, when his father died in a construction accident. A tough beginning for what would turn out to be quite a guy!

Having developed a passion for the new technology of the internal combustion engine - by 16 he had landed a job with a race car driver named Lee Frayer, who liked the scrawny, scrappy kid - and let him ride in major races as his mechanic.

By 1912 - the young 22 year old was driving his own races and winning! and crashing! and surviving!

When war broke out in 1917, Rickenbaker volunteered - but at 27 years old -- was already too old to get accepted to flight school - something the speed demon really wanted to do!

Because he had a reputatioh as a race car driver - he was enlisted as a sergeant and sailed for Europe as a driver.

There is a lot of lore that he drove John J. Pershing, but that is generally disputed. However, he DID get an assignment to drive Billy Mitchel's flashy twin -six -cylinder packard and talked himself into flight school through the boss!

His WWI flying exploits are legendary and the kid from Ohio came home a national hero

But that was just the beginning of a colorful life for a scrappy and scrawny kid, turned Ace of Aces, airline President, famed raft suvivor of a plane ditching in the Pacific, potential presidential candidate - who lived large in living color..,, and finally died in 1973 at the age 83 having launched his career as a WWI fighter pilot in the war in sky one hundred years ago this week.

Link:http://www.firstworldwar.com/bio/rickenbacker.htm

http://www.historynet.com/captain-eddie-rickenbacker-americas-world-war-i-ace-of-aces.htm

http://acepilots.com/wwi/us_rickenbacker.html

For videos about WWI 100 years ago this week, and from a more european perspective --- check out our friends at  the Great War Channel on Youtube.

New episodes this week include:

• The first tank-on-tank battle in history --

Plus….

• The Finnish Jägers in World War 1

See their videos by searching for “the great war” on youtube or following the link in the podcast notes!

Link:https://www.youtube.com/user/TheGreatWar

Alright  - It is time to fast forward into the present with WW1 Centennial News NOW -

[MUSIC TRANSITION]

This part of the podcast isn’t the past --- It focuses on NOW and how we are commemorating the centennial of WWI!

[SOUND EFFECT]

This week in Commission News -- We heard, with great distress that the lovely Oak sapling from Belleau Wood,  that had been planted by President’s Macron and Trump on the white house lawn last week - had mysteriously GONE MISSING~!!

One day it was there - the next - it wasn’t!

Much to our relief, the mystery was resolved quickly. It turns out that the tree - which has made it’s journey from Europe with Macron had to be put into temporary quarantine - a typical procedure for living agricultural goods imported from overseas.

It’ll be put back to its original spot as soon as it get out of detention!

We put a link to the story in the podcast notes!

Link: https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics/mystery-solved-why-trump-macron-friendship-tree-vanished/ar-AAwxbt3?OCID=ansmsnnews11

We have a spotlight on the media for you!

The spotlight is on US General of the Armies, the American Expeditionary Forces commander General John J. Pershing.

[RUN AUDIO CLIP FROM TRAILER]

That clip is from a new documentary “Black Jack Pershing: Love and War” - and today -- we’re joined by the film’s producer -  Barney McCoy professor of journalism at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln.

Welcome, Barney!

[welcome/greetings]

[Barney-- I understand your film looks is not just about Pershing the General but also Pershing the man, who also suffered and endured great personal tragedy and heartbreak in his life. Can you give us an overview of the story in the film?]

[Now, you made this documentary by incorporating hundreds of U.S. Army Signal Corps photographs and films from the National Archives -- what was the research process like? And did you come across anything surprising as you were poking around the archives?]

[How did you get involved in this film? How did it happen?]

[A very important question… When and where can people see the film?]

[thank you/goodbyes]

Barney McCoy is professor of journalism at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln and the producer of “Black Jack Pershing: Love and War”. We’ve included links to the film’s trailer, website and upcoming screenings in the podcast notes!

Links:https://www.archives.gov/calendar/event/black-jack-pershing-love-and-war

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ru3DzGSwdeE

https://jjpershing.com/

This week For Remembering Veterans -- we’re turning our attention away from the battlefield and looking at a phenomenon that took more lives than the bullets or shells.

With us to explore the story of the Flu pandemic 100 years ago, is Kenneth C. Davis, bestselling author of the  “Don’t Know Much About” book series. In fact, during our editorial meeting, when we were discussing the interview our intern, John enthused that these books were on his shelf as he was growing up… Well, Kenneth’s new book is coming out on May 15th and it is called:  More Deadly Than War: The Hidden History of the Spanish Flu and the First World War .. a fascinating subject by a wonderful writer!

Kenneth! Welcome to the Podcast.

[greetings]

[Ken- Let’s start with the name of this flu pandemic - Patient Zero was not from Spain were they?]

[How big and bad was it? I have heard a lot of varying numbers but whatever they are, the scale staggers the imagination!]

[We have a global war - we have a global pandemic - how do the dots connect? ]

[Ken - what made this particular flu so especially deadly?]

[Well, a quick follow up on that - and Katherine our line producer asked about this - with so many advanced in medicine in this particular moment in history - why did medicine not get ahead of this one?]

[Do you think this deadly global event still echoes today? ]

[Thank you so much for coming in and speaking with us today!]

[goodbyes/thanks]

Kenneth C. Davis is the bestselling author of the Don’t Know Much About Book series. Don’t miss his upcoming -  More Deadly Than War: The Hidden History of the Spanish Flu and the First World War available at your favorite bookseller May 15th!

We have put links to his work and upcoming events in the podcast notes.

Links: www.dontknowmuch.com

http://dontknowmuch.com/books/more-deadly-than-war/

http://www.pritzkermilitary.org/whats_on/pritzker-military-presents/kenneth-davis-more-deadly-war/

https://www.amazon.com/More-Deadly-Than-War-History/dp/1250145120/ref=sr_1_6

For WW1 War Tech -- we are going to tell you the amazing and tragic story of a WW1 era technologist, the German chemist Fritz Haber!

Fritz Haber is one of the most underappreciated actors of World War I whose discoveries spanned from the life giving to the life taking.

He was celebrated with Nobel Prize for developing chemical fertilizers -- and equally vilified for another invention, chlorine gas.

Tragically one of his most vocal critics was his wife, Clara, who was not only an ardent pacifist but an accomplished chemist herself.

The invention of what is known as the “Haber Process” was the result of wartime necessities. Even before World War I, German military strategists recognized the potential of a total British naval blockade on their country, which would do tremendous damage to their ability to import the materials required to manufacture weapons. One particularly vulnerable commodity were the nitrates imported from South America, used in the development of ammonia for explosives.

Haber discovered a new method of creating ammonia by combining nitrogen and hydrogen gases. Since ammonia is also used as a fertilizer, the Haber Process allowed for the mass production of agricultural fertilizers, transforming agriculture both inside and outside Germany. Much of the reason behind why the world is able to support a population of more than seven billion is the use of these  fertilizers, which all have their roots in the Haber Process. And for his method of creating artificial ammonia, Haber was awarded the Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 1918.

But as we said, another of Haber’s invention would come to overshadow this incredible discovery. When World War I finally broke out in 1914, the quick victory expected by many military generals soon became a slow, bloody struggle to shift the frontlines only a few miles either way. The German High Command quickly realized they needed a new, fearsome weapon to break the stalemate. It was the strongly patriotic Haber who came up with the solution: by combining the ammonia he extracted from the air with chlorine, he could produce a gas that would asphyxiate all who encountered it-- Haber was on hand personally when his Chlorine Gas was first released by the German military at the Second Battle of Ypres.  Over 5,000 men, not recognizing this new weapon’s true danger, were quickly overcome, and were found by their fellow soldiers with their faces turned black and shirts torn open in a desperate search for air. Germany’s use of poison gas at Ypres would set a precedent for an unprecedented tactic, one that would scar many men for a lifetime after the war ended.

People around the world were horrified by Harber’s new, deadly invention, but among the most repelled was Haber’s own wife, Clara.

At a party celebrating his promotion to Captain as a result of his work in poison gas nine days after the test at Ypres, Clara directly confronted her husband, calling him morally bankrupt and his efforts monstrous. Haber ignored her. Later that night, no longer able to stand her marriage, Clara shot herself in the garden with her husband’s pistol. Haber left the next day to supervise another gas attack on the Western Front, leaving his young son to grieve alone.

After the war ended in Germany’s defeat, a brokenhearted Haber would try to single handedly pay back the burdensome war reparations by inventing a process to distill dissolved gold floating in the ocean, an ultimately unsuccessful endeavour.

There is a final,  tragic and ironic twist on Haber’s legacy… during WWII - When the Nazi regime was looking for ways to best murder their many classes of undesirables, they came upon one of Haber’s products, a pesticide called Zyklon. The Nazi authorities used this chemical to gas millions of innocent victims in the Holocaust, including the Jewish German Haber’s own friends and family.

Fritz Haber, a brilliant man whose fertilizer invention have fed billions,

who’s weaponized inventions killed million,

whose wife shot herself in protest

and whose family and friends were finally gassed in concentration camps with his own invention…

an epic, tragic and another amazing story of

the war that changed the world

and this week’s WWI War Tech.

We have links for you in the podcast notes.

Links:https://www.popularmechanics.com/military/research/g1577/7-surprising-scientific-advances-that-came-out-of-world-war-i/

http://www.chm.bris.ac.uk/~paulmay/haber/haber.htm

https://www.sciencehistory.org/historical-profile/fritz-haber

https://www.britannica.com/topic/Gymnasium-German-school

https://www.britannica.com/biography/Fritz-Haber

https://medium.com/the-mission/the-tragedy-of-fritz-haber-the-monster-who-fed-the-world-ec19a9834f74

https://jwa.org/encyclopedia/article/immerwahr-clara

This week for our 100 Cities / 100 Memorials segment

---  the $200,000 matching grant challenge

to rescue and focus on our local WWI memorials ---

We are updating one of the very first projects

we profiled on the podcast -

From even before the first round of submissions were closed.

Joining us again for an update on the 100 Cities / 100 Memorials project from Brownwood Texas is Dr. Steve Kelly, the immediate past president of the Central Texas Veterans Memorial -

Steve welcome back to the show.

[Greetings and Welcome]

[Steve - The last time we spoke your project was just a candidate, but it has since been designated an official WW1 Centennial Memorial - Congratulations…]

[For your project you moved your WWI memorial from behind a bush at an old, closed high school to a new memorial site at your local American Legion post 196… Can you tell us a bit more about that?]

[As I recall from the last time we spoke, you have both a commemoration and an educational component to you project - how did you do that?]

[Steve - What stage is the whole project at now and do you have rededication plans?]

[Thank you for coming on and giving us an update on your project from Brown County Texas!]

[Thanks/goodbye]

Dr. Steve Kelly is the immediate past president of the Central Texas Veterans Memorial in Brownwood, Texas.

Learn more about the 100 Cities/100 Memorials program by following the links in the podcast notes or by going to ww1cc.org/100Memorials

Link: www.ww1cc.org/100cities

Welcome to our weekly feature “Speaking World War 1” -- Where we explore the words & phrases that are rooted in the war  ---

Let’s start by thinking… Obsessive, Compulsive Consumption….

I heard a great analysis of our modern media times recently. It talked about the fact that in our new age, we no longer have “stop cues” for media consumption. You don’t read the paper, you take in an endless stream of news feeds and tweets. You don’t watch a TV show, you find yourself awake on the couch at 3am with just 2 episodes left to finish the fourth season of The Office -- and you’re not alone!

Without “stop cues” the analysis went on, we are media binging all the time.. And that brings us to our Speaking WW1 word for this week…. BINGE.

And who would you have thought that that phrase made its way to the 21st century by way of the trenches?

Binge was originally a “Northern English” term meaning to over-indulge. The word first appeared in printed form in 1854,

with a clearly alcohol-related connotation. And a connotation that may have carried forward for many of our listener to their college years with Binge Drinking!

The term remained regional to Northern England until World War 1, when it spread through the english speaking forces and became standardized in the English lexicon.

It also started being used to describe the obsessive compulsive, consumption of food.  Which led to the description of an eating disorder called binge & purge…

So now it’s meaning has expanded to include any number of new categories: food, drink, media, entertainment and… well many others!

Binge-- obsessive, compulsive, consumption - and this week’s words for speaking WW1. There are links for you in the podcast notes.

Links:https://www.phrases.org.uk/meanings/binge-drinking.html

http://www.dictionary.com/browse/binge

http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/articles/4tN7cVtY2VY2sbGtX6z9Df3/12-words-from-100-years-ago-we-love-to-use-today

[SOUND EFFECT]

For Articles and posts -- here are some of the highlights from our weekly Dispatch newsletter which you can subscribe to at ww1cc.org/subscribe or through the podcast notes.

[DING]

Headline: Two WWI nurses led the way for women

in today’s Wisconsin National Guard

Read the story of two women serving

as Army nurses in World War I

pioneering the opportunity for women to serve in every duty position

in the Wisconsin National Guard.

[DING]

Headline: NARA is getting WWI Army Division records online - with citizen help!

The National Archives Records Administration also know as NARA

Is getting Citizen Archivists to help make these records more accessible. If you’d like to help NARA transcribe these historic handwritten records - You CAN! There’s a link in the podcast notes for you to get started.

[DING]

The studio that brought you 'Wallace and Grommit' is creating an emotional World War I game

Read more about the new videogame 11-11: Memories Retold, a narrative adventure about two World War I soldiers who meet under the "most unlikely of circumstances."

[DING]

Headline: Doughboy MIA for week of April 30

Read about Pvt. Charles H. Holland, a native of Mississippi and member of the 2nd Division-- 9th Infantry--Company L-- Charles was  wounded in action during the battle of Soissons--- he was carried off to a field hospital and never seen nor heard from again.

[DING]

Finally, our  selection

from our Official online Centennial Merchandise store -  

this week, with Memorial Day coming up - it’s your last chance to order our small, 8" X 12" WWI Centennial flags for Memorial Day.

This is the year to display the memorial ground flags honoring your local fallen doughboys!

You’ll be doing  "Double Honors", because a portion of the proceeds from the sale of this item goes to building America's National World War I Memorial at Pershing Park, in Washington DC.

And those are some of the headlines this week from the Dispatch Newsletter

Check the links in the podcast notes

Link: http://www.worldwar1centennial.org/index.php/communicate/2015-12-28-18-26-00/subscribe.html

http://www.ww1cc.org/dispatch

https://www.archives.gov/citizen-archivist/missions

And that brings us to the buzz - the centennial of WW1 this week in social media with Katherine Akey - Katherine, what did you pick?

Hi Theo --

We shared a video this week on Facebook from one of the Commission’s Commemorative partners, the French Centenaire 14-18 -- it shows the project undertaken by two frenchmen to restore an American doughboy’s Harley-Davidson-- which they are now bringing to, and driving across America. The motorbike would have been used to carry messages behind the lines, and less than a thousand are thought to have made it to today. Watch the video and read an article about the project at the link in the podcast notes -- we’ve also included a link to the frenchmen’s facebook page so you can follow their journey as they ride the bike across the US!

Also on facebook this week -- we shared a photograph of a humble receipt from the Harry S. Truman Library and Museum. This week 100 years ago, the future president was a Captain in the Army, commanding a battery of field artillery on the western front. And-- his birthday was coming up! So his loving wife Bess ordered him a fruit cake, having it shipped to his 129th field artillery in France. The receipt shows her purchase from the Jones Store Company in Kansas City, Missouri -- likely a fruit cake would survive the journey, and we hope he enjoyed it on his birthday on May 8th, 1918. And if you’re wondering -- it cost a whopping total of $1.40, equivalent to about $25 now, to buy and send the birthday treat. See the receipt yourself at the link in the notes.

Finally this week, I wanted to point you towards a very thoughtful opinion piece from the Military Times website -- May is Mental Health Awareness Month, a subject that has been deeply important to the success and wellbeing of our armed service members throughout history. The article is entitled “A century after ‘shell shock,’ struggle to address post-combat trauma continues” -- and it opens up questions about our understanding of PTSD, and our relatively recent acceptance of trauma as a significant and common affliction. Read more about how WW1 changed our understanding and treatment of Shell Shock and PTSD at the link in the podcast notes -- we’ll have guests on later this month to continue to address the topic.

That’s it for this week in the Buzz.

Link:https://france3-regions.francetvinfo.fr/pays-de-la-loire/loire-atlantique/nantes/centenaire-14-18-harley-armee-americaine-repart-nantes-us-1467347.html

www.facebook.com/operationtwinlinks

https://www.facebook.com/TrumanPresidentialLibrary/posts/10155390413860770

https://www.militarytimes.com/military-honor/world-war-i/2017/04/19/a-century-after-shell-shock-struggle-to-address-post-combat-trauma-continues/

[SOUND EFFECT]

And that wraps up the first week of May for WW1 Centennial News. Thank you for listening.

We also want to thank our guests...

• Dr. Edward Lengel, Military historian and author

Many thanks to Mac Nelsen our sound editor as well as John Morreale our intern and Eric Marr for their great research assistance...

And I am Theo Mayer - your host.

[MUSIC and under]

The US World War One Centennial Commission was created by Congress to honor, commemorate and educate about WW1.

Our programs are to--

inspire a national conversation and awareness about WW1; Including this podcast!

We are bringing the lessons of the 100 years ago into today's classrooms;

We are helping to restore WW1 memorials in communities of all sizes across our country;

and of course we are building America’s National WW1 Memorial in Washington DC.

We want to thank commission’s founding sponsor the Pritzker Military Museum and Library as well as the Starr foundation for their support.

The podcast can be found on our website at ww1cc.org/cn  - now with our new interactive transcript feature for students, teachers and sharing.

Or search WW1 Centennial News on  iTunes, Google Play, TuneIn, Podbean, Stitcher - Radio on Demand, Spotify or using your smart speaker.. Just say “Play W W One Centennial News Podcast” - and now also available on Youtube at WW1 Centennial.

Our twitter and instagram handles are both @ww1cc and we are on facebook @ww1centennial.

Thank you for joining us. And don’t forget

to share the stories

you are hearing here today

about the war that changed the world!

[music]

Talk about binging - I just got a note from a listeners - who has decided to listening to all of 1917 from our WW1 Centennial news podcast, eating a pizza with every episode, washed down with a six pack.. that sounds awful and I’m just kidding!

So long!

• US Telephone in WWI - Dr. Sheldon Hochheiser, AT&T | @02:25

Welcome to World War 1 centennial News - episode #69 - It’s about WW1 THEN - what was happening 100 years ago this week  - and it’s about WW1 NOW - news and updates about the centennial and the commemoration.

This week:

• Dr. Sheldon Hochheiser tells us about an iconic American company and its role in the war -- AT&T.

And lots more... on WW1 Centennial News -- a weekly podcast brought to you by the U.S. World War I Centennial Commission, the Pritzker Military Museum and Library and the Starr foundation.

I’m Theo Mayer - the Chief Technologist for the Commission and your host. Welcome to the show.

[MUSIC]

Today we are going to explore the US telephone system during the war -- and unlike most nations where the phone systems are typically government owned --- The US Telephone system has always been privately owned - well, not always - for 1 year during WWI -  the US government took over the nation’s telephone system… but perhaps most amazing of all - a year later, after the war, the US government privatized it again!

With that as a setup, let’s jump into our centennial time machine and look at the America’s telephone story 100 years ago - in the war that changed the world!

[SOUND EFFECT]

[TRANSITION]

It is the summer of 1918 and the House Committee on Interstate Commerce is holding hearings about a government take over of the nation’s privately held telephone system.

Only three witnesses are called to testify - Albert Berleson - The Postmaster General, Newton Baker, the secretary of war and Josephus Daniels, the secretary of the Navy.

These three men, eventually backup up by President Wilson -  are pushing for the takeover of the phone system - citing among other things - national security concerns including the protections from spies using this incredibly powerful technology that is rapidly spreading across the land.

Most remarkably ---  that representatives of the phone company are NOT asked to participate in the discussion.

Well, to help us tell this amazing story, we invited Dr. Sheldon Hochheiser, the corporate Historian from AT&T to join us on the show.

AT&T During the War

Welcome, Dr. Hochheiser!

[greetings/welcome]

[Dr. Hochheiser - from an AT&T historical perspective - what was the story here?]

[Were the company executives on record about this? What did they say?

How did this nationalization actually work? The government suddenly declared that they owned the phone lines, but operations continued to be run by AT&T? Or were they? ]

[What happened as a result of the postmaster General’s involvement?]

[The most interesting part of all this FOR ME -  is that control was returned to AT&T again as the war ended. How did that happen?]

[During the war, how did telephone facilities rise to meet wartime needs? ]

[Dr, Hochheiser - We just got in a question from our Live audience. Frank Krone wants to know what happened to AT&T’s chief technologist John Carty - after the war?]

[How did this 1-year event help shape AT&T as a company?]

[goodbye/thanks]

Dr. Sheldon Hochheiser is the corporate historian at AT&T. Learn more about the company and its WW1 history at the links in the podcast notes.

Links: https://scholarship.law.upenn.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?referer=https://www.google.com/&httpsredir=1&article=1466&context=faculty_scholarship

https://www.warhistoryonline.com/war-articles/inventions-flourished-due-wwi.html

http://soldiers.dodlive.mil/2014/03/world-war-is-hello-girls-paving-the-way-for-women-in-the-u-s-army/

https://www.corp.att.com/history/history1.html

[MUSIC TRANSITION]

It is time for Mike Shuster -- former NPR correspondent and curator for the Great War project Blog….

Mike: Your post this week indicates a turning point for the Spring Offensive. As Ed Lengel pointed out previously in our roundtables, the German goal was to split the French and the British armies and drive the british to the ports and off the mainland.

But it looks like that plan has failed! What is going on Mike?

[MIKE POST]

Mike Shuster from the Great War Project blog. The links to Mike Shuster’s Great War Project blog and the post -- are in the podcast notes.

LINK:

http://greatwarproject.org/2018/04/22/german-morale-is-flagging/

[SOUND EFFECT]

Welcome to our segment - America Emerges: Military Stories from WWI with Dr. Edward Lengel.

Ed: Mike Shuster pretty much covered the fighting front here at the end of April - - but your story this week offers us a wonderful and completely different perspective on the events in Europe and a very, very special person - The “Sweetheart of the Doughboys” -  Singer and entertainer Elsie Janis. What is her story Ed?

[ED LENGEL]

[MUSIC TRANSITION]

Dr. Edward Lengel is an American military historian, author, and our segment host for America Emerges: Military Stories from WWI.

There are links in the podcast notes to Ed’s post and his web sites as an author.  

Links:http://www.edwardlengel.com/elsie-janis-becomes-sweetheart-doughboys-1918/

https://www.facebook.com/EdwardLengelAuthor/

http://www.edwardlengel.com/about/

For videos about WWI 100 years ago this week, and from a more european perspective --- check out our friends at  the Great War Channel on Youtube.

New episodes this week include:

Knocking out the Hejaz Railway

Another of the very popular “Out of the Trenches” episodes where host Indy Neidel takes questions from the audience

And finally

Felix Graf Von Luckner -- Who did what in WW1?

See their videos by searching for “the great war” on youtube or following the link in the podcast notes!

Link:https://www.youtube.com/user/TheGreatWar

Alright  - It is time to fast forward into the present with WW1 Centennial News NOW -

[SOUND EFFECT]

This part of the podcast isn’t the past --- It focuses on NOW and how we are commemorating the centennial of WWI!

Gift from French President recalls WWI USMC heroics in Battle of Belleau Wood

This week in Commission news-- we were excited to see that French President Emmanuel Macron brought a special gift to the White House during his visit to Washington -- one that bears great World War I significance: it was a European Sessile Oak sapling from the Belleau Wood in France.  

Presidents Trump and Macron - ceremonial shovels in hand - planted the commemorative tree on the White house lawn.

The Battle of Belleau Wood is one of the most important American engagements of World War One -- it was the first major battle for the US Marines during the conflict and is still viewed as a seminal moment in Marine Corps history. Fighting alongside British and French troops, America suffered more than 9,700 casualties.

You can read more about this meaningful and symbolic gift, and see pictures of the ceremonial planting at the White House, by following the links in the podcast notes.

link:https://www.worldwar1centennial.org/index.php/communicate/press-media/wwi-centennial-news/4376-special-gift-from-the-president-of-france-recalls-american-wwi-heroics.html

This week For Remembering Veterans -- As we have pointed out before --- there are actually more veterans of WWI than just the soldiers and sailors - As the men headed off to training camps and to Europe - The women of America needed to pick up the role of their missing men -- Especially when it came to feeding the nation. And that is the story of the “Farmerettes and the Women’s Land Army”.

With us to explore that story is Elaine Weiss, journalist and author of multiple books including Fruits of Victory: The Woman’s Land Army in the Great War --- as well as The Woman’s Hour: The Great Fight to Win the Vote.

Welcome to the podcast, Elaine!

[greetings]

[Elaine-- Feeding the nation AND sending desperately needed food to our allies was strategically critical - how did American Womanhood stand up to that task?]

[Where did the idea to create a Women’s Land Army come from? ]

[How did the Women’s Land Army experience play into the suffrage movement? Were the Farmerettes paid for their work?

Equal pay for equal work?]

[What was the reception the women received -- both on the ground, by the farmers, the public, and the government?]

[What became of the farmerettes once the war ended… especially when the men came home?]

[Did the legacy of these women set a precedent when the second world war came around? ]

[How about their influence on the women in the workforce today?]

[goodbyes/thanks]

Elaine Weiss is an award winning journalist and author of multiple books, including the recently published The Woman’s Hour: The Great Fight to Win the Vote from Viking Books. Read a rave review of her new book, and learn more about her work by following the links in the podcast notes.

Links:http://elaineweiss.com/

https://www.nytimes.com/2018/04/18/books/review/womans-hour-elaine-weiss.html

This week from our WWI  centennial events registers at ww1cc.org/events -- there is a great one at North Carolina State University, on May 1st!

Back in Episode #64, we spoke to Thomas Skolnicki [SKOAL-nick-ee], the Landscape Architect for the University -- retired US navy Rear Admiral -- Benny Suggs, the director of NC State's Alumni Association  and US Air Force Veteran, World War One Centennial Commissioner Jerry Hester --

All three men are NC State University Alumni, and all involved in the school’s 100 Cities, 100 memorials project.

They told us about the restoration of the school’s belltower -- and about this upcoming rededication event.

The event will include a full military ceremony with a 21-gun salute and a flyover of F-15s from the 4th Fighter Wing stationed at  Seymour Johnson Air Force Base, in Goldsboro, NC.

It’s an opportunity for all to learn about the sacrifices made by NC State students and the commitment that the school has made since its inception to military service and leadership.

Nearly 2,000 students and alumni served in WWI, and the Bell Tower includes the names of the 34 who died in that service.

So if you’re in the area -- be sure to check it out! We have links for further details in the podcast notes.

Link:https://news.ncsu.edu/2018/04/belltower-event-commemorates-end-of-wwi/

https://www.alumni.ncsu.edu/s/1209/16/interior.aspx?sid=1209&pgid=6092&gid=1001&cid=9908&ecid=9908&post_id=0

In our International Report-- This past Wednesday, April 25th is a day of special remembrance that has its roots in World War One- It is known as ANZAC day which stands for Australian and New Zealand Army Corps, whose soldiers are known as Anzacs.

and here to tell us more about the past, present and future of ANZAC day are Group Captain Peter Davis of the Australian Defense Staff and Commander Peter Kempster of the New Zealand Defense Force.

Gentlemen, welcome to the podcast

[greetings/welcome]

[So what’s the story of ANZAC day? What’s the origin?]

[How is ANZAC day celebrated in Australia and New Zealand? And does the commemoration differ between the two nations?]

[[This is the last centennial year-- what were commemorations like on Anzac day this year?]

[I think many people may be familiar with the ANZAC’s involvement at Gallipoli-- but that engagement was over by 1916. Where did the forces deploy to after that?]

[Personally, what does ANZAC day mean for you?]

[thanks/goodbye]

Group Captain Peter Davis is the Assistant Defense Attache and

Chief of Staff

of the Australian Defense Staff

at the US Australian Embassy

and Commander Peter Kempster is the

New Zealand Naval Attache

to the US for

the New Zealand Defense Force.

Learn more about ANZAC day and the centennial organizations of both countries by following the links in the podcast notes.

Link: https://www.awm.gov.au/index.php/about/our-work/projects/centenary-projects

http://www.anzaccentenary.gov.au/

http://www.defence.gov.au/events/centenaryofanzac/ProgramOfEvents.asp

https://ww100.govt.nz/

https://mch.govt.nz/what-we-do/our-projects/current/first-world-war-centenary-projects

This week for our 100 Cities / 100 Memorials segment

---  the $200,000 matching grant challenge

to rescue and focus on our local WWI memorials ---we are going to profile the World War I Memorial project from Granite, Oklahoma.

With us tell us about Granite, Greer County and their inspiring WWI story are Phil Neighbors, pastor of the Valley  Baptist church and a native son of Granite, and Perry Hutchison, retired Army Colonel and former professor at the Command and General Staff College at Fort Leavenworth Officer Training School.

Gentlemen, welcome to the podcast

[greetings/welcome]

[Phil: In your grant application you describe Granite, Oklahoma as a small community of heroes - that’s an intriguing opening line! What did you mean?]

[Phil: American Legion Post 121 in Mangum Oklahoma is placing a new monument in the World War 1 Memorial Park in Granite. Can you tell us a little about those specifics please?

[Well, Phil - As I we talked off line, there is another Oklahoma 100 Cities / 100 Memorials awardee from Towson, Oklahoma. So this is interesting - It seems that Oklahoma has a big WWI story to tell  - but doesn’t seem to have a WWI centennial organization or Website - maybe this will help stimulate something to come together!]

[Phil: Thank you for bringing us the story of the heroes from your corner of the country. It’s been great to have you on!]

[thanks/goodbye]

Phil Neighbors is pastor of the Valley  Baptist church and a native son of Granite, Oklahoma and Perry Hutchison, retired Army Colonel and former professor at the Command and General Staff College at Fort Leavenworth Officer Training School

Learn more about the 100 Cities/100 Memorials program by following the links in the podcast notes or by going to ww1cc.org/100Memorials

Link: www.ww1cc.org/100cities

It’s time for our weekly feature “Speaking World War 1” -- Where we explore the words & phrases that are rooted in the war  ---

We are sticking with our ANZAC theme...

New Zealand, as were all the Dominion nations of the British Empire, was thrown into World War 1 by Britain’s own declaration of war on August 4, 1914.

When the New Zealanders arrived in Europe - Their uniforms were emblazoned with badges, emblems, and insignias of Kiwis - and NO… It’s not an egg-shaped fuzzy fruit - It’s the big, flightless and quite unique national bird of New Zealand! And one of our two Speaking WWI Words this week - these soldiers were instantly nicknames the Kiwis!

As for the Australians, Also a dominion nation - their WWI soldierly nickname

and that stuck ever since

is our second Speaking WWI word this week - Aussies. Kind of obvious - and you know it -- but I’ll bet you didn’t know that the nickname came from WWI!

Kiwis and Aussies-- nicknames earned during the war that helped cement these two great nations and their identities -- and this week’s words for speaking WW1.

Links:https://ww100.govt.nz/where-britain-goes-we-go

https://nzhistory.govt.nz/war/first-world-war-overview/introduction#ft1

http://mentalfloss.com/article/58233/21-slang-terms-world-war-i

http://slll.cass.anu.edu.au/centres/andc/annotated-glossary/a

http://online.wsj.com/ww1/australia-new-zealand-founding-myths

[SOUND EFFECT]

For WW1 War Tech -- this week we are headed underground to learn about yet a sonic invention of necessity.

Within just a few months of the first construction of a trench, the tangle of an estimated 25,000 miles of trenches spread from the English channel to the Swiss border. The only way to attack the enemy was through a costly offensive in No Man’s Land, or… and I did not know this….  underground via a system of tunnels.

This method of offensive mining quickly became standard in some areas. And so… a device that could detect an enemies’ digging patterns would prove immensely valuable.

It was a Professor Jean Perrin of the Sorbonne University in Paris, who provided just that type of device with his invention of the geophone in 1915.

It was basically a specialized stethoscope like device -- that could amplify sound traveling underground --- sort of an earth sonar, enabling a skilled listener to detect the distance and location of German tunnels.

Some imaginative soldiers operating geophones under ground would often interpret strange things from the noises they picked up - one report from a New Zealand Tunneling Company describes how one listener swore he had heard a horse eating oats, which the author noted could only have been true if the horse had been a prehistoric fossil!

The report went on to detail the exhausting process of piecing out all the sounds a geophone operator could hear while underground, and determining which ones were harmless and which ones signified hostile activities.

This underground duty QUOTE “strained body, brain, and nerve” like no other.

Because of these pressures, tunnelers often received up to four times as much pay as soldiers on the surface. And, by and large, their work paid off: it was British tunnelers blew up 19 mines simultaneously at Messines in June 2017, killing approximately 10,000 German troops and creating the most powerful man-made explosion prior to Hiroshima.

The geophone-- the subject of this week’s WW1 War Tech.

We have put links in the podcast notes to learn more\

Links: http://ww1centenary.oucs.ox.ac.uk/space-into-place/the-war-underground-an-overview/

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/history/world-war-one/inside-first-world-war/part-eight/10741888/world-war-one-weaponry.html

https://nzhistory.govt.nz/media/photo/listening-with-a-geophone

For Articles and posts -- here are the highlighted features from our weekly dispatch newsletter.

[DING]

Headline: Building a World War I tank in the garage

Read an interview with two of our friends who have a pretty unique weekend project. They are building a WWI tank in a garage. Actually, we should say that they are building another WWI tank in a garage -- they already completed one, earlier last year!

[DING]

Headline: Pennsylvania WWI Centennial Committee sets World War I History Symposium at the U.S. Army History & Education Center

Read about this exciting symposium event -- which will feature four unique and engaging presentations by retired U.S. Army Major Kurt Sellers, retired U.S. Army Lieutenant Colonel John D. Shepard, author Gloria J. House, and genealogist and historic researcher Barbara Selletti.

[DING]

Headline: WWrite blog: In a Lonely Forest

This week’s WWrite blog post features one writer’s quest to uncover the story of WW1 era lyricist, Josef Rust.

[DING]

Headline: Story of World War I Choctaw Code Talkers told at Reims event in France

Read about a special April event in Reims, France where the story of the Choctaw code talkers was presented to the local audience.

[DING]

Headline: Help sought to return World War I medal unearthed in N.J. woods to vet's family

A metal detector recently unearthed a WW1 service medal -- read about its discovery and the efforts to return it to its original owner’s family.

[DING]

Headline: The story of Otho Bradford Place

This week’s featured Doughboy MIA is 2nd Lt. Otho Bradford Place, a native of Bremen Indiana who died in battle during an attack along the Agron River.

[DING]

Headline: Official WWI Centennial Merchandise

Finally, our  selection from our Official online Centennial Merchandise store -  this week, it’s the Centennial Commemorative Pin! Proudly Wearing the WWI 100 Years lapel pin is a fantastic way to start a conversation. The question, what’s that? Can lead to great discussions about the centennial, the commemoration and WWI. Wear the pin and let the world know it’s the centennial!

And those are the headlines this week from the Dispatch Newsletter

Sign up for the Weekly Dispatch newsletter at ww1cc.org/subscribe check the archive at ww1cc.org/dispatch or follow the link in the podcast notes.

Link: http://www.worldwar1centennial.org/index.php/communicate/2015-12-28-18-26-00/subscribe.html

http://www.ww1cc.org/dispatch

And that brings us to the buzz - the centennial of WW1 this week in social media with Katherine Akey - Katherine, what did you pick?

Trench Art and Commemoration Follow Up

Hi Theo --

This past week had a lot of commemorative events happen -- and we’ve shared images and video from them on our Facebook page that you can see in the podcast notes. Events included the dawn ANZAC ceremony at the Korean War Memorial in DC  and in NYC’s Vietnam Veteran’s Memorial Plaza-- French President Macron participating in a wreath laying ceremony at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier -- and commemoration of the Battle of Seicheprey in Connecticut. You can also see some great images of ANZACs in the field  on our Instagram at ww1cc -- including a photo of some aussies camped out at the foot of the Great Pyramids with their mascot Kangaroo!

Also shared on our Facebook page this week was a historic video from ECPAD, a French archive of historical defense audiovisual material. The video shows soldiers, and prisoners of war, fashioning various objects from leftover military equipment, like spent shells, shrapnel, and broken pallets. These Trench Artists create vases, buckets, decorative mementos, toys, pipes, and musical instruments from the detritus of the war around them -- and also repair clothing and boots, recycle old wax into new candles, and more. You can watch these improvisational artisans working by following the link in the podcast notes.

That’s it for this week in the Buzz.

Link:https://www.facebook.com/ww1centennial/photos/pcb.967365740105391/967365683438730/?type=3&theater

https://www.facebook.com/wwi100nyc/posts/1623102094475370

https://www.instagram.com/ww1cc/

https://www.facebook.com/ArlingtonNationalCemetery/posts/10157322536098976

https://www.facebook.com/CTinWorldWar1/posts/1666362546743273

https://www.facebook.com/laurentnice/videos/10213046223568254/

And that wraps up the last week of April for WW1 Centennial News. Thank you for listening.

We also want to thank our guests...

• Dr. Sheldon Hochheiser, corporate historian at AT&T

Many thanks to Mac Nelsen our sound editor as well as John Morreale our intern and Eric Marr for their great research assistance...

And I am Theo Mayer - your host.

The US World War One Centennial Commission was created by Congress to honor, commemorate and educate about WW1.

Our programs are to--

inspire a national conversation and awareness about WW1; Including this podcast!

We are bringing the lessons of the 100 years ago into today's classrooms;

We are helping to restore WW1 memorials in communities of all sizes across our country;

and of course we are building America’s National WW1 Memorial in Washington DC.

We want to thank commission’s founding sponsor the Pritzker Military Museum and Library as well as the Starr foundation for their support.

The podcast can be found on our website at ww1cc.org/cn  

Or search WW1 Centennial News on  iTunes, Google Play, TuneIn, Podbean, Stitcher - Radio on Demand, Spotify or using your smart speaker.. Just say “Play W W One Centennial News Podcast”.

Our twitter and instagram handles are both @ww1cc and we are on facebook @ww1centennial.

Thank you for joining us. And don’t forget

to share the stories

you are hearing here today

about the war that changed the world!

[music]

So, you know how we always do a closing joke - typically about our speaking WWI word. Well, when I researching jokes about ANZAKS - here is what came up in Google.

An unwritten law in Australia and New Zealand is “Don’t make jokes about the Anzacs.” You can make jokes about almost anything except the Australian and New Zealand Army Corps

That’s pretty funny!

So long!

• The Mystery of the USS Cyclops | @ 02:40

Welcome to World War 1 centennial News - episode #68 - It’s about WW1 THEN - what was happening 100 years ago this week  - and it’s about WW1 NOW - news and updates about the centennial and the commemoration.

This week our guests include:

• Mike Shuster, from the great war project blog. Mike updates us on the American Expeditionary Forces as their inexperienced officers struggle with the challenges of  battle command.

All this and more... on WW1 Centennial News -- a weekly podcast brought to you by the U.S. World War I Centennial Commission, the Pritzker Military Museum and Library and the Starr foundation.

I’m Theo Mayer - the Chief Technologist for the Commission and your host. Welcome to the show.

[MUSIC]

This week’s focus is on the War in The Sky.

You’ll learn about some new action up there,

the death of one of the most prominent aces of the era,

new educational materials arriving this week for teachers about the WWI air war,

and a story about the tech that kept pilots from shooting off their propellers as they engaged the enemy.

But first… as we jump into our centennial time machine and go back 100 years this week - we are going to start --  

not in the sky but with a mysterious story about the war on the seas and also Germany’s claims about the success of their u-boats!

[SOUND EFFECT]

[TRANSITION]

It’s the middle of April 1918 and in the pages of the Official Bulletin, the government’s daily war gazette, published for President Wilson by George Creel, his propaganda chief --  this week we find articles of a missing ship - A big one !

[SOUND EFFECT]

Dateline: Monday April 15, 1918

The headline in the bulletin  reads:

Naval Collier Cyclops Overdue Since March 13 at Atlantic Port;

Left West Indies.

Personnel on Board Consisted of 15 Officers, 221 Men of Crew, and 57 Passengers - Searched for, by Radio and Ships, But No Trace is to Be Found.

An the story reads:

The U. S. S. Cyclops, a navy collier of 19,000 tons displacement, loaded with a cargo of manganese, is overdue at an Atlantic port.

She last reported at one of the West Indian Islands on March 4, and since her departure from that port no trace of her nor any information concerning her has been obtained.

Radio calls to the Cyclops from all possible points have been made and vessels sent to search for her along her probable route and areas in which she might be - all with no success.

Weather Has Not Been Bad.

A Collier is a Coal Carrier and The Cyclops is a massive one. She is 540 feet long and 65 feet wide. It is so big it is often referred to as a “floating coal mine,”

The ship should have been docked in the waters off Baltimore after she  was sent to Brazil to pick up a load of manganese.

Now, manganese is pretty valuable stuff right now. It is a mineral of great strategic importance to the war and used in the production of both iron and steel. In fact the lack of this mineral is a major problem facing the German steel makers and iron makers and the Cyclops had just picked up a 12,000 ton load of it.

Nothing from the ship will be found. No wreckage, oil slicks or debris. Not even a distress call. And speculation will rage throughout history, leading to wild theories involving everything from a mutiny and a secret sale to the Germans, sinking by U-boats near Puerto Rico and even giant skids dragging her under. The mystery of the USS Cyclop will span a century without resolution.

There is also news this week about the war UNDER the sea

[SOUND EFFECT]

Dateline: Tuesday, APRIL 16, 1918

The headline in the NY Times reads:

CREW OF U-85 HERE ARE PRISONERS - THIRTY-EIGHT GERMANS CAPTURED BY DESTROYER FANNING, TO BE INTERNED IN GEORGIA

Captain Lieutenant Amberger, the German commander of the craft, which was sunk last november heads the party.

And the story reads:

Franklin D. Roosevelt acting Secretary of the Navy has given out tonight the names of the German prisoner of the submarine u-38.

When the craft was wrecked by a depth bomb dropped by the Destroyer Fanning, on November 17 last,

the crew of the Fanning picked up several life buoys which bore on one side the word "kaiser" and on the other the word "Got".

The prisoners were taken to an English port and turned over to British authorities.

By agreement between the British, the US Navy and the US Army the prisoners are being taken to Camp McPherson near Atlanta Georgia.

Meanwhile another article this week presents the claims of the German Commander of the Navy that U-boats are winning the war on the sea.

[SOUND EFFECT]

Dateline: Amsterdam - April 18, 1918

A  headline in the NY Times reads:

CAPELLE ASSERTS U-BOATS IS WINNING

Tells Reichstag Three to Six times as Many Ships Are Sunk as Are Built.

AMERICAN DESTROYERS FAIL

CONVOYS ALSO A FAILURE

And the story reads:

Vice Admiral Von Capelle, German Minister of the Navy, discussing submarine warefare before the main Committee of the Reichstag delcared that the new U-Boat construction exceeded the losses and that the effectiveness of the submarines had increased.

The Minister declared that the American Destroyers, "Which had been so much talked about" had failed in their objective.

Admiral von Capelle described as a base lie the statement made by Sir Eric Geddes, First lord of the British admiralty, that German U-boat crews were unwilling to put to sea and that claims by British statesmen that there had been extraordinarily big losses of U-boats were grealy exagerated.

Claims of fake news from the war on the seas 100 years ago this week!

USS Cyclops and UBoat News

https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1918/04/16/102690731.pdf

https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1918/04/15/98261516.pdf

https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1918/04/16/102690586.pdf

https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1918/04/18/98262008.pdf

https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1918/04/19/102691763.pdf

https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1918/04/19/102691804.pdf

https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1918/04/19/102691823.pdf

https://timesmachinenytimes.com/svc/tmach/v1/refer?pdf=true&res=9806E4DE1F3FE433A25754C1A9629C946996D6CF

Contemporary Cyclops news:

http://www.foxnews.com/us/2018/03/14/more-than-100-years-later-great-mystery-vanished-uss-cyclops-remains-unsolved.html

http://www.navyhistory.org/2013/06/unanswered-loss-uss-cyclops-march-1918/

http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/maryland/baltimore-city/bs-md-uss-cyclops-20180312-story.html

Fighting in France:

https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1918/04/15/98261538.pdf

https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1918/04/15/98261525.pdf

https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1918/04/16/102690556.pdf

https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1918/04/16/102690562.pdf

https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1918/04/17/102691147.pdf

https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1918/04/17/102691155.pdf

https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1918/04/18/98261912.pdf

https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1918/04/18/98261915.pdf

https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1918/04/18/98261916.pdf

https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1918/04/19/102691733.pdf

https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1918/04/19/102691736.pdf

https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1918/04/20/102692321.pdf

[MUSIC TRANSITION]

Now moving to the story on land and in the trenches and fields of the western front, It is time for Mike Shuster -- former NPR correspondent and curator for the Great War project Blog….

Mike: Your post last week ended on a note of the American troops moving to the front and Ed Lengel followed with the hard lessons the Yankee division received as they engaged in Seicheprey.

This week, you continue with the incredible challenges the Americans face - not from the courage or spirit of the fighting men, but from the lack of experience of the American field commanders - few of whom have had any actual battle command and they are facing the desperate fierceness of the enemy.

What is the next chapter of the story Mike?

[MIKE POST]

Mike Shuster from the Great War Project blog. The links to Mike Shuster’s Great War Project blog are in the podcast notes.

LINK:

http://greatwarproject.org/2018/04/15/more-americans-reach-the-battlefieldunprepared/

[SOUND EFFECT]

Welcome to our segment - America Emerges: Military Stories from WWI with Dr. Edward Lengel.

This week, Ed introduces us to the 2nd Division - a mix of army and Marine brigades, interesting leadership, and a destiny to play key roles in the upcoming battles of the war. These are army soldiers and marines learning to fight an enemy determined to understand them, devastate them and destroy them… but this time the doughboys turn the tables.. Of course we, the audience, already know the outcome of the war. The American eventually figure it out and prevail… but the lessons continue to hurt!

[ED LENGEL]

[MUSIC TRANSITION]

Dr. Edward Lengel is an American military historian, author, and our segment host for America Emerges: Military Stories from WWI.

There are links in the podcast notes to Ed’s post and his web sites as an author.  

Links:http://www.edwardlengel.com/2nd-division-goes-army-first-combat-maizey-1918/

https://www.facebook.com/EdwardLengelAuthor/

http://www.edwardlengel.com/about/

Ok… Now we are moving to the War in the Sky -- it’s mid-April of 1918 and America’s newly minted US Army Air Corps has joined the fighting front above the trenches.

This week - 100 years ago -- Two U.S. Army Air corps pilots of the First Aero Squadron shoot down two enemy German planes over the Allied Squadron Aerodome in France. The encounter as lightning fast; just six minutes after the front line signaled that German airplanes were crossing the American trenches and heading towards the aerodome,  Lieutenant A.S. Winslow of Chicago and Lieutenant Douglas Campbell of California had brought two enemy aviators down.

It was the first U.S. Army Air corps dogfight in history. One of the German planes was set on fire, and the other was knocked out but landed pretty much undamaged -- and their German pilots taken prisoner.

Both American aviators eventually received the Croix de Guerre, and Lt. Campbell, went on to shoot down five enemy aircraft, making him the first U.S. flying ace.

As the Americans rose to the challenge this week, the great Red Baron fell.

On April 21st, German ace Manfred von Richthofen, a living legend called the "Red Baron" and "ace of aces," was shot down and killed in aerial combat. By the time of his death, he had accrued 80 victories. Credit for his kill was given at the time to Canadian Captain Roy Brown.  During the fateful scrap, the Red Baron's cousin Lt. Wolfram von Richthofen was being fired upon when the Red Baron flew to his rescue and fired on the attacker, saving Wolfram's life. Richthofen pursued the enemy across the Somme where he was spotted and briefly attacked by a Camel piloted by Canadian Captain Roy Brown.

At the time, it seems a single bullet hit Richthofen in the chest, causing a quick death. But-- who exactly killed the Red Baron is up for debate. Current evidence is that he was killed by ground fire from Australian troops -- but there are many theories.

No matter who was the one to take him down, RIchthofen left behind a legacy of true aerial mastery and terror. His victory total will not be exceeded until June 1941.

Link: https://www.upi.com/Archives/1918/04/14/American-flyers-down-pair/9481523634159/

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Manfred_von_Richthofen#Death

https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=mdp.39015075629603;view=1up;seq=46

For videos about WWI 100 years ago this week, check out our friends at  the Great War Channel on Youtube.

New episodes this week include:

• The Battle of La Lys -- Operation Georgette

See their videos by searching for “the great war” on youtube or following the link in the podcast notes!

Link:https://www.youtube.com/user/TheGreatWar

Alright  - It is time to fast forward into the present with WW1 Centennial News NOW -

[SOUND EFFECT]

This part of the podcast focuses on NOW and how we are commemorating the centennial of WWI!

For  Remembering Veterans -- We are going to do a follow up on the big reenactor event in Rockford Illinois we told you about a couple of weeks ago.

The Midway Village Museum is a 137 acre living history park, and the host of the 6th annual Great War event, that featured over 225 re-enactors portraying soldiers and civilians from the United States and Europe.

It’s the nation’s largest public WW1 re-enactment -- and a massive undertaking! If you were there - you had a blast - if you weren’t there - we will point you to great pictures and videos - AND… we have invited Dave Fornell, the reenactor coordinator for the event and member of the Illinois WWI Centennial Commission to tell us the story.

Welcome, Dave!

[greetings]

[Dave -- there are three things I’d like to touch on today…

The event and the experience of attending it --

Reenactors and the reenactor community at large

And third - future plans]

[Let’s start with the 6th Annual Great war event - how did it go! How many people showed up and what kind of comments did you get?]

[So Dave - I am personally totally fascinated by the reenactor phenomena --- here is my chance to ask about it.. So…. you are a WWI reenactor - Why? ]

[Are you only WWI?  I mean… do reenactors specialize in a specific historical period? - or is it more of a chronic avocation -

Are reenactors organized? By historical period or by regional area?

And based on a conversation I had with Katherine about this - what about women in this community?]

[Finally - are there plans for a 2019 Midway Village Great War event?]

[goodbyes/thanks]

Dave Fornell is the re-enactor coordinator for the Midway Village Museum WWI reenactment and a member of the Illinois WWI Centennial Commission. Learn more about the Commission and the Midway Village Museum at the links in the podcast notes.

Links:http://www.midwayvillage.com/

http://www.worldwar1centennial.org/index.php/illinois-wwi-centennial-home.html

100 years ago, in February 1918, a new weekly publication found its way into the hands of Doughboys now arriving in France in ever greater numbers: The Stars and Stripes newspaper.

Although the classic periodical was originally produced by Union Soldiers in the Civil War, when they found an abandoned printing press - they only ran 6 one-page issues at the time.

The publication was revived for World War 1, produced by an all-military staff and aimed directly at the doughboys of the American Expeditionary Forces.

Stars and Stripes is filled with cartoons and articles by and for doughboys, making light of everything from living covered in lice in the trenches to struggling to communicate with their new “Francai”  comrades.

We reported on the relaunch in Episode #59 and ever since, we have been looking forward to the opportunity of inviting someone from the paper to come on the show and tell us more about it.

So I am especially excited to welcome Robert H. Reid, senior managing editor of the Stars and Stripes newspaper.

Robert - so nice to have you on the show!

[welcome/greetings]

[OK - first of all - Robert for our listeners - We need a context - could you briefly frame up what the Stars and stripes paper is? ]

[When we saw in our research that the paper had re-emerged for the doughboys arriving in france --- we quickly started to read through issues - and what struck me immediately was the humor… tongue in cheek, irreverent, good natured, and wry -- How did that happen!? Was that planned or just what happened?]

[Clearly the AEF decided they wanted this…. Do we know how the papers ROLE was framed by the command in 1918? Did it have a mission statement?]

[Full disclosure - I grew up with the paper and the people who made it in post WWII Germany. We lived as Americans near frankfurt in the early 50’s and my mom wrote for the paper…. So here we are today in the THIRD generation of the paper’s life - What is the Stars and Stripes today?]

[goodbyes/thank you]

Robert Reid is the senior managing editor of Stars and Stripes. You can learn more about the paper, and see archival copies at the Library of Congress, by following the links in the podcast notes.

link:https://www.loc.gov/collections/stars-and-stripes/?sb=date

https://www.stripes.com/

To wrap up Spotlight in the Media this week -- we’re turning the focus back onto the service of women in the war with the play The Great Forgotten.

Set during WWI and through the Roaring Twenties, the play follows two sisters --- American nurses in France during WW1, and their adjustment to a whole new world after the end of the conflict. This segment actually kicks off a conversation that will become ever more important on the podcast… looking at the profound post-war experience in America

With us to tell us about their original production are mother-daughter playwriting team Karen and Kacie Devaney.

Welcome!

[welcome/greetings}

[Kacie -- the play was initially your idea, and you ended up getting your mother involved. Tell us about that? ]

[Karen -- The two main characters embody the experience of so many women who served in the war -- Did you base the characters on real individuals?]

[Back to you Kacie -- This is obviously a real passion project for you -- why do you think the stories of these women in, and after, WW1 matter so much?]

[A quick one phrase answer from each of you… In a phrase - what was the biggest realization for you personally in doing this project?]

[In closing - are you going to be performing the play again soon?]

[goodbyes/thank you]

Karen and Kacie Devaney are a mother daughter playwriting team. Learn more about their play The Great Forgotten by following the links in the podcast notes.

link:https://www.facebook.com/Thegreatforgotten/

https://twitter.com/KarinDevaney

https://twitter.com/Kaciedevaney

Now let’s head into our weekly feature “Speaking World War 1” -- Where we explore the words & phrases that are rooted in the war  ---

The war torn landscape of Belgium and the Western Front is often described as being nearly featureless-- mud, shell holes, stumps and a tangle of trenches. But one feature stood out -- and was a highly coveted tactical position. Low, grey structures dotting the muddy landscape-- the Germans began constructing these steel-reinforced concrete bunkers in order to enhance their defenses against British artillery on the Hindenburg Line. With walls and ceilings several feet thick, the bunkers could easily withstand all but the highest caliber shells, and were often obscured with debris to prevent detection. They were built most often in the Ypres salient, where a high rainfall and water table made trenches an near-impossibility.

As the British and Commonwealth troops stared out at these little buildings in the moon like world of Flanders-- they noted their similarity to the small medicine boxes carried by civilians -- earning the structures the name of “pillbox” - which is our speaking world war I word this week.

Nowadays, according to the Department of Defense - the word defines small, low fortified outpost that houses machine guns and anti-tank weapons… or that thing you carry your meds and vitamins in!

Pillboxes -- created by the Germans, and named by the British-- and this week’s word for speaking WW1.

Links:https://www.historyextra.com/period/first-world-war/10-first-world-war-slang-words-we-still-use-today/

https://www.awm.gov.au/articles/blog/pillbox-fighting-in-the-ypres-salient

https://www.militaryfactory.com/dictionary/military-terms-defined.asp?term_id=4092

[SOUND EFFECT]

In Education news this week -- The latest WW1 education newsletter

just came out!

Issue #12 is “Air War and Weapons Technology” and features articles on the development of aerial warfare and the incredible technological boom that accompanied and supported it.

This issue includes resources for teaching about the history of unmanned drones; the life and service of the only African American member of the Lafayette Escadrille, Eugene Bullard; the role of zeppelins in the war; and the changing military technology of the war.

The newsletter is published by the National WW1 Museum and Memorial in

partnership with the WW1 Centennial Commission. Go to our new

education website at ww1cc.org/ e d u where you can sign up for the

education newsletters and connect with the commission education program

- or follow the link in the podcast notes.

Link: www.ww1cc.org/edu

This week for WW1 War Tech -- we’re headed back into the Sky to take a look at a technological development that helped usher in the age of the aerial dogfighting.

Early in the war, planes were used exclusively for observation -- but to get clear images of the enemy lines, you had to fly “low and slow” and in a fairly straight line, which left you pretty easy pickings  if an enemy plane with a gun came along.

This started an arms race in the sky as each side tried to outgun the other --- in order to protect their observation planes.

The first attempt to mount a machine gun on an airplane, ended after the nose-heavy prototype crashed on its first experimental flight.

Some guns were mounted and shot over the wings, and “pusher planes” with their props behind the pilot were developed, allowing for them to shoot ahead of themselves without hitting the blades of the propellers.

Dutch aircraft designer Anthony Fokker came up with the ultimate answer for the Germans!

His mechanism, referred to as the interrupter gear, connected the firing of the machine gun to the turning of the propeller, allowing the bullets to pass through the brief gaps in between the blades.

Yet despite the tests on both the ground and the air proving his design worked, German generals remained skeptical. They demanded that Fokker fly into the air and shoot down an enemy plane himself.

He did as he was told, and although a French plane soon came within his sights, he found himself unable to pull the trigger. Fokker returned to Douai flying field to vocalize his refusal, demanding that someone else test the plane instead. And so the famous Lieutenant Oswald Boelcke was the first pilot to successfully use the interrupter gear, making his first kill on August 1, 1915. German planes would continue to dominate the skies, a phenomenon known as the ‘Fokker Scourge’, until mid-1916.

The interrupter gear-- a technological marvel that brought air combat into the future-- and the subject of this week’s WW1 War Tech.

We have put links in the podcast notes to learn more including a link a video from the YoutUbe channel The Slow Mo Guys where you can watch an interrupter gear operate in very, very slow motion.

Links: http://www.firstworldwar.com/airwar/earlyfighters.htm

         http://www.firstworldwar.com/airwar/deflectorgear.htm

         http://www.eyewitnesstohistory.com/fokker.htm

         https://www.uh.edu/engines/epi1369.htm

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ysB-SH19WRQ

For Articles and posts -- we are going to continue with the idea we launched last week of highlighting the features of the weekly dispatch newsletter.  So here we go.

[DING]

VMI and VA Commission present WWI Commemorative Symposium April 27th

Conference attendees will hear from national and regional experts, who will explore the political and military leadership of World War I, the experiences of the soldiers and generals on the front, and the role that Virginians played in the Great War. .

[DING]

Treasure trove of Army Major Amos J. Peaslee and the first Diplomatic Courier Service

Major Peaslee’s led the first ever Diplomatic Courier Service during WW1 -- and now his personal documents and artifacts related to the Diplomatic Courier Service, including a personal engraved copy of the Treaty of Versailles, are on their way to the State Department.

[DING]

"until very recently, we had forgotten a tremendously important aspect of the U.S. experience that eventually changed this country forever."

Read the essay by scholar Keith Gandel as he explores the literature of WW1 -- and what we can learn from it today.

[DING]

Very small ships make very large impact

Read about the U.S. Navy Submarine Chasers in WWI -- on the cutting edge of anti-submarine warfare.

[DING]

Robert Frost: A poet for whom life and war were trials by existence

The WWrite blog  this week focuses on the iconic American poet Robert Frost and his insight into connections between war and the human condition.

[DING]

Finally, our selection from our Official Centennial Merchandise store - Lest We Forget: The Great War is available through our store. The book features nearly 350 high-quality images, an introduction by Sir Hew Strachan and text by historian Michael W. Robbins.

Importantly, when you get this visual remembrance of the "War that Changed The World"  - a full ½ of the proceeds go to building the Memorial!

Sign up for the Weekly Dispatch newsletter at ww1cc.org/subscribe check the archive at ww1cc.org/dispatch or follow the link in the podcast notes.

Link: http://www.worldwar1centennial.org/index.php/communicate/2015-12-28-18-26-00/subscribe.html

http://www.ww1cc.org/dispatch

And that brings us to the buzz - the centennial of WW1 this week in social media with Katherine Akey - Katherine, what did you pick?

Hi Theo --

Last week we talked a lot about the Liberty Loans-- and during the third loan drive, celebrities were drafted to help hype the program as they traveled across the country, including the movie stars Douglas Fairbanks, Mary Pickford and Charlie Chaplin. But they aren’t the only darlings of the silver screen that helped the war effort -- and this week on our Facebook page at facebook.com/ww1centennial-- we shared photographs and draft registrations cards of two other familiar faces. Buster Keaton, known to the army by his given name, Joseph, was assigned to the 40th Division, 159th Infantry-- a division that did not wholly see battle but did serve on the Western Front.

There’s also Walt Disney-- who was just 16 years old when he joined the American Red Cross and arrived in France as a paramedic, serving near Neufchateau. You can see photos of them by following the links in the podcast notes.

Two more nods from the Buzz-- this week, the Friends of Jenny, a historical aviation restoration group, shared an album of images updating  us on the progress of one of their major restoration projects -- their Curtiss Jenny rebuild is receiving its new engine! Check it out at the link in the notes, and follow their facebook page as the project continues to pick up speed.

Finally this week, the nation was sad to hear  of the passing of former First Lady, Barbara Bush. But you may not know that she was the daughter of a World War One Veteran-- her father, Marvin Pierce, enlisted in the US Army Reserves in 1918, was promoted to Lieutenant and served as an Engineering Corps officer in France from September 1918 to May 1919. Our thoughts are with her family and loved ones, and you can read more about her long and storied life at the links in the podcast notes.

That’s it for this week in the Buzz.

Link:https://www.facebook.com/lesamericainsdegondrecourt/posts/590840027940871

https://www.facebook.com/DedicatedDoughboy/posts/1047277248744614

https://www.facebook.com/friendsofjenny/posts/819085468278037

https://www.stripes.com/news/us/former-first-lady-barbara-bush-dies-at-age-92-1.522583

https://www.nytimes.com/2018/04/17/opinion/barbara-bush-a-first-lady-without-apologies.html

And that is our episode this third week of April. Thank you for listening to WW1 Centennial News.

We also want to thank our guests...

• Mike Shuster, Curator for the great war project blog

Many thanks to the newest member of our team - Mac Nelsen our sound editor--- a shout out to our researchers John Morreale and Eric Marr...

And I am Theo Mayer - your host.

The US World War One Centennial Commission was created by Congress to honor, commemorate and educate about WW1.

Our programs are to--

inspire a national conversation and awareness about WW1; Including this podcast!

We are bringing the lessons of the 100 years ago into today's classrooms;

We are helping to restore WW1 memorials in communities of all sizes across our country;

and of course we are building America’s National WW1 Memorial in Washington DC.

We want to thank commission’s founding sponsor the Pritzker Military Museum and Library as well as the Starr foundation for their support.

The podcast can be found on our website at ww1cc.org/cn  

Or search WW1 Centennial News on  iTunes, Google Play, TuneIn, Podbean, Stitcher - Radio on Demand, Spotify or using your smart speaker.. Just say “Play W W One Centennial News Podcast”.

Our twitter and instagram handles are both @ww1cc and we are on facebook @ww1centennial.

Thank you for joining us. And don’t forget

to share the stories

you are hearing here today

about the war that changed the world!

[music]

Legend of Snoopy and the Red Baron

From all of us and Snoopy - So long!

• Financing WWI - Reaching for the stars | 01:55

Welcome to World War 1 centennial News - episode #67 - It’s about WW1 THEN - what was happening 100 years ago this week  - and it’s about WW1 NOW - news and updates about the centennial and the commemoration.

This week our guests include:

• Mike Shuster, from the great war project blog updates us on what the UK Forces are up against both on the front and in recruitment

All this and more... on WW1 Centennial News -- a weekly podcast brought to you by the U.S. World War I Centennial Commission, the Pritzker Military Museum and Library and the Starr foundation.

I’m Theo Mayer - the Chief Technologist for the Commission and your host. Welcome to the show.

[MUSIC]

Just one year after the declaration of war, 100 years ago, it is time for the third Liberty Loan drive to raise money to pay for the war effort.

Let me put the Liberty Loan drive into perspective for you.

In early 20th century thinking, Woodrow Wilson’s government was completely clear that the war would be financed by money raised specifically for it. And a majority of that money was to come from the American People - ordinary citizens.

By contrast, today in our late 20th /early  21st century, money for our wars and military expenditures are financed from a big boiling cauldron called the national debt. Today the average American Citizen feel little or no real connection with or responsibility for our military expenditures.   

Not so in 1917 and 1918.

In those two years, during four Bond drives, twenty million individuals purchase Liberty War bonds. 20 million investors is pretty impressive given that there were only twenty-four million households in America at the time.

More than 17 billion dollars are raised. In addition, taxes are collected to the sum of 8.8 billion dollars… in short, $26 billion dollars is gathered to finance the fight in WWI.

Now that’s in 1918 dollars. Today that equates to nearly ½ a TRILLION dollars raised in bonds, largely from citizen, specifically for a purpose.

With that as background, let’s jump into our centennial time machine a take a look at the national fundraising effort and a whole lot more 100 years ago this week in the war that changed the world.

On April 6th 1918 - President Wilson makes a speech to launch the third Liberty Bond Campaign. Here is his declaration as reported in the pages of the Official Bulletin - The government’s war Gazette published by Wilson’s propaganda chief George Creel.

[SOUND EFFECT]

Dateline: SATURDAY, APRIL 6, 1918

The headline Reads:

The President delivered the following address at

Baltimore to-night on the occasion of the opening

of the Third Liberty Loan Campaign:

“Fellow Citizens: This is the anniversary of our acceptance

of Germany's challenge to fight for our right to

live and be free, and for the sacred rights of free men

everywhere. The Nation is awake. There is no need to

call to it. We know what the war must cost, our utmost

sacrifice, the lives of our fittest men and, if need be, all

that we possess. The loan we are met to discuss is one of

the least parts of what we are called upon to give and to do,

though in itself imperative. The people of the whole country

are alive to the necessity of it, and are ready to lend

to the utmost, even where it involves a sharp skimping

and daily sacrifice to lend out of meagre earnings. They

will look with reprobation and contempt upon those who

can and will not, upon those who demand a higher rate

of interest, upon those who think of it as a mere com-.

mercial transaction. I have not come, therefore, to urge

the loan. I have come only to give you, if I can, a more

vivid conception of what it is for.”

The president goes on to explain the situation on the ground in europe and the dire need for America as a nation to take a stand, take a lead and defend all that the nation holds dear.

And so kicks off the third Liberty bond campaign.

A few days later the Official Bulletin reports on the Cabinet’s Liberty Bond appeal

Dateline: TUESDAY, APRIL 9, 1918

The Headline reads:

CABINET MEMBERS APPEAL TO ALL TRUE AMERICANS TO SUPPORT

WITH THEIR DOLLARS OUR GALLANT FIGHTERS IN THE FIELD;

BUY LIBERTY BONDS, THEY ASK, IN PROOF OF YOUR PATRIOTISM

The article goes on with a number of cabinet members presenting their appeal of the importance and patriotic imperative for buying bond.. But my favorite part comes at the end of the full page article with a subheadline of:

[SOUND EFFECT]

WHAT LIBERTY BONDS WILL BUY.

The article reads:

Eighteen thousand dollars invested- in

Liberty bonds will equip an infantry battalion

with rifles.

Fifty thousand dollars will construct a

base hospital with 500 beds, or equip an

infantry brigade with pistols.

One hundred thousand dollars will buy

five combat airplanes, or pistols, rifles.

and half a million rounds of ammunition

for an infantry regiment.

Just like today - contributors to a cause want to know exactly what their contribution is buying! These guys know exactly what they are are doing!

In another smart move, presumably pulled off by George Creel - the campaign cleverly recruits four of the most popular movie stars of the day and puts them on the road to help raise money.

The headline reads:

LIBERTY LOAN SPEAKING TOURS FOR FOUR MOTION PICTURE STARS

And the story opens with:

Today we are announcing The itineraries of Charles Chaplin, Douglas Fairbanks, Mary Pickford, and Marguerite Clark for their speaking tours during the forthcoming Liberty loan campaign!

And the article continues with the schedule of appearances by the stars.

Then on Saturday April 13th 1918, just one week after launching the campaign, the headline in the official bulletin reads

TOTAL SALES OF LIBERTY BONDS AS REPORTED TO THE TREASURY, PASS THE HALF BILLION MARK AS SCORES OF TOWNS EXCEED QUOTAS

It’s a big week on the home front - raising money 100 years ago, for America’s participation in a war that changed  the world!

Links: https://www.federalreservehistory.org/essays/liberty_bonds

http://www.worldwar1centennial.org/index.php/educate/places/official-bulletin/2381-ww1-official-bulletin-volume-1-issue-4-may-14-1917.html

http://www.worldwar1centennial.org/index.php/educate/places/official-bulletin/2497-ww1-official-bulletin-volume-1-issue-31-june-15-1917.html

https://muse.jhu.edu/article/639845

http://www.worldwar1centennial.org/index.php/educate/places/official-bulletin/2850-ww1-official-bulletin-volume-1-issue-121-october-1-1917.html

https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1918/04/04/102979322.pdf

Liberty Loan articles from Times:

https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1918/04/04/102979322.pdf

https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1918/04/04/102979339.pdf

https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1918/04/05/102687136.pdf

https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1918/04/06/102687648.pdf

https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1918/04/12/98261150.pdf

Americans needed by allies as action on front continues.

https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1918/04/02/102685967.pdf

https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1918/04/08/317376142.pdf

https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1918/04/10/102690083.pdf

https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1918/04/12/98261154.pdf

https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1918/04/01/102685527.pdf

https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1918/04/02/102685966.pdf

https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1918/04/03/102686544.pdf

And it is also a very big week on the fighting front!

Here is a story that is not covered in the government press - and doesn’t really pop up in the popular press either -

But 100 years ago this week,

The 369th US Infantry Regiment goes to the front lines to fight --- but with the French! - on April 8th 1918 the 369th is amalgamated into French Army.

But wait a minute….. - Didn’t General Pershing insist on keeping the American Expeditionary Forces together as a distinct American fighting force.  

Well yea - he did - but Pershing’s insistence on keeping all American forces together didn’t extend to the black troops in the segregated US Army.  

Among them were the 15th New York National Guard Regiment, redesignated the 369th Infantry Regiment but better known as the Harlem Rattler or the Harlem Hellfighters.  

Now Pershing presumably didn’t have any problems with black soldiers per se, but the question of how to use black troops in the front lines, where they’d have to rely on the full cooperation of white units on either side, was really gnarly.

The online blog “today in World War 1,  posted a quote from Hamilton Fish - a New Yorker, who served as one of the regiment’s white officers: Quote:

The French were crying out for U.S. regiments to go into the French Army.  So I guess Pershing figured he could kill two birds with one stone–solve the problem on what to do with us and give something to Foch.  From then on we spent our entire service in the French Army. Oh officially we were still the 369th U.S. Infantry, but to all intent and purposes we were francais.

The post goes on with a quote from Noble Sissle, who served in the regiment’s famous band:

We were fully equipped with French rifles and French helmets.  Our wagons, our rations, our machine guns and everything pertaining to the equipment of the regiment for trench warfare was supplied by the French Army.

The 369th went on to serve with great distinction spending more time on the front line that any other US forces… with a fierceness and bravery that never gave ground to the enemy.

A proud combat service started 100 years ago this week, in the war the changed the world...

http://today-in-wwi.tumblr.com/post/172746986523/369th-us-infantry-regiment-begins-front-line

[MUSIC TRANSITION]

Continuing to explore the story on the front, we are going to go to Mike Shuster former NPR correspondent and curator for the Great War project Blog….

Mike: Your post this week speaks to what can only be thought of as moment of total desperation for the British lines… It has just been exactly two years since they brutally put down Ireland’s Easter Uprising - Now they are trying to conscript them - They are not having much luck drafting more Canadian either - General Haig puts out his out his inspirational “Backs To The Wall” Order - and at this very moment of do or die - Well… you story this week closes on a note of hope.

Fill it in for us Mike…

[Mike Shuster]

Mike Shuster from the Great War Project blog.

LINK:

http://greatwarproject.org/2018/04/08/allies-face-resistance-in-own-ranks/

[SOUND EFFECT]

And one last story from the front for our segment -  America Emerges: Military Stories from WWI with Dr. Edward Lengel.

As Mike indicated, this is the time when the American infantry does arrive on the front… The boys are fresh, healthy and eager when compared to their battle weary allies. They’re also green. The Germans want to -- Maybe they NEED TO discredit them. The school of combat is now is session for the Americans. And the lessons begin 100 years ago this week in Seicheprey - lessons for all sides. And Ed is here to tell you the story:

[Ed Lengel]

[MUSIC TRANSITION]

Dr. Edward Lengel is an American military historian, author, and our segment host for America Emerges: Military Stories from WWI.

There are links in the podcast notes to Ed’s post and his web sites as an author.  

Links:http://www.edwardlengel.com/combat-seicheprey-yankee-division-100-years-ago/

https://www.facebook.com/EdwardLengelAuthor/

http://www.edwardlengel.com/about/

For videos about WWI 100 years ago this week, check out our friends at  the Great War Channel on Youtube.

New episodes this week include:

• Operation Michael Runs out of Breath

See their videos by searching for “the great war” on youtube or following the link in the podcast notes!

Link:https://www.youtube.com/user/TheGreatWar

Alright  - It is time to fast forward into the present with WW1 Centennial News NOW -

[SOUND EFFECT]

This part of the podcast focuses on NOW and how we are commemorating the centennial of WWI!

We have an update for our segment: A century in the making - America’s WW1 Memorial in Washington DC.

As our regular listeners know, we are building a national WWI Memorial at Pershing Park in the nation’s capital. It’s a big project. And It’s been a long time coming.

We spoke with sculptor Sabin Howard back in episodes #54 and #55 about a new process. Sabin combined advanced 3D printing technology at the WETA Workshop in New Zealand with traditional classic sculpture techniques to create a 10’ miniature draft the sculptural centerpiece for the memorial. The result is called a maquette. We made two of them to show America and to help us raise money for this strictly publicly funded memorial.

One maquette was on display at the Visitor's Center in the Tennessee Bicentennial Mall, in downtown Nashville --- right in front of the state capital. It was quite a hit at the Tennessee Great War Commission's event this last Saturday, where it was featured as part of the presentation from Terry Hamby - the WW1 Centennial Commission Chairman.

Both Maquettes are being prepped for a busy schedule of showings at special events and fundraisers around the country. We will keep you updated as the schedule evolves…

Katherine - You went to a fundraiser on wednesday and got your first look at the sculpture that is called “A soldier’s Journey” - what was your first reaction?

[Katherine’s reaction to seeing the Maquette]

Learn more about the memorial and follow the incredible journey of a project that has been a century in the making - Go to ww1cc.org/memorial or follow the link in the podcast notes

Link:http://ww1cc.org/memorial

And while we are speaking about the Memorial - we have a brand new way for you to help build America’s WWI Memorial in Washington DC and at the same time, get yourself a very special, colorful, inspiring and lasting souvenir of the centennial!

This week marks the release of a new visual pictorial table book called  “Lest We Forget: The Great War” - The book is dedicated to the centennial and produced by The Pritzker Military Museum and Library along with the WW1 Centennial commission -

When you get this visual remembrance  - a full ½ of the proceeds go building the Memorial!

With us to tell us more about “Lest We Forget” which also has a companion exhibit in Chicago at the Pritzker - are Kenneth Clarke, Former President and CEO of the Pritzker Military Museum and Library, and Michael Robbins, historian. Ken was the executive and creative director for the book and exhibition and Michael was writer for the text.

Welcome, Gentlemen!

[greetings/welcome]

[Ken, can you give us an overview of the project and the concept?]

[Insert questions if it fits] Ken there are nearly 350 images in this book -- how did you select them?]

[Michael -- you were the writer on the project - What story are you telling and how do the words and the pictures interact?]

[Ken -- Sir Hugh Strachan (STRAWN) - who has been on the show - did an introduction for the book. What was his emphasis?]

[Ken -- In closing - Who is this book for?]

The book is available in bookstores nationwide, but the easiest place to get it is in the commission’s Merchandise shop. Look under Commemorate at ww1cc.org and we have link to the commission's shop in the podcast notes .. Thank  you both for coming on the podcast and introducing us to this beautiful “must get” souvenir of the Centennial!

[goodbyes/thank you]

Kenneth Clarke and Michael Robbins the creative director and writer for the Lest We Forget: The Great War - available through the links in the podcast notes.

Link:

https://shop.worldwar1centennial.org/merchandise-gifts-awards?product_id=188

https://www.pritzkermilitary.org/store/pmml-merchandise/lest-we-forget-michael-robbins/

https://www.pritzkermilitary.org/whats_on/video-rucksack/lest-we-forget-exhibit-opening-remarks/

Now for our Education segment -- A story of a teacher and his approach to teaching WWI!

Collections of soldier’s letters and diaries from the war continue to be discovered and rediscovered one hundred years after they were first written. As we have learned from a number of museum curators, they offer an amazing opportunity to help understand this event in history as they bring in  a first person point of view.

Today, we’re joined by Dr. Ian Isherwood, Visiting Assistant Professor at Gettysburg College in Gettysburg, Pennsylvania who is doing exactly that.

Welcome, Dr. Isherwood!

[greetings/welcome]

[Dr. Isherwood-- you’ve been using Wartime letters from Lieutenant Colonel Jack Peirs, a British Soldier as the foundation for teaching history to your students. For context, can you tell us briefly about the soldier, and how you came across his letters?]

[Did you build up a following? ]

[At the commission we are really interested in the techniques for teaching this subject - What advice do you have for others who may want to undertake an educational programme like this?]

[Would this work for younger student educators?]

[we've found that the first person POV gives you insight you cant get from just plain facts... do you find that to be true?]

[You’re also personally working on a new, upcoming book -- can you tell us a little about it?]

[goodbyes/thank you]

Dr. Ian Isherwood is a Visiting Assistant Professor and the Chairperson of Civil War Era Studies at Gettysburg College in Gettysburg, Pennsylvania. We put links for his Jack Peirs website and twitter accounts in the podcast notes.

links:http://www.gettysburg.edu/academics/history/research/jackpiers.dot

https://twitter.com/jackpeirs

http://cupola.gettysburg.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1116&context=ghj

http://jackpeirs.org/

https://www.instagram.com/jackpeirs/?hl=en

Now let’s head into our weekly feature “Speaking World War 1” -- Where we explore the words & phrases that are rooted in the war  ---

It’s a health fad with real benefits, a gym class pretty much anyone can benefit from -- It’s very popular -- It’s very Hep -- and I’ll bet you had no idea it was from WWI - No.. not Zoomba   Nope… Not kickboxing... Uh uh definitely NOT P90X…

It’s our Speaking WWI word this week - Pilates!

Pilates is named for its inventor, Joseph Hubertus Pilates, who created it in Great Britain during WW1.

Pilates, Interestingly was born a German citizen. He was a frail and sickly child who took to exercise for both his health and self-defense against bullies. He eventually grew into an accomplished boxer and martial artist, and traveled to England in 1912 to find work, picking up a job as a circus performer. When the war broke out, he was arrested as an enemy alien and interned on the Isle of Man. It was there that he came up with his method of mental and physical exertion, which he called “Contrology”, as a way to encourage his fellow inmates to stay healthy.

Many prisoners were bedridden, and so Pilates invented a makeshift resistance-training machine out of springs and straps taken from the beds and attached to the foot and headboards. This use of resistance loads would later become a staple of the Pilates method.

After the end of the war, Pilates emigrated to the US and settled in New York, where he and his wife, Clara, founded the first Body Contrology Studio in 1925. And of course that was the foundation for the trendy “new” exercise method -- known far and wide as Pilates.

Pilates -- created by a German citizen prisoner in wartime -- and this week’s word for speaking WW1.

Links:http://online.wsj.com/ww1/pilates

[SOUND EFFECT]

This week for our 100 Cities / 100 Memorials segment

---  the $200,000 matching grant challenge

to rescue and focus on our local WWI memorials --- It looks like this is Tennessee week - because We  are going to profile the World War I Memorial Fountain project from Madison County in Jackson, Tennessee.

With us tell us about the project is Dr. Alice-Catherine Carls, the Tom Elam Distinguished Professor of History at the University of Tennessee at Martin, and member of the Tennessee Great War Commission.  

Welcome Dr. Carls!

[greetings]

[Dr. Carls - your WWI Memorial honors both the women on the homefront in Tennessee and the men on the fighting front in France. That’s a really interesting approach… could you tell us more about that?]

[It is very unique for a WWI memorial to honor both the homefront and the warefront.

[Your project has a large research and community historical society component to it could you tell us about that?]

[Have you been promoting the project locally? What has the community response been?]

[MAYBE QUESTION: The memorial was designed as a fountain - but has been dry for a long time - I know in your grant application you hadn’t yet decided if you were going to get the fountain replumed - I have worked with water features before - It’s very tricky. Where is that idea at now?]

[Are you planning a rededication this year?]

Dr. Carls - thank you for leading this project on behalf of your community and on behalf of the men and women of your county who served both here and abroad in WWI

[goodbyes/thank you]

Dr. Alice-Catherine Carls, Professor of History at the University of Tennessee, and a member of the Tennessee Great War Commission. Learn more about the 100 Cities/100 Memorials program and about West Tennessee in WW1 by following the links in the podcast notes or by going to ww1cc.org/100Memorials

Link: www.ww1cc.org/100cities

http://www.utm.edu/worldwars/

[SOUND EFFECT]

This week for WW1 War Tech -- another technology that saved lives instead of taking them.

In the early months of the war, amputations for wounded soldiers were at the same high levels as those of the civil war. In other words - very high!

But by late 1915 that rate dropped dramatically! So, what happened?

Well… That year, a French physician, Théodore Tuffier, testified to the Academy of Medicine that 70% of amputations weren’t because of the initial injury, but because of a later infection. As we have mentioned on the podcast before the mud-filled and deeply unsanitary conditions of trench warfare were a happy home for the bacteria that cause Gangrene. The antiseptics of the 19th century were inadequate.

But two men: French doctor Alexis Carrel and British biochemist Henry Dakin came together under the cloud of war to combine their two discoveries to create one very effective method of disinfecting wounds.

Dakin created a solution of sodium hypochlorite that managed to kill any bacteria in a wound, but didn’t damage the flesh surrounding it. Meanwhile Dr. Carrel developed a strategy of opening and thoroughly draining wounds.

Put together, the Carrel-Dakin method proved the most effective antiseptic treatment to that date, and the procedure quickly spread into use all across Europe, saving an untold number of limbs from amputation.

The Carrel-Dakin method-- an incredible leap forward in the treatment of field wounds -- and the subject of this week’s WW1 War Tech.

We have put links in the podcast notes to learn more including a link to the commission’s website on medicine in WWI at ww1cc.org/medicine

Link:  https://www.theatlantic.com/health/archive/2017/02/world-war-i-medicine/517656/       https://www.rtbf.be/ww1/topics/detail_the-carrel-dakin-method?id=8356084

http://www.worldwar1centennial.org/index.php/injuries-in-world-war-i.html

For Articles and posts -- we are going to continue with the idea we launched last week of highlighting the features of the weekly dispatch newsletter.  So here we go.

[DING]

Final fifty “WWI Centennial Memorials” announced in wrap-up of competition phase of 100 Cities / 100 Memorials

Also learn about -- the Memorial Hunters Club, a crowd-sourced effort to create a comprehensive national register of WWI memorials.

[DING]

"The film needed really really brilliant nuanced, convincing performances"

The interview from this podcast with director Saul Dibb, about the motion picture a Journey’s End - now in wide release -  has been turned into a print article on the website.

[DING]

"It was a sad but poignant tale."

Two lifelong friends, Now octogenarians , have produced a documentary film about one of their uncle’s service in WW.

[DING]

Pennsylvania oil and World War I

Remember how important coal was during WW1? Supplement that knowledge by reading about the role of Pennsylvania Oil during the war.

[DING]

'Over Here' in Michigan, High School Athletes Gave to World War I Effort

Michigan’s high school athletes helped fill the labor shortage created as millions of men shipped overseas.

[DING]

Break of Day - Poet Isaac Rosenberg

The WWrite blog  features the WWI poetry of British soldier, Isaac Rosenberg, who died on Easter Sunday, 1918 - and who was also mentioned by Mike Shuster in last week’s podcast.

[DING]

The story of Donald Chapman

This week’s featured Story of Service submitted by his grand niece Tish Wells

[DING]

Official WWI Centennial Merchandise

Finally, this week’s selection from our Official on line Centennial Merchandise store - an authentic classic green US Army woolen blanket from woolrich inc. the oldest continuously operating woolen mill in the US and suppliers of army blankets 100 years ago.

Sign up for the Weekly Dispatch newsletter at ww1cc.org/subscribe check the archive at ww1cc.org/dispatch or follow the link in the podcast notes.

Link: http://www.worldwar1centennial.org/index.php/communicate/2015-12-28-18-26-00/subscribe.html

http://www.ww1cc.org/dispatch

And that brings us to the buzz - the centennial of WW1 this week in social media with Katherine Akey - Katherine, what did you pick?

Tennessee Living History and WW1 Literature

Hi Theo --

As we commemorate 101 years since joining the First World War -- incredible events are beginning to take place across the country to remember those who served. Over the last weekend, Tennessee held a massive living history event in Nashville -- the very event that the Maquette recently appeared at! The Tennessee State Park System hosted the event, which included reproduction trenches, encampments and field kitchens, WW1 era aircraft and many reenactors -- including Suffragettes and Salvation Army doughnut lassies handing out freshly made treats.

There was also a large group of reenactors representing the African American troops of Tennessee -- wearing the iconic French Adrian Helmet that was distributed to the troops amalgamated with French units -- and the whole weekend event was capped off with a period baseball game. We shared an article as well as an album of photos from the event on Facebook this week -- you can find links to those in the podcast notes.

Lastly for the week -- we shared an article that instigated some spirited debate on our facebook page: a list of what the author considers 13 essential books on the American Expeditionary Forces. The list is a great starting place for anyone wanting to delve deeper into this chapter in American history -- but be sure to check the link to the facebook post to see all the recommendations made by our community -- there were many!

That’s it for this week in the Buzz.

Link:https://ebonydoughboys.org/

https://www.facebook.com/pg/tennesseephotographs/photos/?tab=album&album_id=2123040067916331

https://www.newschannel5.com/news/wwi-soldiers-honored-in-100th-anniversary-event

https://taskandpurpose.com/american-expeditionary-force-books/

https://www.facebook.com/ww1centennial/posts/956863547822277

And that is the second week of April for WW1 Centennial News. Thank you for listening.

We also want to thank our guests...

• Mike Shuster, Curator for the great war project blog

Many thanks to the newest member of our team - Mac Nelsen our intrepid sound editor--- a shout out to our intern John Morreale for his  great research assistance...

And I am Theo Mayer - your host.

The US World War One Centennial Commission was created by Congress to honor, commemorate and educate about WW1.

Our programs are to--

inspire a national conversation and awareness about WW1; Including this podcast!

We are bringing the lessons of the 100 years ago into today's classrooms;

We are helping to restore WW1 memorials in communities of all sizes across our country;

and of course we are building America’s National WW1 Memorial in Washington DC.

We want to thank commission’s founding sponsor the Pritzker Military Museum and Library as well as the Starr foundation for their support.

The podcast can be found on our website at ww1cc.org/cn  

Or search WW1 Centennial News on  iTunes, Google Play, TuneIn, Podbean, Stitcher - Radio on Demand, Spotify or using your smart speaker.. Just say “Play W W One Centennial News Podcast”.

Our twitter and instagram handles are both @ww1cc and we are on facebook @ww1centennial.

Thank you for joining us. And don’t forget

to share the stories

you are hearing here today

about the war that changed the world!

[music]

Welcome to Beverly Hills Pilates - The newest trend in sophisticated exercise!

NO it’s not --- It’s from WW1

So long!

• April 1918 Preview Roundtable - Dr. Edward Lengel & Katherine Akey | @ 02:50

Welcome to World War 1 centennial News - episode #66 - It’s about WW1  THEN - what was happening 100 years ago this week - and it’s about WW1 NOW - news and updates about the centennial and the commemoration.

Today is April 6th, 2018.

101 years ago on April 6th 1917,  the United States declares war on Germany which starts us on a path that will change our nation, our people our industry, and our position in the world forever.

[clip from April 6th Event]

On this one year anniversary:

• Dr. Edward Lengel, Katherine Akey and I sit down for our
  

Plus a lot more... on WW1 Centennial News -- a weekly podcast brought to you by the U.S. World War I Centennial Commission, the Pritzker Military Museum and Library and the Starr foundation.

I’m Theo Mayer - the Chief Technologist for the Commission and your host. Welcome to the show.

[MUSIC]

Several months ago during a podcast editorial planning session for an upcoming month, it occurred to us that our planning roundtable might be something our audience would enjoy listening to… We tried it - you liked it - and now we do it! So here is the conversation Dr. Ed lengel, Katherine Akey and I had earlier this week… The question on the table was: “so what are the big stories and themes in April 1918…  in the War the Changed the World?

[MUSIC TRANSITION]

Dr. Edward Lengel, Katherine Akey, Theo Mayer

[Closing Sting]

Next, we are going to go to Mike Shuster former NPR correspondent and curator for the Great War project Blog….

Mike: Your post is a perfect introduction to the month of April as you dive right into the situation on the ground… for Easter Sunday, April 2nd 1918. What was happening on the front?

[MIKE POST]

Mike Shuster from the Great War Project blog.

LINK:

http://greatwarproject.org/2018/04/01/german-offensive-stalls/

[SOUND EFFECT]

This week for the War in the Sky -- we’re turning inwards with a look at the psychological challenges for those “daring and do” warriors in the sky during World War 1. Joining us is Mark Wilkins, historian, writer, museum professional, and lecturer. Mark is the author of the recently published article in the Smithsonian’s Air and Space magazine called “The Dark Side of Glory: An early glimpse of PTSD in the letters of World War I aces.”

Welcome, Mark!

[greetings]

[Mark -- To start with - how did you get the trove of letters you used for your research?]

[How many letters did you go through to start your research?]

[OK.. In WWI malady was equated with physical issues, but your article deals with the psychological stresses of the pilot’s experience. Just a year prior they were executing trench soldier with shell shock on charges of cowardice. How did that play out for the pilots?]

[Look - the stress for these aces makes a lot of sense… To be an Ace you need to fly a lot of missions. The mortality rate of your buddies is off the charts… and unlike foot soldiers - you don’t have the courage of the guys on your left and right to bolster you.. This is a white knuckle, cold sweat, daily solo experience… sounds like traumatic stress is inevitable.. How common was this?]

[What did the men - and what did the command do about this? ]

[So after immersing yourself in this aspect of the war in the sky - what is your biggest take away?]

[We just had a great question come in from our live audience - Frank Krone wants to know: Did Richthoven - Germany’s Red Baron appear to suffer from PTSD]

[You have an upcoming book -- tell us about it -- When is it coming out?]

[Before we wrap up - last December we had filmmaker Darroch Greer on the show about his upcoming The Lafayette Escadrille documentary. Was is your involvement with the project?]

[thanks/goodbyes]

Mark Wilkins is a historian, writer, museum professional, and historical aeronautics expert. You can read his article in the Air Space Magazine, and learn more about his work from the links in the podcast notes.

Link:https://www.airspacemag.com/military-aviation/world-war-i-pilot-ptsd-180967710/#0VKtyZX7JLXCy3JU.01

http://thelafayetteescadrille.org/

http://www.worldwar1centennial.org/index.php/communicate/press-media/wwi-centennial-news/4084-four-questions-for-mark-wilkins.html

For videos about WWI 100 years ago this week, check out our friends at  the Great War Channel on Youtube.

New episodes this week include:

German Armoured Cars in WW1

The Neutral Ally - Norway in WW1

See their videos by searching for “the great war” on youtube or following the link in the podcast notes!

Link:https://www.youtube.com/user/TheGreatWar

Alright  - It is time to fast forward into the present with WW1 Centennial News NOW -

[SOUND EFFECT]

This part of the podcast focuses on NOW and how we are commemorating the centennial of WWI!

For  Remembering Veterans -- a small village hosts a big event this weekend! The Midway Village Museum is a 137 acre living history park located near Rockford, Illinois. This weekend, the Victorian village will host the 6th annual Great War event, featuring over 225 re-enactors portraying soldiers and civilians from the United States and Europe.

Visitors will have the opportunity to enter encampments, tour a reproduction 150 yard trench system, and watch large-scale narrated battle reenactments. It is the nation’s largest public World War One reenactment -- and we’ll get to speak with some of the event’s organizers right here on the podcast in a couple of weeks to hear how it went. For now, especially if you are in the region - visit the link in the podcast notes for a full list of scheduled events at Midway Village Museum near rockford Illinois .

Link: http://www.midwayvillage.com/

Also this week for remembering veterans -- something I did not know much about --- from the world of sports a century ago. Now, I’ve got clear images in my mind of baseball in the era - I also see leather helmets and pig skin warrior on the football grid-iron -- but today we’re going to be looking at another great American institution that - as it turns out - that made a big splash in France during the WWI -- basketball!

To tell us about it, we’re joined by Dr. Lindsay Sarah Krasnoff, a historian, sports writer, consultant, and author. Her website says: Historical Insights

COMMUNICATING GLOBALLY -- Sports - Diplomacy & Storytelling

Lindsay! Sounds like you fit right in here. Welcome to the podcast!

[greetings]

[Lindsay For our non-basketball experts - Like me - could you start us off with a brief history of basketball? When did it first develop, and how widespread was the sport in America circa 1918?]

[Did the Americans bring hoops to France or were they already playing?]

[If Doughboys and the YMCA helped reignite French interest in basketball, was it only in France that this occurred?]

[You’re working on a new book about basketball in France -- how popular is the sport there now?]

[goodbyes]

Dr. Lindsay Sarah Krasnoff is a historian, sports writer, consultant, and author of several books. Learn more about her and her writing by following the links in the podcast notes.

Link: https://www.lindsaysarahkrasnoff.com/

https://rowman.com/ISBN/9780739175095/The-Making-of-Les-Bleus-Sport-in-France-1958-2010#

https://twitter.com/lempika7

For 100 Cities / 100 Memorials - Today on the anniversary of America’s declaration of war in 1917, the final 50 awardees have been announced. Here is a section from the press release:

CHICAGO, IL, April 5 – On the eve of the 101st  Anniversary of the United States entering World War 1, the U.S. World War I Centennial Commission and the Pritzker Military Museum and Library announced today the final 50 WW1 Memorials to be awarded grants and honored with the official national designation as "WW1 Centennial Memorials".

All 100 memorials, in all 100 cities have now been designated including such national landmarks as: Chicago’s "Soldier Field", LA’s "Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum", San Francisco’s “War Memorial Veterans Building and Opera House”, Honolulu’s "Natatorium" and Washington, D.C.’s “National World War I Memorial at Pershing Park”. In addition, many smaller local community projects are being recognized such as: Scranton Pennsylvania’s “Col. Frank Duffy Memorial Bridge and Park”, Cape May, New Jersey’s "Soldier and Sailors Monument", Ocean Springs, Mississippi’s "Emile Ladnier WWI Memorial," and North Carolina's NC State University “Memorial Belltower”, to name just a few. The newly-designated memorials are in 37 different states and each will receive a $2,000 matching grant, towards the restoration, conservation and maintenance of these local historical treasures.

Here is John Schwan the Interim President and CEO of the Pritzker Military Museum and Library from the livestream announcement.

[insert clip]

THEO:

So this has been a nearly two year effort to get the 100 memorials designated… But this is not the end of the program - for example, we are going to continue to profile the project on the podcast, we are going to accelerate our Memorial Hunters program to identify and create a national register of WWI memorials around the nation. We are going to continue to encourage and support communities around the country to commemorate their local WWI heroes through their memorials that are all over America - many hidden in plain sight!

As Dan Dayton, Executive Director of the U.S. World War One Centennial Commission noted in the press release:

"I am impressed by the community involvement that has sprung from this project. By focusing on restoring these community treasures, local cities, veterans groups, historical society and citizens have come together to remember the community’s heritage - and that was really a key goal of the program."

See a searchable listing of all 100 cities and memorials at ww1cc.org/100Memorials or follow the link in the podcast notes.

Link:www.ww1cc.org/100Memorials

[SOUND EFFECT]

Here is our weekly feature “Speaking World War 1” - Where we explore the words & phrases that are rooted in the war  ---

When you encounter something that is exaggerated, major, melodramatic, big, HUGE -- ahhh maybe too much!? --  we sometimes describe it as being “over the top”.

Which is our Speaking WW1 phrase this week.

During WWI, as the soldiers sat in the muddy trenches in anxious anticipation…  preparing to take the offensive… that dramatic moment when the whistles blew - and the men climbed up and over the berms of the trench, rushing out into no-man’s land facing the enemy, shells, gas and machine gun fire, well that was known as… you guessed it - “going over the top”.

At the time it was a literal, physical description of what you did - but - appropriately remains in our lexicon today as something seriously radical.

“Over the top” - something you might toss off lightly about someone or something - but a phrase with a very heavy history - and this week’s phrase for speaking WW1.

Links:https://www.thoughtco.com/going-over-the-top-2361017

[SOUND EFFECT]

This week for WW1 War Tech -- we turn our attention back to late March and early April of 1918. Paris is under attack as behemoth canon shells -- some weighing as much as 230 pounds fall on the city, killing dozens, creating panic and initially confusing city officials. Where were the guns?

The Paris Guns as they came to be known, were sitting 80 miles away, and were responsible. This German supergun was not meant for the battlefield. It was specifically designed to terrorize and demoralize civilian populations.

It was so massive that it could only be moved around by rail..

It was created by extending a 380 mm naval gun barrel to a length of 112 feet. that and 550 Lbs of gunpowder gave the beasts their extreme firing range. Ed Lengel mentioned that en route to their target,  the shells literally arced into earth’s stratosphere 24 miles up -- up there, there is almost no atmospheric drag - again increasing the range.

The weapon began its assault on Paris late March in 1918, continuing periodically for over three months, until early August.

The panic and fear that spread after the initial attacks was short lived and the terror weapon never proved to be much of a threat to French strategy or the population’s morale.

Nevertheless, the Paris Guns proved to be a domestic propaganda hit in Germany, as the ability to strike the French capital directly did much to stem the public’s anxiety over the course of the war.

The Paris Gun -- It was an engineering marvel -- and it was a terror weapon aimed at Parisians one hundred years ago-- and it is the subject of this week’s WW1 War Tech. Learn more, and see images of the mobile monsters, at the links in the notes.

Link: https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1918/03/24/121603152.pdf

https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1918/03/30/102683655.pdf

https://www.britannica.com/technology/Paris-Gun

https://encyclopedia.1914-1918-online.net/article/paris_guns

https://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/paris-hit-by-shells-from-new-german-gun

For Articles and posts -- We are going to try something new this week. Many of the new posts are featured in our weekly Dispatch Newsletter… so we are going to give you the highlights from the Dispatch as an overview.

[DING]

A feature in Politico outlines how president Trump’s parade this year, which looks like it is going to fall on or near Veteran’s Day may have special WW1 meaning. It’s an interesting article and an interesting read.

[DING]

News about Sgt Stubby -- a follow up on the film’s recent premiere, a street fair honoring the pup in his hometown of Hartford, Connecticut, and a new Sgt Stubby statue planned in Middleton, Connecticut.

[DING]

Test yourself on your WW1 knowledge by taking a quiz from the National Archives,

[DING]

Check out a new illustrated battlefield travel guide.

[DING]

Read a bittersweet story about easter in 1918,

[DING]

A new exhibition highlights Anglo-American relations during the war -- on view in Bath, England.

[DING]

Doughboy MIA features Private Edwin C. Kitterman of New Middletown, Indiana

[DING]

and this week’s featured Story of Service is that of Private Wayne Minor, an Illinois native who was killed in action just three hours before armistice.

Sign up for the Weekly Dispatch newsletter at ww1cc.org/subscribe check the archive at ww1cc.org/dispatch or follow the link in the podcast notes.

Link: http://www.worldwar1centennial.org/index.php/communicate/2015-12-28-18-26-00/subscribe.html

http://www.ww1cc.org/dispatch

And that brings us to the buzz - the centennial of WW1 this week in social media with Katherine Akey - Katherine, what did you pick?

Hi Theo --

A really interesting article popped up on Facebook this week about ordnance from WW1 that continues to surface and pose a threat -- but not in Europe, right here on the east coast of the United States! Listeners may be familiar with the Zone Rouge -- a 460 square mile area of France centered around Verdun that has been determined to be too physically and environmentally damaged for human habitation as a direct result of the Great War. There is even an entire department in France, the Département du Déminage or department of de-mining, that has been tasked with safely disposing of ordinance from the world wars. Since its establishment in 1946, more than 630 members of that force have been killed in the line of duty.

We have no such force here in the US -- so when seven rifle grenades from WW1 were discovered recently on the coast of New Jersey, explosives experts had to be called in to safely dispose of the munitions. So, how did these grenades end up in New Jersey? It turns out, disposing of unneeded munitions by dumping them into the sea was a commonplace practice -- as recently as 1970. As a result, there are an estimated millions of tons of potentially explosive ordinance on the seafloor -- and every once in a while, some makes its way onto shore. Read more about the Zone Rouge and the intermittent discovery of World War weapons on American shores by visiting the links in the podcast notes.

That’s it for this week in the Buzz.

Link:https://www.popularmechanics.com/military/weapons/a19641774/a-century-after-wwi-the-weapons-of-old-wars-keep-turning-up-on-beaches/

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/morning-mix/wp/2015/08/13/the-bombs-beneath-us-unexploded-ordnance-linger-long-after-wars-are-over/?utm_term=.924447a3268d

https://www.nationalgeographic.org/news/red-zone/

And that is the first week of April for WW1 Centennial News. Thank you for listening.

We also want to thank our guests...

• Dr. Edward Lengel, Military historian and author

A shout out to our intern John Morreale for his  great research assistance.

And I am Theo Mayer - your host.

The US World War One Centennial Commission was created by Congress to honor, commemorate and educate about WW1.

Our programs are to--

inspire a national conversation and awareness about WW1; Including this podcast!

We are bringing the lessons of the 100 years ago into today's classrooms;

We are helping to restore WW1 memorials in communities of all sizes across our country;

and of course we are building America’s National WW1 Memorial in Washington DC.

We want to thank commission’s founding sponsor the Pritzker Military Museum and Library as well as the Starr foundation for their support.

The podcast can be found on our website at ww1cc.org/cn  

Or search WW1 Centennial News on  iTunes, Google Play, TuneIn, Podbean, Stitcher - Radio on Demand, Spotify or using your smart speaker.. Just say “Play W W One Centennial News Podcast”.

Our twitter and instagram handles are both @ww1cc and we are on facebook @ww1centennial.

Thank you for joining us. And don’t forget

to share the stories

you are hearing here today

about the war that changed the world!

[music]

You know ginormous canon that was shooting at Paris - well - man - that was really over the top!

[Big boom]

So long!

• Update on the Spring Offensive - Mike Shuster | @02:25

Welcome to World War 1 centennial News - episode #65 - It’s about WW1 THEN - what was happening 100 years ago this week  - and it’s about WW1 NOW - news and updates about the centennial and the commemoration.

Today is March 30th, 2018 and our guests for this week include:

• Mike Shuster, from the great war project checking in on the progress of the German Spring Offensive - Operation Michael

And that is our lineup of guest for WW1 Centennial News -- a weekly podcast brought to you by the U.S. World War I Centennial Commission, the Pritzker Military Museum and Library and the Starr foundation.

I’m Theo Mayer - the Chief Technologist for the Commission and your host. Welcome to the show.

[MUSIC]

100 years ago this week, the fate and future, that would be determined by WWI hangs somewhat by a thread. In this episode, we want to give you a sense of what was happening on the ground in Europe, explore the push to get our troops across the Atlantic, and see how the war effort is affecting life and policy here stateside… A year after entering the fray - America is definitely in the thick of it!

With that as a setup, let’s jump into our Centennial Time Machine and roll back 100 years to - to witness a crucial moment,  in the War that Changed the World!

We are going to open our look back 100 years ago this week, with Mike Shuster former NPR correspondent and curator for the Great War project Blog….

Mike: Your post is a powerful update on the front line action, this last week of May, 1918. The Allies are trying desperately to cope with Germany’s “total commitment” onslaught -

By the week’s-end it turns out that maybe the Kaiser’s claim of total victory, last week,  may have been a bit premature. It’s not over yet. Looking forward to your report, Mike…

Thank you Theo - This week the headline read….

[MIKE POST]

Mike Shuster from the Great War Project blog.

LINK:

http://greatwarproject.org/2018/03/25/in-german-spring-offensive-crisis-on-both-sides/

We are going to follow with America Emerges: Military Stories from WWI with Dr. Edward Lengel.

Ed:  As Mike just told us… getting our boys shipped out and on the ground in France is crucial… and your story this week focused on what that was like state -side… Many troops and individual soldiers that would play important roles in the upcoming battles are heading “over there”. What’s the story Ed:

[ED LENGEL]

[MUSIC TRANSITION]

Dr. Edward Lengel is an American military historian, author, and our segment host for America Emerges: Military Stories from WWI.

There are links in the podcast notes to Ed’s post.  

Links:http://www.edwardlengel.com/one-hundred-years-ago-new-york-city-bids-farewell-doughboys/

https://www.facebook.com/EdwardLengelAuthor/

http://www.edwardlengel.com/about/

[SOUND EFFECT]

On the homefront, there are a number of articles this week reflecting our conversation from Last week, with the Smithsonian National Postal Museum’s Lynn Heidelbaugh, about the massive amount of mail going out to the troops - especially parcel post - so much so - that the War department begins the week by expressing concern, and ends the week by listing a whole stack of items banned from being sent to our boys “Over There”.

[SOUND EFFECT]

Dateline: Monday March 25, 1918

A Headline in the Official Bulletin Reads

Parcel Post to France Being Crowded With the Dainties Purchasable There

at Prices Lower Than the Cost Here

And the story reads:

What are you sending by parcel post to the boys in France? asks the department. If it is cookies, candies, or canned goods, bear in mind that the soldiers of the American Expeditionary Forces can purchase these things at the Y. M. C. A. recreation centers, or canteens in France, as cheaply as they can be had here.

And the article goes on the make an economic argument not to send these items.

Two days later

[SOUND EFFECT]

Dateline: Wednesday March 27, 1918

A Headline in the Official Bulletin Reads

SHIPMENTS OF PARCELS TO SOLDIERS IN FRANCE TO BE LIMITED TO THOSE REQUESTED BY MEN

The article goes on to explain:

the postmasters throughout the country are instructed to receive no parcel-post shipments for delivery to members of the American Expeditionary Forces abroad unless the articles offered have been requested by the individual to whom they are to be shipped and approved by his regimental or higher commander.

In the same issue another headline reads

Prices at Which Our Soldiers in France May Purchase Those .Little Dainties You Are Sending Them by Mail

And once again, the article details the price of razors, cigarettes, even malted milk balls. Although seemingly redundant - anyone interested in a great primary source on prices of basic item in 1918 - this article is a treaure trove of detail. You can access each issue of the Official Bulletin on the Commission’s website at ww1cc.org/bulletin - each issue is re-published on the centennial anniversary of its original publish date. This article is on Page 7 of the wednesday March 27th issue.

The week continues with more cajoling about not sending our boys loving care packages from home, AND by the end of the week - the War Department gets unambiguous and definitive!

Dateline: Saturday, March 30, 1918

A Headline in the Official Bulletin on Page 7 reads

WAR DEPARTMENT STATEMENT ON SHIPMENT OF POST PARCELS

TO U. S. SOLDIERS IN FRANCE

The War Department has issued the following statement regarding the restrictions of the shipment of parcels to officers and soldiers in France.

On account of the well-known shortage in shipping it is necessary' to limit shipments to France to things which are absolutely essential for the fighting efficiency of our forces in France. In other words, we must strip for action. It his been found that the shipments of parcels to individual officers and soldiers has assumed enormous proportions now averaging 250 tons a week, and by reason of their bulkiness displacing a great amount

of important Army freight on commercial liners and transports.

And that’s the end of Aunt Ethel's home-made cookies and Momma’s canned peaches for our doughboys in France 100 years ago this week in the war that changed the world!

[SOUND EFFECT]

As we have mentioned before, we are very happy that you listen to our audio podcast, but If you’d like to see videos about WWI 100 years ago this week,  we suggest our friends at the Great War Channel on Youtube, Hosted by Indy Neidell. New videos this week include:

• Conscientious Objectors -- Water -- Wastage

See their videos by searching for “the great war” on youtube or following the link in the podcast notes!

Link:https://www.youtube.com/user/TheGreatWar

It is time to fast forward into the present with WW1 Centennial News NOW -

[SOUND EFFECT]

This part of the podcast isn’t about the past - it is about NOW and how we are commemorating the centennial of WWI!

This week for remembering veterans

and for our last article focused on Women’s History Month

we want to introduce you to

the Women’s Overseas Service League.  As the name implies, the League was founded by American women who had served overseas during World War One. With us to help us understand the WOSL, their heritage, mission and constituency we are joined by Cathleen Cordova, the Past National President of the WOSL. Welcome Cathleen.

[greetings]

[Cathleen -- the Women’s Overseas Service League was formed in 1921, just after the war -- What prompted the formation? Who was it for?]

[Would I consider the Women’s Overseas Service League a Veterans Service Organization? How does it differ?]

[The league’s focus and mission has evolved over the years? What is the continuing legacy of WWI in within the League?]

[Does the League have any specific WWI Centennial commemoration - or any heritage focused programs?]

[goodbyes]

Cathleen Cordova is the Past National President of the Women’s Overseas Service League. Learn more about the organization and their legacy of friendship and advocacy by following the links in the podcast notes.

Link: http://wosl.org/history/

http://wosl.org/

It’s time for our Updates from the States. This week we’re joined by K.C. Piccard, Commissioner for the Idaho World War 1 Centennial Commission, and Frank Krone, the commission’s co-founder.

Welcome!

[greetings]

[Frank --  I don’t know very much about the Idaho Centennial Commission? Would you tell us about it - and how did it get started?]

[K.C.--On the Podcast in February, we told our listeners quite a bit about the sinking of the Tuscania --  You and your Commission got deeply involved with a connected commemoration called Hands Across the Atlantic Project. Can you tell us about it?

[Frank - any other plans or programs from Idaho you’d like to tell us about?]

[goodbyes/thanks]

K.C. Piccard and Franke Krone are with the Idaho World War 1 Centennial Commission. Learn more about the commission and their projects by visiting their website at the links in the podcast notes.

links:http://idahoworldwar1centennial.org/

Earlier this week, here in Los Angeles, I had the pleasure of joining US WWI Centennial Commissioner Zoe Dunning, and the California WW1 Centennial commission Courtland Jindra and Bill Betten at the premiere of the Animated Feature film - Sgt. Stubby: An American Hero.

I have been following the development of this movie for a long time, and of course we have had the film’s producer, writer, and director Richard Lanni and Associate producer Jordan Beck on the podcast over the past months, so I was really ready to see the actual the Sgt. Stubby movie.

I loved it! And so did the 800 person audience at the premiere! Flat out - it’s a really good, class double A animated film that delivers a great movie experience for kids and grown up alike.

You know, it’s really - I mean REALLY hard to create a sympathetic, animated animal character that is someone that you actually care about. Especially if that character has no voice. Everyone in the room fell in love with Stubby.

I didn’t ask the grownups, but I did ask some of the 400 kids in the theater what they thought:

[Kid’s comments]

Sgt. Stubby - an American Hero - and a really great movie experience coming to a theater near you. Grab a friend, grab a kid, grab a grandparent and go see this really heartfelt and heartwarming movie.

Oh yea - did I forget to mention - its based on a real story and its all about WWI. Sorry!

Link:

http://www.stubbymovie.com/

Moving on to our 100 Cities / 100 Memorials segment

about the $200,000 matching grant challenge

to rescue and focus on our local WWI memorials. Next week, on Friday April 6th, we will be announcing the final 50 Awardees. Some very exciting memorials and project are among that group.

Before that, this week, we are going to profile TWO projects from Round #1. They are very different and very much the same -  the first is a deeply meaningful but humble project about a WWI memorial restoration from the Village of Glen Carbon Illinois, where a doughboy statue stands guard over the graves of two local WW1 veterans.  

With us tell us about the project is Linda Sinco, Museum Coordinator of the Glen Carbon Heritage Museum.                              

Welcome Linda!

[greetings]

[Linda: Your project was designated as a WWI Centennial Memorial, in part because it represents memorials of it’s type all over the country. Can you tell us about it please?]

[The doughboy isn’t a bronze - what is it made out of? What’s the status of the statue now?]

[When you took on the project, you did research and got some great local newspaper coverage for the endeavor - what was the community involvement?]

[How did you connect with the 100 Cities / 100 Memorials program?]

[You rededicated your statue last year in September - Any commemoration plans for Memorial Day or Armistice day this year?]

[Linda - thank you so much for looking after your doughboys!]

[goodbyes/thanks]

Linda Sinco is the Museum Coordinator for the Glen Carbon Heritage Museum.    Learn more about the 100 Cities/100 Memorials program and their doughboy statue restoration at the link in the podcast notes or by going to ww1cc.org/100Memorials

Link: www.ww1cc.org/100cities

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VKcETM-DQ-c

https://www.glen-carbon.il.us/891/Heritage-Museum-and-Log-Cabin

Our second 100 Cities / 100 Memorials project profile this week is the Spirit of the American Doughboy project in Appleton, Wisconsin.

This doughboy sculpture is from famed WWI memorial sculptor E. M. Visquesney and it has had one tough time of it,  since it was erected in 1934.

With us tell us about the project, it’s checkered restoration history and its current rescue is Alexander Schultz, Executive Director of Sculpture Valley.

Welcome Alex!

[greetings]

[Alex - This monument was originally put in place in 1934 for $700 - the equivalent of $13,000 today… and it has had a troubled history since. Can you tell us a bit about the maintenance woes of this doughboy?]

[So in 2015 Sculpture Valley stepped in to fix the issues from the ground up - what IS Sculpture Valley?]

[What kind of support did the project get from the community? ]

[You did a rededication on Veterans Day last year - any plans for Armistice day this year?]

[Alex: Thanks so much for being here!]

[goodbyes/thanks]

Alexander Schultz is the Executive Director of Sculpture Valley. Learn more about Sculpture Valley and the 100 Cities/100 Memorials program at the link in the podcast notes or by going to ww1cc.org/100Memorials

Link: www.ww1cc.org/100cities

https://www.sculpturevalley.com/

https://www.sculpturevalley.com/memorail-restoration-initiative/

[SOUND EFFECT]

And now for our feature “Speaking World War 1” - Where we explore the words & phrases that are rooted in the war  ---

By the time America joined the war, nicknames for the various forces involved in the conflict were already established. The French infantry were known as the Poilus, or the hairy ones -- the Australian and New Zealanders were collectively known as the ANZAC a simple contraction for the Australian and New Zealand Army Corps - meanwhile the New Zealanders were also called Kiwis. The American were often referred to as Sammies but self branded as Doughboys.

And the British common soldier?

Well, That’s our Speaking WWI word for this week.

The British soldier was known as the Tommy.

The nickname appears to come from an individual, Tommy Atkins, a mythical, courageous British soldier who fought under the Duke of Wellington in 1794. Lore has it that In 1815, the British War Office asked the Duke for a name that could personify a strong British soldier, and he, apocryphally, replied “Tommy”.

From a branding perspective, it sounds like a great choice to an old marketing guy like me…. it’s so aptly descriptive of a regular joe… resolute… a comrade… a good fellow and unlike a lot of the other names - Tommy seems human.

The nickname was popular enough in the 19th century that Rudyard Kipling included a poem about a mistreated soldier named Tommy.

Tommy didn’t get associated with the British army, until World War I, when the name Tommy Atkins was featured on a guidance sheet enclosed in every pocket ledger provided to every British soldier to inscribe their personal information.

Tommy -- a valiant and humble soldier, and this week’s speaking WW1 word.

Links:http://www.historic-uk.com/HistoryUK/HistoryofBritain/The-British-Tommy-Tommy-Atkins/

http://www.firstworldwar.com/atoz/tommy.htm

[SOUND EFFECT]

This week for WW1 War Tech -- we’re focusing on a medical device that saved countless lives -- and was invented by a woman.

Almost immediately after the discovery of the X-ray in 1895, medical professionals began using it to locate foreign objects, that had become lodged in the body. - you know - like bullets.

At the start of the war in 1914, the only X-Ray machines to be found where located in city hospitals, far away from the frontlines and only benefiting soldiers that could survive the long journe to get to them.

The answer came from famed French scientist Madame Marie Curie, discoverer of radium ... polonium and twice-awarded the Nobel Prize.

When the German army began marching toward Paris early in the war, Madame Curie shipped her supply of radium to a bank in Bordeaux and devoted her time to the war effort.

Curie came up with the “radiological car” - a rig with an X-Ray machine, a photographic dark room, and an early electrical generator to produce the X-Rays. Using funding from the Union of Women of France and cars donated by wealthy Parisians, she trained some 150 women, including her daughter Irene, to operate these machines and move them around the front lines to where they were most needed. The “little curies” --as they were called-- debuted at the First Battle of the Marne. Over 1 million soldiers received Xray exams from the mobile units over the course of the war.

The LIttle Curie-- a big idea from an awesome scientist, Madame Marie Curie, and this week’s WW1 War Tech. Learn more, and see images of the mobile machines, at the links in the notes.

Link: https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/how-marie-curie-brought-x-ray-machines-to-battlefield-180965240/

For Articles and posts we want to re-introduce you to a fantastic WWI Centennial resource.

It’s the Commission’s weekly Dispatch Newsletter.

Every week, the Commission publishes all sorts of great information about WWI and the centennial commemoration.

There are articles posted in the website’s news section,

New Stories of Service that are submitted by you.

Important commemoration events.

Blog posts and postings from our state partners.

And even the highlight listing from the WWI Centennial News podcast.

Well - in the dispatch, the editor, Chris Christopher works diligently to keep it short and useful.  He provides a quick summary of each new post with links to read, listen or see more…

It’s a great way to see if there is something you’d like to know more about.

So sign up for the Weekly  Dispatch newsletter at ww1cc.org/subscribe and take a look at samples in the archive at ww1cc.org/dispatch or follow the link in the podcast notes.

Link: http://www.worldwar1centennial.org/index.php/communicate/2015-12-28-18-26-00/subscribe.html

http://ww1cc.org/dispatch

And that brings us to the buzz - the centennial of WW1 this week in social media with Katherine Akey - Katherine, what do you have for us this week?

Adopt an Orphan!

We shared a beautiful image this week on Facebook from the Marine Corps History Division. It’s a studio portrait of a little girl, Jeanne Louise Alphonsine Pascal. She’s maybe three or four years old, dressed in a dark frock with an enormous white bow atop her head. She is the Mascot of Company L, Thirteenth Regiment, U.S. Marines, A.E.F.

Under the auspices of the American Red Cross, soldiers were able to adopt war orphans; it’s a very early example of a familiar charitable system. For four cents a month, per man, a unit of some 200 men could fully feed, clothe and house an orphan.

Some estimated 200,000 children were orphaned in France and Belgium alone during the war. Grassroots orphans’ relief efforts appeared in France as early as 1914.

Many editions of the Stars and Stripes-- the American Expeditionary Forces’ official newspaper-- discuss and promote The Red Cross’s orphan relief campaigns, including the issue from this week 100 years ago.

These children, supported by the Allies and under the care of a variety of service organizations, were beneficial for the soldiers; they reminded the men of their children back home and the orphans received food and care from the Allied troops.

By April 1918, Stars and Stripes reports that 38 children were adopted by various Infantry companies.

You can read the article “Take as your mascot a French war orphan” in the Stars and Stripes, and see the image of little Jeanne Louise, by following the links in the podcast notes.

That’s it for this week in the Buzz.

Link:https://cdn.loc.gov/service/sgp/sgpbatches/batch_dlc_argonne_ver03/data/20001931/print/1918032901/0001.pdf

https://www.facebook.com/36536773014https://cdn.loc.gov/service/sgp/sgpbatches/batch_dlc_argonne_ver03/data/20001931/print/1918032901/0001.pdf7282/photos/a.367850739898981.107284.365367730147282/1062367587113956/?type=3&theater

https://rememberingwwi.villanova.edu/orphans/

Thank you Katherine -

And that is also it for this week’s episode of WW1 Centennial News. Thank you for listening.

We also want to thank our guests...

• Mike Shuster, Curator for the great war project blog

A shout out to Eric Maar as well as our intern John Morreale for their great research assistance.

And I am Theo Mayer - your host.

The US World War One Centennial Commission was created by Congress to honor, commemorate and educate about WW1.

Our programs are to--

inspire a national conversation and awareness about WW1; Including this podcast!

We are bringing the lessons of the 100 years ago into today's classrooms;

We are helping to restore WW1 memorials in communities of all sizes across our country;

and of course we are building America’s National WW1 Memorial in Washington DC.

We want to thank commission’s founding sponsor the Pritzker Military Museum and Library as well as the Starr foundation for their support.

The podcast can be found on our website at ww1cc.org/cn  

on  iTunes, Google Play, TuneIn, Podbean, Stitcher - Radio on Demand --- or using your smart speaker.. Just say “Play W W One Centennial News Podcast” and we are excited to announce - as of this week - you can listen to us on Spotify. Search ww1 Centennial News.

Our twitter and instagram handles are both @ww1cc and we are on facebook @ww1centennial.

Thank you for joining us. And don’t forget

to share the stories

you are hearing here today

about the war that changed the world!

[music]

What did the American Captain shout to the British left-tennant as the German barrage rained down?

[insert music clip Tommy]

So long!

Spring Offensive

• Spring offensive in the media | @01:50

Welcome to World War 1 centennial News - episode #64 - It’s about WW1 THEN - what was happening 100 years ago this week  - and it’s about WW1 NOW - news and updates about the centennial and the commemoration.

Today is March 23rd, 2018 and our guests for this week include:

• Mike Shuster, from the great war project blog giving an overview of the big German Spring Offensive - Operation Michael

A great lineup of guest for WW1 Centennial News -- a weekly podcast brought to you by the U.S. World War I Centennial Commission, the Pritzker Military Museum and Library and the Starr foundation.

I’m Theo Mayer - the Chief Technologist for the Commission and your host. Welcome to the show.

Link: https://open.spotify.com/show/4xrhXYSHPEtG1CqMXEJj67

[MUSIC]

Every week as we prepare the podcast, we pour through the publications that came out that week 100 years ago and look for themes, trends and what is being talked about. This week, we were struck with what WASN’T being talked about - especially in government related media like the Official Bulletin - the government’s daily war gazette - published for the President by George Creel’s Committee on Public Information or the American Expeditionary Forces’ weekly Stars and Stripes newspaper.

This is the week, on March 21st, that the Germans slammed down their hammer with the first phase of their spring offensive.  

With that as a setup, let’s jump into our Centennial Time Machine and roll back 100 years to the week that launched the definitive 6 months of DO or DIE -  in the War that Changed the World!

It’s the third week of March, 1918

And to review the situation once again, Even before the Brest-Litovsk Treaty earlier this month, which successfully wraps up the war on Eastern Front for the Germans - the front collapsing has been freeing up massive resources of men, arms and munitions which are now being re-deployed to the Western Front.

Germany's General Erich Ludendorff plans a massive spring offensive designed to separate the British and French armies and force a surrender which the Germans feel pressure to do -  before the American troops can affect the outcome.

The offensive is code named Operation Michael, and unbeknownst to the allies is scheduled for March 21st., 1918.

Though the Allies could have   been more prepared, they surely were not surprised. Most historians agree that the only surprise is the specific day and the specific location for the offensive’s launch.

In fact,  by mid-February 1918, the buildup of both men and heavy artillery on the German side had become too large to dismiss any doubt of a coming attack.

In a letter from Sir Douglas Haig, Commander in Chief of the British Armies, written after the fact, he describes aerial operations revealing expanded ammunition and supply dumps all along the Western Front, but with a clear buildup in the Arras sector, leading Haig to believe that this is the most probable place for a German offensive to take place.

By some accounts, the actual date of Operation Michael is uncovered by British intelligence a few days before the fact. Unfortunately, defenses are still being prepared on March 21st. Even more unfortunately, General Haig has decided to strengthen his left wing at the expense of his right, and his right wing is exactly where the full force of the German hammer comes down.  

According to historian Robert Doughty, French intelligence also discovers a high probability of a German attack at Arras, but the lack of a overarching structure connecting the two armies hampers collaboration.

Meanwhile the US Government seems to be focusing its public with misdirection.

SOUND EFFECT:

Dateline Monday March 18, 1918

As the offensive encroaches - Here is a sampling of headlines in the Official Bulletin:

• More than 12 Billion Dollars now in War risk insurance….

The next day the war department briefs the press causing the NY TImes to print an article doubting the offensive is imminent.

[SOUND EFFECT]

Dateline Tuesday March 19, 1918

A headline in the NY times reads:

Offensive in west foe’s last Resort?

Washington believes it won’t be delivered unless strategy compels it.

Massing of more enemy troops is impracticable.

And the article reads:

Doubt that the German military leaders will launch their offensive in the west unless compelled by the strategy of the situation to do so,  is expressed in the weekly statement issued by the war Department today, reviewing military operations of the last week.

Meanwhile, the next day In the Official Bulletin we find headlines that include:

• No icing on this year’s Hot Cross Buns for good Friday

And still nothing about the impending offensive!

But that is not true for the public press! In contrast to the government media, the NY Times is all over the start of the German spring offensive!

Dateline March 21, 1918

The headline in the NY times reads

Concentrated assault made to pinch British out of their front line

intense struggle ensues

The battle spreads north and south and is still continuing with great fury

Shell storm over lines

Wide area back of British front is swept by German missiles

And the story reads:

The Germans this afternoon launched a heavy attack against British lines over a wide front in and near the Cambrai sector, and the assault bears all the earmarks of being the beginning of the enemy’s much heralded grand offensive.

The attack was preceded by a heavy bombardment from guns of all calibers and the duel between the opposing heavy batteries has been rocking the countryside for hours.

[ Sound Effect ]

Another Headline Reads

Washington still doubtful on drive.

American officers wait for full scope of German move to develop.

However, the next day on March 22nd, a reporter name Philip Gibbs files a cable report to the NY TIMES that is, in retrospect, the most accurate description in this dynamic moment.

Dateline March 22, 1918

The headline in the New York Times reads

Germans vast superiority in Guns is backed by 50 divisions of men

One cannon for every 12 yards of front

One British division fought six near St.  Quentin

The enemy flung the full weight of his great army against the British yesterday. Nearly 40 divisions are identified and it is certain that as many as 50 must be engaged. In proportion of men, the British are much outnumbered, therefore the obstinacy of the resistance of the troops is to be admired.

Nine German divisions were hurled against three British at one part of the line, and eight against two at another.

All the storm troops, including the guards, were in brand-new uniforms. They advanced in dense masses and never faltered until shattered by machine gun fire.

As far as I can find, the enemy introduced no new frightfullness, no tanks, and no specially invented gas, but instead, relied on the power of his artillery and the weight of his infantry assault.

The supporting waves advanced over the bodies of the dead and wounded. The German commanders were ruthless in the sacrifice of life, in the hope of overwhelming the defense by the sheer weight of numbers.

And that is how the media ran - this week 100 years ago - when the German Spring Offensive launches -  in the war the changed the world

We have put the links to some of our research in the podcast notes for you to explore.

Links:https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1918/03/19/102677903.pdf

https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1918/03/20/102678449.pdf

https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1918/03/22/102679611.pdf

https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1918/03/22/102679611.pdf

https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1918/03/22/102679618.pdf

https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1918/03/22/102679621.pdf

https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1918/03/23/102680289.pdf

https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1918/03/23/102680281.pdf

https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1918/03/23/102680343.pdf

https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1918/03/24/121603161.pdf

https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1918/03/24/121603157.pdf

https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1918/03/24/121603160.pdf

https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1918/03/24/121603155.pdf

https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1918/03/24/121603154.pdf

https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1918/03/24/121603152.pdf

https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1918/03/24/121603188.pdf

https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1918/03/24/121603187.pdf

https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1918/03/24/121603659.pdfhttps://www.britannica.com/biography/Erich-Ludendorff

http://www.remembrancetrails-northernfrance.com/history/battles/kaiserschlacht-the-german-spring-offensive-of-1918.html

https://www.warmuseum.ca/firstworldwar/history/people/generals/sir-arthur-currie/

https://search-proquest-com.proxygw.wrlc.org/docview/304508344/23D471EBD41649A9PQ/8?accountid=11243

http://www.longlongtrail.co.uk/battles/british-field-commanders-despatches/sir-douglas-haigs-sixth-despatch-german-spring-offensives-1918/

https://global.oup.com/academic/product/the-first-world-war-a-very-short-introduction-9780199205592?cc=us&lang=en&

https://ebookcentral.proquest.com/lib/gwu/reader.action?docID=3300066&ppg=420

[SOUND EFFECT]

That brings us to Great War project with Mike Shuster - former NPR correspondent and curator for the Great War project Blog….

Mike:

We have been looking at this moment through the lens of press reports - and your post this week offers a great congealing overview of the first days of the spring offensive. What your headline Mike?

[MIKE POST]

Mike Shuster from the Great War Project blog.

LINK:

http://greatwarproject.org/2018/03/18/last-chance-for-both-sides-as-germany-attacks/

No w for this  week’s segment of America Emerges: Military Stories from WWI with Dr. Edward Lengel.

Ed: Your story this week is about a 3rd division regimen of engineers. When I read it, it really struck me as a great example of what the Americans brought to the bone tired, desperate and war weary allies. It was more than bodies and equipment - it was also a very special, almost naive but very recognizable spirit.  

[ED LENGEL]

[MUSIC TRANSITION]

[Ed, what will you be telling us about next week?]

Dr. Edward Lengel is an American military historian, author, and our segment host for America Emerges: Military Stories from WWI.

There are links in the podcast notes to Ed’s post - and I recommend that you take a look at it. The pictures Ed included are memorable.  

Links:http://www.edwardlengel.com/easter-sunday-1918-american-engineers-combat/

https://www.facebook.com/EdwardLengelAuthor/

http://www.edwardlengel.com/about/

[SOUND EFFECT]

If you’d like to see videos about WWI, we suggest our friends at the Great War Channel on Youtube.

This week’s new episodes include:  

• Allied Unified Command on the Horizon

See their videos by searching for “the great war” on youtube or following the link in the podcast notes!

Link:https://www.youtube.com/user/TheGreatWar

It is time to fast forward into the present with WW1 Centennial News NOW -

[SOUND EFFECT]

This part of the podcast isn’t about the past - it is about NOW and there is a lot going on to commemorate the centennial of the War that changed the world!

This week for remembering veterans and for Women’s History Month - we are highlighting a special exhibit:  In Her Words: Women's Duty and Service in World War I

Which is on view at the Smithsonian’s     National Postal Museum.

We’re joined by Lynn Heidelbaugh, the Curator for the exhibit.  

Lynn - Nice to have you back to the Podcast!

[greetings]

[With families being separated and with more and more men sent to training camps and abroad-- is there an estimation of how much mail was being sent during WW1?]

[An on-going subject on the show is new roles and jobs women were taking on during the war-- did the postal service also see women joining its ranks at that time? ]

[Lynn - let’s talk a bit about the exhibit-- what inspired it, and how does it differ from your other WW1 letters exhibit, My Fellow Soldiers ]

[Is there one particular or special women’s letter that you’d like to highlight ?]

[goodbyes]

Lynn Heidelbaugh is a Curator at the Smithsonian National Postal Museum. Learn more about their WW1 exhibits by following the links in the podcast notes.

Link: https://postalmuseum.si.edu/In-Her-Words/index.html

https://postalmuseum.si.edu/MyFellowSoldiers/index.html

Now Sticking with museums and continuing our focus on Women’s History Month we are joined by Dr. Francoise Bonnell, the director of the U.S. Army Women's Museum at Fort Lee, Virginia. She is an author and a recognized authority in women’s military history.

Dr. Bonnell! Welcome,

[greetings]

[Dr. Bonnell, I’d like to start by asking you about the U.S. Army Women’s Museum. can you give us a quick overview?]

[I know we need to get to WWI but I was struck by something I read on your website. It states that the museum covers the service of Army women from 1775 to the present -  well 1775 is when the colonies kicked off the Revolutionary war against England’s King George - That is pre-United States --- so what was the role of women in our colonial 1775 army?]

[OK - on to WWI - Dr. Bonnell - How did women affect the army in WWI and how did their service affect womanhood?]

[Is there a continuing legacy of WW1 for women in the army today?]

[Does the museum have any WWI centennial commemoration plans?]

Dr. Francoise Bonnell is the director of the U.S. Army Women's Museum at Fort Lee, Virginia. Learn more about the museum and the legacy of women’s service in the Army by visiting the link in the podcast notes.

Links: http://www.awm.lee.army.mil/about/more_than_a_museum/

Men served in WWI and as we have been exploring this month - Women served in WWI, but in addition to people - over 16 million animals were mobilized for the war effort. We’ve covered these stories in the past - horses, mules, pigeons, the lion cubs Whiskey and Soda, the elephants of the Berlin Zoo and last weeks the trench rats of the Chemin de Dames…  Today we’re joined by Nancy Furstinger (FUR-stinger), an animal author -- whose book “Paws of Courage” highlights the tales of our heroic canines.

Welcome, Nancy!

[greetings]

[Nancy, to start -- can you give us an overview of the various roles Dogs played in the Armed Forces during WW1?]

[Everyone’s been talking about Sgt. Stubby -- and of course, next week he premieres as the star of an animated feature film! What other famous wartime canines are there from WWI?]

[Your book covers dogs in service -- and as we mentioned in the opening, there were a lot of different animals that served in WWI. from your research - what strikes you as the most interesting?]

[goodbyes/thanks]

Nancy Furstinger is the author of over 100 books - and many about her life’s passion - animals. Learn more about Nancy, her writings and the service of animals by following the links in the podcast notes.

Links:http://www.nancyfurstinger.com/

http://www.worldwar1centennial.org/index.php/brookeusa-home-page.html

http://www.worldwar1centennial.org/index.php/communicate/press-media/wwi-centennial-news/3917-the-animals-that-helped-win-world-war-i.html

http://americanhistory.si.edu/blog/how-did-animals-even-slugs-serve-world-war-i

https://www.iwm.org.uk/history/15-animals-that-went-to-war

Last week in Spotlight on the media we introduced you to a WWI feature film that premiered over the weekend in both New York and Los Angeles.

Journey’s End is a powerful film about a group of British soldiers that rotated into the front line trenches - just about exactly 100 years ago this week, at the cusp of the anticipated great German offensive.

I had a chance to catch up with the film’s Director, Saul Dibb in a call to London. Welcome, Saul!

[Saul - Journey's end is a very intimate film - about a very intimate subject - men, mortality and fear - Can you give us a quick overview of the story? ]

[Journey's End was a stage play, in fact a very good stage play,  before you made it into a film - so it was conceptualized to happen on the confines of a stage - with a story that plays out largely in the confines of a trench system - how did that affect your approach?]

[The art direction, cinematography, performance and obviously the script are all amazing - as the director - what your biggest challenge in bringing this all together.]

[Saul - You've made several period films - so authenticity is always a key element - how did you go about "getting it right" for Journey's end?]

Saul Dibb is the director of the feature film Journey’s End, now in limited release in us theaters across the country. We put links in the podcast notes for both the trailer and the theater show listing - or Google Journey’s End - I you are interested in what this first week of spring was like for the Tommies in the trenches in 1918  - This fine film will take you there.

links:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tLpyaLNfudY

http://www.journeysendthefilm.com/watch/movies/journeys-end-622437?gwiCampaign=official+site_official+site_2018-01-11_7876&gwi_campaign=Official+Site&lead_partner_id=360&partner_asset_id=7876&version=2#theater-list

Moving on to our 100 Cities / 100 Memorials segment

about the $200,000 matching grant challenge

to rescue and focus on our local WWI memorials.

This week we are profiling the Memorial Bell Tower project at NC State University in raleigh, North Carolina.

With us tell us about their project are Thomas Skolnicki [SKOAL-nick-ee], A veteran and the Landscape Architect for the University -- retired US navy Rear Admiral  -- Benny Suggs, the director of NC State's Alumni Association and US Air Force Veteran, World War One Centennial Commissioner Jerry Hester, and all three men are alumni of the school!

Welcome gentlemen!

[greetings]

[Let me start with a courtesy - Commissioner Hester - We have not had the pleasure of your presence on the Podcast before - I just want to welcome you to the show.]

[My first questions is to you Tom - The North Carolina State University Bell Tower is a very unusual building with an interesting history. It started out as a low 16 foot ww1 memorial - a cornerstone monument known as the shrine room but, like a tree it started to grow! For decades! Up to 115 feet tall. Can you tell us the story?]

[Commissioner Hester - you are an alumni of the University - did you encourage them to participate in the 100 Cities / 100 Memorials Project - or did you learn about their participation after?]

[Benny - this is our first “Spring of 2018” episode and appropriately, for your restoration project is adding a poppy beds to the tower. Can you tell us about that and the dedication plans?]

[Commissioner - You have been promoting poppy plantings all over the state - even along the highways - I understand it was pretty spectacular last year.]

Thomas Skolnicki is the University Landscape Architect at NC State University, Benny Suggs is the director of NC State's Alumni Association, and Jerry Hester is a World War One Centennial Commissioner. Learn more about the 100 Cities/100 Memorials program at the link in the podcast notes or by going to ww1cc.org/100Memorials

Link: www.ww1cc.org/100cities

[SOUND EFFECT]

And that brings us to the buzz - the centennial of WW1 this week in social media with Katherine Akey - Katherine, what do you have for us this week?

St. Patrick’s Day and Literacy

Hi Theo -- we celebrated St Patrick’s Day this past weekend, and in honor of that I wanted to share two quick articles about the Irish and Irish Americans of WW1 that we shared on Facebook this past week.

The first comes from NPR and tells the story of a torpedoed Irish ship and the cargo aboard that saved its sailors lives. The ship was making its way across the Irish Sea, a favored hunting ground for German uboats, when it was struck by a torpedo and split in two. As the ship began to sank, sucking the sailors down into the water with it, the cargo floated up to the surface -- barrels and barrels of the iconic Irish stout, Guinness. Holding on to the Guinness, the sailors drifted in the sea and were rescued a few hours later. Read the full story at the link in the notes.

To wrap up St Patrick’s Day, head to Saratogian News where they recently published an article about the experience of an Irish American regiment, a part of the 42nd Rainbow Division, during the St Patrick’s Day of 1918. They celebrated the holiday just after having experienced some heavy losses at the hand of the German’s and their artillery. Read about their valiant efforts under intense German fire, and their celebration of the holiday, at the link in the podcast notes.

Finally for the week, head over to Mental Floss to take a WW1 era literacy test. With a rapidly growing armed forces, drawn from all corners of the country and all segments of the population, officials and army leaders saw indications of life in the early 20th century: nutrition and literacy in this cross-section of America were not at the levels they had expected.

Though reading and writing might are not necessarily the most important requirement for trench warfare -- and indeed several combatants, including Russia, Italy and Turkey had shockingly low rates of literacy in their ranks-- the U.S. Army became increasingly concerned with whether or not its soldiers were literate as the war picked up pace. Thousands of American soldiers couldn't read printed directions on basic military tasks -- posing a potentially dangerous problem for the fledgling force. The Army didn't implement its first major literacy program until the 1940s, but it did use a battery of yes or no questions to test literacy as new recruits came in. Some of the questions are quite simple, like “is coal white?” but they escalate in complexity to ones like “Are members of the family usually regarded as guests” and “Are loquacious and voluble opposite in meaning?”

You can take the test yourself, and read more about the pitfalls of this first literacy battery, by visiting the link in the notes.

That’s it for this week in the Buzz.

Link:https://www.npr.org/sections/thesalt/2018/03/17/594440438/for-st-patricks-day-a-true-tale-of-8-sailors-saved-by-guinness?utm_source=facebook.com&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=npr&utm_term=nprnews&utm_content=20180317

http://www.saratogian.com/article/ST/20180317/NEWS/180319837

http://mentalfloss.com/article/535841/would-you-be-able-pass-world-war-i-military-literary-test

And that is also it for this week’s episode of WW1 Centennial News. Thank you for listening.

We also want to thank our guests...

• Dr. Edward Lengel, Military historian and author

A shout out to Eric Maar as well as our intern John Morreale for their great research assistance.

And I am Theo Mayer - your host.

The US World War One Centennial Commission was created by Congress to honor, commemorate and educate about WW1.

Our programs are to--

inspire a national conversation and awareness about WW1; Including this podcast!

We are bringing the lessons of the 100 years ago into today's classrooms;

We are helping to restore WW1 memorials in communities of all sizes across our country;

and of course we are building America’s National WW1 Memorial in Washington DC.

We want to thank commission’s founding sponsor the Pritzker Military Museum and Library as well as the Starr foundation for their support.

The podcast can be found on our website at ww1cc.org/cn  

on  iTunes, Google Play, TuneIn, Podbean, Stitcher - Radio on Demand --- or using your smart speaker.. Just say “Play W W One Centennial News Podcast” and we are excited to announce - as of this week - you can listen to us on Spotify. Search ww1 Centennial News.

Our twitter and instagram handles are both @ww1cc and we are on facebook @ww1centennial.

Thank you for joining us. And don’t forget

to share the stories

you are hearing here today

about the war that changed the world!

[music]

So long!

Next week:

• 1418 now join us for an interview

• Federal Income Tax in 1918 | @02:15

Welcome to World War 1 centennial News - episode #63 - It’s about WW1 THEN - what was happening 100 years ago this week  - and it’s about WW1 NOW - news and updates about the centennial and the commemoration.

Today is March 16th, 2018 and our guests for this week include:

• Dr. Edward Lengel with a story from the Yankee Division and rats...

WW1 Centennial News -- a weekly podcast brought to you by the U.S. World War I Centennial Commission, the Pritzker Military Museum and Library and the Starr foundation.

I’m Theo Mayer - the Chief Technologist for the Commission and your host. Welcome to the show.

[MUSIC]

This week, as we were looking at the news and articles from various publications 100 years ago, an unexpected theme popped out.. A theme that covers two ideas that are said to be the only sure things in life. Death and Taxes - both of which are all over the news this week 100 years ago.

With that as a setup, let’s jump into our Centennial Time Machine and roll back 100 years to understand how we see death and taxes 100 years ago in the War that Changed the World!

We are back in 1918 and some things never change. We are in mid March, heading towards April and it’s TAX TIME!!

[SOUND EFFECT]

Dateline March 11, 1918

A headline from the Official Bulletin reads:

Voices of 25,000 Four-Minute Men to Be Heard Throughout the Land, Warning All to Make Tax Returns

The story opens with:

Twenty-five thousand Four-Minute Men will start out today on a nation-wide

campaign to impress upon the American public their patriotic duty promptly to file their income tax return and pay their taxes. The period for filing ends April 1.

You remember who the four-minute-men are, right?

The four minute men are a force of volunteers that are deployed by George Creel - America’s propaganda chief - to deliver 4 minute government written pitches to the population. The article continues to explain:

The Four-Minute Men will appear in theaters, moving picture houses, and public gatherings.  Special meetings will be held by chambers of commerce, boards of trade, rotary clubs, luncheon clubs, and business organizations.

" Don't delay " is the warning that will be given by the

speakers. Taxpayers will be urged to protect themselves and aid the Government by being prompt.

It will cost the Government money and trouble to hunt down the man who dodges the income tax, but the word has gone forth from headquarters

that this will be done. Be it known that the “slacker " will be shown no leniency.

Now here it gets interesting!

The article goes on to reveal how much people actually pay for taxes in 1918 - In the article it states:

The man of modest income is made to bear a just share of the common burden. Tables have been produced comparing the rate of tax in the United

States and Great Britain.

Here in the United States, the married man with an income of $2,500 pays $10 in taxes while in Great Britain the-man with an income of $2,500 pays a tax of $223!

However, larger incomes in the US are subject to a surtax!

The normal rate of tax under the war revenue act of 1917 is 2 percent on the net Income of married persons earning $2,000.

The surtax ranges from an additional 1 per cent on incomes between $5,000 and $7,500 to a surtax of 50 percent on incomes in excess of $1,000,000.

So in 1918, we have a tax code that can be explained in 4 minutes. It supports working people with a small tax burden and expects the wealthy to contribute a substantial share back to the nation that makes it possible for them to gain such wealth.

Weird - huh!?

OK So much for Taxes - Let’s talk about the other sure thing in life - Death!

This week 100 years ago there is great controversy raging in the pages of the NY times over the publication of casualty lists.

Concerned over German abilities to derive useful military information from casualty lists and under pressure from the French, Pershing only publishes names of casualties with no unit, or home address information.

[SOUND EFFECT]

Dateline: March 11, 1918

WAR DEPARTMENT STANDS-BY-THE BAN ON CASUALTY LISTS

Shows No Intention of Yielding on Publication of Addresses.

CONGRESSMEN OBJECT

Expect Flood of Protests from Constituents

Information is Declared to be Valuable to Foe

The article goes on to explain that the French do not publish ANY casualty lists instead they simply inform the next of kin directly.

George Creel,  the head of the Committee on Public information, also easy to describe as America’s propaganda chief is in on this fight, as the Times describes the committee’s stand as:

“The mere publishing of name of soldiers without home addresses to Identify them to neighbors and friends or to prevent confusion with other men of similar names, is so devoid of news value that the committee will not Issue the lists.”

Interestingly, the NY Times clearly has it wrong - because George Creel is also the publisher of the government daily War Gazette the “Official Bulletin” -- and on the same day, May 11, in issue #254 - on page 2 -- there is an article whose headline reads: LIST OF CASUALTIES AS REPORTED AMONG THE U.S. FORCES OVERSEAS

And continues to list the casualties by the Rank, first name, middle initial and last name.

Looking further into it we found something else fascinating. A few days later, on March 16, another article in the NY times is published:

[SOUND EFFECT]

Headline:

1,722 Casualties in Overseas Forces so Far;

162 Killed in Action or Dead From Wounds.

The article goes on to list what the causes of the casualties are. Some of the smallest numbers are death from gas, civilians and executions - but when you look at the numbers you realize that out the casusualies, less than 10% are killed in action. About the same % as killed by accidents, while a whopping 37% -  over ⅓ of casualties are the result of disease.

So if you are an American Soldier in Europe in March of 1918 - you are nearly 4 times more likely to get killed by a bacterium or a virus than you are likely to get killed by the Kaiser’s forces… a strange twist of fate at this stage in the war that changed the world!

Links:

http://www.worldwar1centennial.org/index.php/educate/places/official-bulletin/3343-ww1-official-bulletin-volume-2-issue-254-march-11-1918.html

https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1918/03/16/98260787.pdf

https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1918/03/11/118139263.pdf

https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1918/03/12/98259936.pdf

https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1918/03/15/98260374.pdf

[SOUND EFFECT]

And that brings us to this week’s segment of America Emerges: Military Stories from WWI with Dr. Edward Lengel.

Ed: This week your story is about the 26th Yankee division.. And last week you teased us with the fact that this week’s story was going to include special RATS! Can’t wait to hear the story!

[ED LENGEL]

[Ed, what will you be telling us about next week?]

Dr. Edward Lengel is an American military historian, author, and our segment host for America Emerges: Military Stories from WWI.

There are links in the podcast notes to Ed’s post and his website as an author.

Links:http://www.edwardlengel.com/100-years-ago-1918-yankee-divisions-secret-weapon/

https://www.facebook.com/EdwardLengelAuthor/

http://www.edwardlengel.com/about/

[MUSIC TRANSITION]

War in the Sky

Combining the War in The Sky and Women’s History Month

we have this first person account from a YMCA canteen worker who went to Paris to help our boys:

This week, one hundred years ago, the war in the sky over Paris is alive with attacks on the city.

This is from one of the last letters written by a Miss Winona C Martin,  a YMCA worker who was killed in a German air raid attack on Paris. In this letter she describes another raid much like the one in which she was killed. Hospitalized in Paris with Bronchitis she writes:

“Above the red brick wall, which is all I see, of the world’s most beautiful city, there rises a patch of sky… and as the light began to fade on my first night in the hospital, I noticed some stars of marvelous brilliance.

Suddenly they began to move about in the weirdest manner, which I thought due to the fact that I was slightly lightheaded. My nurse came to me presently and explain that they were airplanes on guard. She said the Bosh were expected any moment, because it was full moon.

The following night I was watching them again when suddenly I heard the boom of canons. There came the call of sirens, which warn Paris that an air raid is on. There followed a scene as I hope never to witness again. All lights were extinguished and the women in the ward across the hall awakened and commenced to call on the Saints and the Virgin for protection. Further down, I heard babies crying. The nurses walked up and down ringing their hands, yet trying to prevent a panic.

For half an hour the firing continued. Sometimes directly above our heads, sometimes becoming more distant.

Meanwhile the whole battle was visible from my window. The airplanes, mere streaks of light,  darted hither and thither and sometimes there was a blaze like a falling star when one was hit. At the end of that time, the firing ceased. The siren blew the recall, which meant that the Bosh were driven back. And to my immense surprise, the whole hospital instantly calmed down, turned over on its pillows and went peacefully to sleep.

Miss Martin was a civilian casualty this month, but her letters home give us a  special glimpse into one woman’s experience of the war in the sky, the war on the sea, and the war in Paris 100 years ago this week.

Link:  https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1918/03/17/109329237.pdf

Now on to the Great War project with Mike Shuster - former NPR correspondent and curator for the Great War project Blog….

Mike, this week you turn your focus back to the homefront with a report on those who still resist America’s participation in the war. Their voice is not a welcome echo in the US, is it Mike?

it certainly is not Theo… The headline on the "Great War Project" this week read…

[MIKE POST]

Mike Shuster from the Great War Project blog.

LINK:

http://greatwarproject.org/2018/03/11/american-anti-war-movement-still-alive/

[SOUND EFFECT]

If you’d like to see videos about WWI, we suggest our friends at the Great War Channel on Youtube.

This week’s new episodes include:  

• Peace in the east -- The Treaty of Brest-Litovsk
  

See their videos by searching for “the great war” on youtube or following the link in the podcast notes!

Link:https://www.youtube.com/user/TheGreatWar

It is time to fast forward into the present with WW1 Centennial News NOW -

[SOUND EFFECT]

This part of the podcast is not about the past - it is about NOW and what is happening to commemorate the centennial of the War that changed the world!

This week in Commission News, we’re looking across the Atlantic and towards the summer-- to the many centennial commemoration events that will be taking place all across Europe as the desperate and decisive battles that brought the war to end are remembered. Joining us now with an overview on some of these commemorations,  is US World War One Centennial Commissioner Dr. Monique Seefried.

[Monique - Welcome back to the podcast! We haven’t had you on the show for a long time!]

[greetings]

[Monique - In overview, what are the key commemoration events planned in Europe this year?]

[I know there is one event in particular that is close to your heart. It is taking place at the Croix Rouge farm in late July-- what is it ?]

[If Americans want to participate in these commemorations - how to they go about it? ]

[goodbyes/thanks]

Dr. Monique Seefried is a Commissioner on the US WW1 Centennial Commission. We have put a number of links including to some of the guide Dr. Seefried mentioned into the podcast notes.

Links:

https://www.abmc.gov/news-events/news/world-war-i-centennial-ceremonies-abmc-sites

http://www.greatwar.co.uk/events/2014-2018-ww1-centenary-events.htm

http://www.1914.org/

http://eventi.centenario1914-1918.it/

http://croixrougefarm.org/inauguration/

http://www.worldwar1.com/

http://www.worldwar1.com/pdf/AEF_Battlefields.pdf

https://war-travel.com/illustrated-travel-guides/north-east-france

In our Remembering Veterans segment this week -- we’re joined by James Shetler, a citizen historian and independent researcher.

James is here to tell us the story of a pair of dog tags-- and their long journey back to the doughboy that had lost them a century ago.

Welcome, James!

[greetings]

[James - to start-- Can you tell us a bit about the man these dog tags belonged to-- Captain Swenson?]

[So, how did the dog tags come to be in your possession?]

[So you went to back to France to return the tags?]

[Are you working on any other World War One research projects now?]

Thank you!

[goodbyes]James Shetler is a citizen historian who pursued a story of service!

If you have the story of someone who serves in WWI ---- a doughboy, volunteer, an individual - your ancestor or someone who you just connect with, lime James did with captain swenson, we can help you share their story and get it into the permanent national archival record about WWI. Just go to ww1cc.org/stories where you can submit their story of service to be published and archived.

That link as well as the expanded story of Captain Swenson are in the podcast notes.

Links: http://www.worldwar1centennial.org/index.php/commemorate/family-ties/stories-of-service.html

http://www.worldwar1centennial.org/index.php/communicate/press-media/wwi-centennial-news/4185-my-journey-with-captain-alfred-marcy-swenson.html

https://jayinthegreatwar.com/

This week for our Spotlight in the Media --

We’re joined by Jacy Jenkins, VP of Partnerships and Outreach from Fun Academy Motion Pictures. That is who is putting out the new animated film: Sgt Stubby: An American Hero! Which is having a combination world premiere showing and children’s benefit in Los Angeles later this month on March 27th.

Welcome, Jacy!

[greetings]

[Jacy, Sgt. Stubby is a great story about the relationship between some American Doughboys and a very special dog that they adopted or maybe a dog  that adopted them. But it’s based on a true story, right? ]

[The premiere is also a fundraiser -- can you tell us about that?]

[Jacy - that seems to be part of the Fun Academy’s culture - you make movies but you also have a philanthropic bent - creating events to raise awareness for the film and raise money for causes -- Can you tell us about the Sgt Stubby look-alike contest?]

[When can the public go see Sgt Stubby in theaters?]

[Is there anything else you’d like us to know about the film?]

[goodbyes]

Jacy Jenkins is the VP of Partnerships and Outreach from Fun Academy Motion Pictures. You can learn more about the film Sgt Stubby: An American Hero by following the links in the podcast notes; we’ve included links to the most recent  trailers and to their social media accounts.

Link:http://www.stubbymovie.com/

https://twitter.com/stubbymovie?lang=en

https://www.facebook.com/StubbyMovie/

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ab0pd9oNf7Q&feature=youtu.be

Another Spotlight in the Media is for another WW1 film premiering THIS weekend in New York and LA.

Journey’s End is an intimate, gritty, and powerful film about men, mortality and fear. It’s about a group of British soldiers sent back to the front line trenches - just about exactly 100 years ago -- som this podcast audience knows what going on right now…. there is an imminent massive German assault rumored to be coming…. Like right now…. and these seasoned veterans, who are joined by a fresh faced young 19 years old, know what they are probably in for!

[run sound clip]

I just saw a viewing copy of the film and I have to tell you - this is a beautifully made, wonderfully written, well cast, powerful and poignant WWI movie you’ll want to make an effort to see.

The film is going into limited release in the US and we have included a link to the playdate schedule in the podcast notes. You can also google Journey’s End to learn more.

Tune in next week, when we’ve arranged an interview with the film’s director, Saul Dibb.

Both the trailer and the showing listing are linked below.

links:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tLpyaLNfudY

http://www.journeysendthefilm.com/watch/movies/journeys-end-622437?gwiCampaign=official+site_official+site_2018-01-11_7876&gwi_campaign=Official+Site&lead_partner_id=360&partner_asset_id=7876&version=2#theater-list

Moving on to our 100 Cities / 100 Memorials segment

about the $200,000 matching grant challenge

to rescue and focus on our local WWI memorials.

This week we are profiling the WWI doughboy monument project by the Weber County Historical Society & American Legion Post 9 in Ogden, Utah.

With us tell us about their project is Terry Schow [Scow] , a member of the National Executive Committee for The American Legion of Utah.

Welcome Terry!

[greetings]

[Terry - You were one of the very first projects to submit a grant application to the 100 Cities / 100 Memorials program. When did you get started on this?]

[Your doughboy statue was originally installed way up high on the side of a building  - at the legion post wasn’t it?]

[It’s been a while - but didn’t you have a story about gold radiator paint being used to refurbish the statue back in the 70’s or something?]

[You pulled together a really strong coalition of project partners in Ogden… who all signed on?]

[Well, congratulations on being selected as a World War 1 Centennial Memorial. Are there re-dedication plans?]

Terry Schow is a member of the National Executive Committee for The American Legion of Utah. Learn more about the 100 Cities/100 Memorials program at the link in the podcast notes or by going to ww1cc.org/100cities

Link: www.ww1cc.org/100cities

[SOUND EFFECT]

And now for our feature “Speaking World War 1” - Where we explore the words & phrases that are rooted in the war  ---

100 years ago, penguins stumbled across grassy fields of America, France, and england - playing a critical and important role in the aerial war effort. Penguins!? Yea - Penguins!

In your mind’s eye, are you still seeing little black-and-white, flightless,  tuxedo clad birds --- flapping their stubby wings on grassy knolls? Well - actually you’ve got the stubby wings, the flightless and grassy knolls right!

Penguin is our Speaking WWI word, this week…

And the penguins of World War One were indeed flightless and stubby winged.

They were trainer planes for the air corps. These non-flying trainer aircraft were made for teaching new recruits how to operate an aircraft while still reasonably safe at ground level.

Around 300 of the “Penguin” trainers were made during the course of the War, with wings too short and engines too small to lift the craft into actual flight, allowing trainees to experiment with the flight controls, engine operations, and flight procedures while still at ground level.

These “aircraft” were jokingly nicknamed “Penguins” because both creatures and planes were something that probably should fly, but don’t.

Penguins -- a useful training tool for a novice pilot, a cute but very smelly animal - and this week’s Speaking WW1 Word. Check the podcast links to learn more, and to see photographs of the Penguin planes.

Links: https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=uc2.ark:/13960/t9t156s17;view=1up;seq=155

http://www.cradleofaviation.org/history/exhibits/exhibit-galleries/world_war_i/breese_penguin.html

https://iansumner.blogspot.com/2013/09/kings-of-air-of-penguins-and-men-part-2.html

http://www.cradleofaviation.org/history/exhibits/exhibit-galleries/world_war_i/breese_penguin.html

https://www.historyofsimulation.com/flight-simulators-in-world-war-1/

[SOUND EFFECT]

And that brings us to the buzz - the centennial of WW1 this week in social media with Katherine Akey - Katherine, what do you have for us this week?

Trunk and Daylight Savings

Hi Theo-- Daylight savings time appears in the news both this week in 2018 and this week in 1918. In fact, the most popular article we shared across social media accounts this week had to do with daylight savings time; most reactions to it were barf emojis and despair, which is pretty much how i felt trying to get up Monday morning at what felt like 5 am. But the NYtimes article from 1918 has a different tone: after months of tightly regulated coal and electricity usage, which meant many Americans spent their Mondays in the cold, Daylight Savings promised to help take the edge off coal rationing by giving us an hour more daylight in which to work and an hour less darkness that needed illumination. The change seems welcomed by the people of 1918, but I’m guessing they didn’t expect the wartime procedure to come back, and stay back, for a century. So, if you’re feeling as grumpy as I am about daylight savings-- you can thank the coal shortages of a century ago for the disruption.

Moving on to nicer news, we shared another story about a treasure trove found in a trunk this week. Last week, we told the story of a man who has written a book about his father’s life and service in the war, which he put together after inheriting his father’s foot locker, filled with wartime belongings. It seems that trunks and footlockers were the go-to way to store belongings a century ago, as a WW1 era trunk was recently donated to the Texas Military Forces Museum. The museum posted a video of curators and archivists opening the trunk, astonished at the good condition and the sheer quantity of objects inside; dozens of letters, photographs, mess kits, magazines, and well kept uniforms -- the possessions of two brothers-- one with the 141st Infantry Regiment and the other with the 149th and 150th Machine Gun Battalion, 42nd Rainbow Division. Watch the whole video for a sneak peak at the collection-- and if you have a weird old trunk in your attic, you may want to crack it open and see what treasures you may have!

Check the notes for links to these stories, and that’s it this week for the Buzz.

link:https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1918/03/16/98260764.pdf

https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/2018/03/06/daylight-saving-time-almost-here-and-its-turning-100-years-old/395953002/

https://www.facebook.com/texasmilitaryforcesmuseum/videos/1680597135312139/

Thank you Katherine -

Thank you for listening to this week’s episode of WW1 Centennial News.

We also want to thank our guests...

• Dr. Edward Lengel, Military historian and author

Thanks also to Eric Maar as well as our intern John Morreale for their great research assistance.

And I am Theo Mayer - your host.

The US World War One Centennial Commission was created by Congress to honor, commemorate and educate about WW1.

Our programs are to--

inspire a national conversation and awareness about WW1; this podcast is a part of that…. Thank you!

We are bringing the lessons of the 100 years ago into today's classrooms;

We are helping to restore WW1 memorials in communities of all sizes across our country;

and of course we are building America’s National WW1 Memorial in Washington DC.

We want to thank commission’s founding sponsor the Pritzker Military Museum and Library as well as the Starr foundation for their support.

The podcast can be found on our website at ww1cc.org/cn  

on  iTunes, Google Play, TuneIn, Podbean, and now also on Stitcher - Radio on Demand --- as well as the other places you get your podcast --  even on your smart speaker.. Just say “Play W W One Centennial News Podcast.”

Our twitter and instagram handles are both @ww1cc and we are on facebook @ww1centennial.

Thank you for joining us. And don’t forget

to share the stories

you are hearing here today

about the war that changed the world!

[music]

OK…So what do you call a penguin in the trenches during WW1…?

Lost!

So long!

The US Army Signal Corps in WW1

• The founding of the US Army Signal Corps @ |01:30

Welcome to World War 1 centennial News - episode #62 - It’s about WW1 THEN - what was happening 100 years ago this week  - and it’s about WW1 NOW - news and updates about the centennial and the commemoration.

Today is March 9th, 2018 and our guests for this week include:

• Dr. Edward Lengel, exploring Alvin York’s crisis of conscience as he entered the military

WW1 Centennial News -- a weekly podcast brought to you by the U.S. World War I Centennial Commission, the Pritzker Military Museum and Library and the Starr foundation.

I’m Theo Mayer - the Chief Technologist for the Commission and your host. Welcome to the show.

[MUSIC]

This week several stories came up that pointed to US Army Signal Corps. You know.. they’re not just the guys who made the movies and took the pictures…  

Actually they have a heritage of being “New Tech” gurus  - taking initial responsibility for classic ideas, later managed by other organizations including military intelligence, weather forecasting and especially aviation.

That because it all started with a visionary guy named Albert James Myer. Myer started as a Medical Officer in Texas before the civil war and ended up a brigadier general with the title of First Chief Signal Officer and a legacy as “The father of the US Army Signal Corps”

Early on - Myer came up with a flag waving scheme to send messages during combat - which the Army adopted it in 1860 - one year before the start of the Civil War. It’s high falutin’ name was Aerial Telegraphy but, everyone called it WIG WAG.

During the Civil War, WigWag was used on the battlefield to direct artillery fire-- and Myer started to experiment with balloons, electric telegraph and other kinds of new tech.

Because he fostered such an innovation culture in the signal corps - ten years late, In 1870 when the US government AKA the congress decided to  mandate a National Weather Service - they tasked Myer and the Signal Corps to create it - which he did to great international acclaim.

Myer died a decade later in 1880, and his lab “slash” school in Arlington Virginia was ultimately renamed Fort Myer to honor the father of the US Signal Corps.

By the turn of the century the US Army Signal Corps had taken on a leadership role not just with visual signalling but also with the telegraph, telephone, cable communications, meteorology, combat photography and had even sprouted an aeronautical and aviation section.

Nearly a decade before American Forces engaged the enemy, the wright brothers made test flights of the army’s first airplane built to Signal Corps’ specifications. Tests appropriately performed at Fort Myers. Army aviation stayed with the Signal Corps until May of 1918, when the Aviation Section of the Signal Corps is transformed by President Wilson’s  Executive order, into the Army Air Service - the forerunner of the United States Air Force.

With that as a setup, let’s jump into our Centennial Time Machine - which the Signal Corps DID NOT develop - and roll back 100 years to learn what the US Army Signal Corps was - during the War that Changed the World!

[MUSIC TRANSITION]

We are back in 1918 and we are going to focus on two of the key things the Signal Corps does during WW1.

Communication and Documentation --- and always with an eye on innovation. Because with battles and offensives no longer organize neatly into line-of-sight groups, innovations is required to communicate and coordinate.

The field telephone is one of those basic elements…

The challenge of wired electric connections between two telephone devices is that you need the wire… which tends to get blown up, trampled, cut, damaged and sometimes tapped into by the enemy in the field.

And because, the telephone in 1918 is a point-to-point connection… that means that, in order to re-connect a field telephone from one place to another - you need to physically repatch the connection - a function performed by a telephone operator.

The “Hello Girls” who go to France to do that job, are sworn into the US Army Signal Corps as soldiers… yup… but then at the end of the war, they are just let go -- and not given honorable discharges and so don’t qualify for veteran benefits! We have a whole section for you with Dr. Elizabeth Cobbs - the author of the book “The Hello Girls” later in the show...----

OK --- Then there is WIRELESS communication. The Signal corps teams up with private industry to advance radio transmission and reception and create new devices that are smaller, more practical and more capable.

Of course the challenge with radio communications is that everyone can receive it… creating a serious security challenge and a great intelligence opportunity - both of which the Signal Corps addresses.

So when the United States enters the war in early 1917, its own capacity for radio intelligence is significantly underdeveloped. But, with the help of their British and French allies, and the dedicated work of over 500 men, the Signal Corps’ Radio Section collects huge amounts of radio and other communications traffic to help the American Expeditionary Forces stay one step ahead of their enemy. This area of activity is known as Signt or Signal Intelligence.

One battle in which victory is particularly credited to the work of the Radio Section is the Battle of Saint-Mihiel in September 1918, as American operators are able to discover the location of several German command posts, and warn the Army of a German counteroffensive several hours in advance.

But not everything signal corps is tech! They also take 600 carrier pigeons to France including a pigeon named Cher Ami (dear friend) who is credited with a stallworth, heroic,  wounded delivery of a message credited for saving 194 US Soldiers of the 77th Infantry Division - the famed Lost Battalion.

Then there is the Documentation roll of the US Army Signal Corps!

According to an article by Audrey Amidon:

The Signal Corps pays relatively little attention to photography until July 1917 when they are assigned the responsibility for obtaining photographic coverage of American participation in World War I. That means both moving and still imagery.

The purpose is for propaganda, scientific, identification, and military reconnaissance purposes but primarily for the production of a pictorial history of the war.

The Photographic Section of the Signal Corps manages to build up quite a large and efficient organization. Beginning with 25 men in August 1917, the Photographic Section attached to the AEF reaches a strength of 92 officers and 498 men by November 1918

They defined a photographic unit as one motion-picture cameraman and one still-picture photographer, plus  assistants. So they are capturing stills and motion pictures simultaneously at each location.

Each Division (remember from last week is a force of around 40,000 American soldiers) gets a photographic unit. They also hace units that cover headquarters, sea transport, service and supply, red cross and so forth.

Between the AEF footage, domestic training documentation and special projects including training films for soldier and pilots, the US Army  Signal Corps shoots nearly 1 million feet of movie film to document the war that changed the world!

Other links:

https://unwritten-record.blogs.archives.gov/2017/03/16/shooting-world-war-i-the-history-of-the-army-signal-corps-cameramen-1917-1918/

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Signal_Corps_(United_States_Army)

For much deeper learning, if people are interested:

https://history.army.mil/html/books/060/60-15-1/CMH_Pub_60-15-1.pdf

This week, one hundred years ago,  the war in the sky preparations were in full view in the Official Bulletin - The government’s daily war gazette published by George Creel, President Wilson’s propaganda chief.

And as we have told you before, the Commission re-publishes each issue of the Official Bulletin on the Centennial of its original publication date - a great primary source of information about WWI you are invited to enjoy at ww1cc.org/bulletin.

We selected two articles from this week’s issues that illustrate the Signal Corp’s roll in the War in the Sky - the first article is about seeing the foundation of a new US Aerospace industry forming.

[sound effect]

Dateline: March 5, 1918

The article headline reads:

10,000 SKILLED MEN NEEDED BY THE AVIATION SECTION

The article goes on to read:

The US Army Signal Corps has authorized the call for 10,000 machinists, mechanics, and other skilled workers needed by the Aviation Section of the Signal Corps.

Even though the strength of that service is already 100 times what it was in April of last year, it is now understood that nearly 98 of every 100 men in the service need to be highly skilled.

Airplane work has been wholly new and unfamiliar to American Mechanics. It has been necessary for both officers and men to learn very largely by experience.

The article continues with with a comment by War secretary Baker about keeping those planes flying in the field:

The great problem now remaining is to secure the thousands of skilled mechanics, engine men, motor repair men, wood and metal workers needed to keep the planes always in perfect condition.

This great engineering and mechanical force at the airdomes, flying fields, and repair depots, both here and behind the lines in France, is a vital industrial link in the chain of air supremacy.

The next day, an article illustrates the foundation of the modern cartography a technology we now all enjoy casually and daily with applications like Google Maps:

[Sound Effect]

Dateline: March 5, 1918

The article headline reads:

1,000 Trained Photographers Wanted at Once for Signal Corps Aeroplane -and Ground Duty

And the article reads:

One thousand men trained in photographic work are needed by the Signal Corps before March 10

As an aside - that is only 5 days after this article publishes - it goes on with:

These men are to be instructed at the new school for aerial photography just opened at Rochester, N. Y., preparatory to going overseas.

This ground force for America's aerial photography requires three types of men:

1. Laboratory and dark room experts, especially fast news photographers, familiar with developing, printing, enlarging, retouching, and finishing panchromatic photography, men who can take a plate from the airmen and hand over, ten minutes later, a finished enlargement to the staff officers. These men will work in motor lorries as close to the front and staff as possible.

1. Men able to keep the whole delicate equipment in good condition, such as camera and optical constructions plus repairmen, lens experts, cabinet makers, instrument makers, and so forth...
   

reproduction of the German front --- to work out the information disclosed, and to keep the whole map a living hour-to-hour story of what the Germans are doing.s

Many men not physically fit for line service are eligible for this so-called limited military service, as defective vision corrected by glasses and other minor physical disabilities' are waived.

Owing to the shortness of time it is requested that only men fully qualified apply for this service.

That is a great closing line, as this article was published on May 5th, and they want 1,000 men by May 10 as the army Signal Corps plays out its role in the War in the Sky one hundred years ago this week!

For the war on the ground, here is this week’s segment of America Emerges: Military Stories from WWI with Dr. Edward Lengel.

Ed: This week your story is about one of the best known soldier heroes of WWI - and his very profound crisis of conscience in entering his military service.. Who was he and what is his story?

[ED LENGEL]

[Thank you Ed. Before we close - I want to ask you something that struck me in hearing this account. When Alvin York asked his Captain and his battalion commander  “I wish you would tell me what this war is about,” I know we have no record of that they actually said - but as a historian - how might these military commander have responded? What was the common wisdom and answer to that question at the time?]

[Ed, what will you be telling us about next week?]

Dr. Edward Lengel is an American military historian, author, and our segment host for America Emerges: Military Stories from WWI.

There are links in the podcast notes to Ed’s post and his website as an author.

Links:http://www.edwardlengel.com/one-hundred-years-ago-alvin-yorks-decision/

https://www.facebook.com/EdwardLengelAuthor/

http://www.edwardlengel.com/about/

Now on to the Great War project with Mike Shuster - former NPR correspondent and curator for the Great War project Blog….

Mike, your post this week is about the pre “spring offensive” actions in Europe - On the front and reaching into Allied capitals - It really feels like there is an undercurrent of desperation - and to me - desperation on all side - is that a theme here?

[MIKE POST]

Mike Shuster from the Great War Project blog.

LINK:

http://greatwarproject.org/2018/03/04/germany-now-dominates-on-western-front/

[SOUND EFFECT]

We love that you listen to us - but If you’d like to watch some videos about WW1, go see our friends at the Great War Channel on Youtube.

This week’s new videos include:  

• Ludendorff's Window of Opportunity

To see their videos by searching for “the great war” on youtube or following the link in the podcast notes!

Link:https://www.youtube.com/user/TheGreatWar

OK… time to  fast forward --  back to the present with WW1 Centennial News NOW -

[SOUND EFFECT]

This is the part of the podcast where we explore what is happening NOW to commemorate the centennial of the War that changed the world!

Women Workers of the AEF

This week in remembering veterans and for Women’s History Month - We’re continuing our focus on Women in WW1.

We’re joined by Dr. Susan Zeiger (tiger), an author and member of the Commission’s Historical Advisory Board. She is also the Program Director at Primary Source ----  non-profit, advancing global and cultural learning in schools---- She is a professor emeritus of History at Regis College in Weston, Massachusetts, and the author of

Welcome, Dr. Zeiger!

[greetings]

[The phenomenon you describe in your book -- thousands of women taking on responsibilities usually reserved for men-- seems groundbreaking in many ways. What motivated thousands of American women to volunteer for overseas service during World War I?

[What kinds of resistance did women encounter-- at home and on the job-- as they set off to work? ]

[goodbyes]

Thank you for joining us today. Dr. Susan Zeiger is a member of the Commission’s Historical Advisory Board, the Program Director at Primary Source, professor emeritus of History at Regis College and author. Learn more about her and her work by following the links in the podcast notes.

Link: https://www.primarysource.org/about-us/our-staff/susan-zeiger

http://eh.net/book_reviews/in-uncle-sams-service-women-workers-with-the-american-expeditionary-force-1917-1919/

https://www.amazon.com/Service-Workers-American-Expeditionary-1917-1919/dp/B001H8E6NQ

Hello Girls

This week for our Spotlight in the Media --

We’re joined by Dr. Elizabeth Cobbs, whose book The Hello Girls: America’s First Women Soldiers. Is the basis for the documentary The Hello Girls, which just had a very successful world premiere in Washington DC at the Women’s Memorial at Arlington National Cemetery.

Dr. Cobbs is also the Melbern Glasscock Chair at Texas A&M University, as well as a Senior Fellow at Stanford University's Hoover Institution.

[greetings]

Welcome Dr. Cobbs!

[Dr. Cobbs, I heard great things about the films showing in DC last week including the attendance by two grand daughters of Hello Girls - Were you there? ]

[We mentioned the Hello Girls at the top of the show in our segment on the US Army Signal Corps - Who were the Hello Girls? What kinds of women were they?]

[So these women signed up as soldier and then got gypped out of their veteran benefits - what what’s that story?]

[Did the Hello Girls continue to be telephone operators when they returned home and into the workforce?]

[Dr. Cobbs - we’ve included a link to your book in the podcast notes, but where can people see the documentary? ]

[What is the most important thing we should remember about the story of these women?]

[goodbyes]

Dr. Elizabeth Cobbs is the Melbern Glasscock Chair at Texas A&M University, a Senior Fellow at Stanford University's Hoover Institution and an acclaimed author.

You can learn more about her and her  book The Hello Girls: America’s First Women Soldiers by following the links in the podcast notes.

link:https://www.amazon.com/Hello-Girls-Americas-First-Soldiers/dp/0674971477

http://elizabethcobbs.com/the-hello-girls/

https://www.npr.org/2017/04/06/522596006/the-hello-girls-chronicles-the-women-who-fought-for-america-and-for-recognition

https://www.npr.org/2017/04/06/522596006/the-hello-girls-chronicles-the-women-who-fought-for-america-and-for-recognition

https://the1a.org/shows/2017-07-12/americas-first-women-soldiers-had-to-fight-for-recognition-as-veterans

Moving on to our 100 Cities / 100 Memorials segment

about the $200,000 matching grant challenge

to rescue and focus on our local WWI memorials.

This week we are profiling the Memorial Grove at Green Hill Park in Worchester MA.

With us tell us about this ambitious restoration WWI is Brian McCarthy, President of the Green Hill Park Coalition Inc

[Brian - Thank you for joining us on the podcast]

[greetings]

[Brian: the Memorial in Worcester was originally put in 1928 by Post 5 of The American Legion. What did they do and what is the history of the memorial?]

[Brian - Your Green Hill Park Coalition took this on - not as a little spruce up (no tree pun intended) but a very ambitious multi-hundred thousand dollar memorial park renovation. How did this come about?]

[When I saw your design study and planning documents - I was genuinely impressed by your thinking and your beautiful but practical vision. What is the status of the project now?]

[Well - your project has deservedly been designated as a WWI Centennial Memorial - How can people help?]

Brian McCarthy is President of the Green Hill Park Coalition. Their Go Fund me site and more information about the 100 Cities/100 Memorials program are both available through the links in the podcast notes.

Link: www.ww1cc.org/100cities

https://www.gofundme.com/28f8c5vq

[SOUND EFFECT]

And now for our feature “Speaking World War 1” - Where we explore the words & phrases that are rooted in the war  ---

The American armed forces ballooned in size during 1917 and 1918. Putting men in uniform was not just a conceptual statement but a literal one!

Underwear, socks, shoes, belts, and uniforms for millions were needed NOW!

This week 100 years ago on March 6th in the pages of the Official Bulletin - and apparently after accusations of problems, the government seeks to reassure the country, that Army Uniforms are made with the absolute best materials and did not overuse... QUOTE “shoddy” --- Our speaking WW1 word this week.

Shoddy may have originally derived from a mining term “Shoad” meaning scraps,  the article goes on to define what the government means by “shoddy” -- This indicates to us that it was not a term commonly used in 1918 - but it is today

“shoddy” is simply reworked wool remnants and clippings worked into fiber of the virgin wool, you know - like stretching the ground sirloin with some bread crumbs!

The use of shoddy, or reworked wool, was urged by the government’s wool experts as a helpful, partial solution for the huge wool shortage - but it had to be added sparingly.

Shoddy was also used in military uniforms during the the Civil War but apparently overused. There are stories of soldiers’ clothes falling to pieces after just a few days’ wear, or even in a heavy rain giving those uniforms a really bad reputation and re-defining the word “Shoddy” not as wool clipping but a description of something poorly made.  

Luckily, the shoddy laden wool in WW1 uniforms were not as shoddy as the shoddy uniforms of the Civil War-- they did hold up in the rain and mud of the trenches.

No shame in that Shoddy-- our word for this week’s Speaking WW1. Learn more at the links in the podcast notes.

link: http://www.worldwar1centennial.org/index.php/educate/places/official-bulletin/3339-ww1-official-bulletin-volume-2-issue-250-march-06-1918.html

https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1918/03/04/102676957.pdf

https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/shoddy#Etymology

https://www.historyextra.com/period/what-are-the-origins-of-the-word-shoddy/

[SOUND EFFECT]

And that brings us to the buzz - the centennial of WW1 this week in social media with Katherine Akey - Katherine, what do you have for us this week?

Long Lost Diary

This week, we shared an article on Facebook from Longmont, Colorado, where a local man named Paul Hansen discovered a long forgotten world war one era diary. The diary belonged to Hansen’s father, who left it, along with a few other mementos of his service in the war, in his army issued footlocker, left to collect dust in the family barn. Hansen inherited the box from his father, opening it and rediscovering the life his father had lived as a soldier in the war. In it he found his father’s diary, as well as his Victory Medal and love letters between his father and his girlfriend, who died from influenza before he returned home from the battlefield. Hansen has taken all of these items -- and the very detailed diary -- and brought them into a book, “Soldier of the Great War: My Father’s Diary”. The story of this man and his very personal discovery of his father’s service -- it’s a reminder that, though the war is a hundred years passed, so many stories of the war are yet to be discovered and told.

You can read more about the incredible history pieced together by this veteran’s son by visiting the link in the podcast notes.

link:http://www.timescall.com/longmont-local-news/ci_31707868/longmont-man-finds-long-forgotten-world-war-i

Thank you for listening to this week’s episode of WW1 Centennial News.

We also want to thank our guests...

• Dr. Edward Lengel, Military historian and author

Thanks also to Eric Maar as well as our intern John Morreale for their great research assistance.

And I am Theo Mayer - your host.

The US World War One Centennial Commission was created by Congress to honor, commemorate and educate about WW1.

Our programs are to--

inspire a national conversation and awareness about WW1; this podcast is a part of that…. Thank you!

We are bringing the lessons of the 100 years ago into today's classrooms;

We are helping to restore WW1 memorials in communities of all sizes across our country;

and of course we are building America’s National WW1 Memorial in Washington DC.

We want to thank commission’s founding sponsor the Pritzker Military Museum and Library as well as the Starr foundation for their support.

The podcast can be found on our website at ww1cc.org/cn  

on  iTunes, Google Play, TuneIn, Podbean, new this week on Stitcher - Radio on Demand --- as well as the other places you get your podcast --  even on your smart speaker.. Just say “Play W W One Centennial News Podcast.”

Our twitter and instagram handles are both @ww1cc and we are on facebook @ww1centennial.

Thank you for joining us. And don’t forget

to share the stories

you are hearing here today

about the war that changed the world!

[music]

Hello Girls - Could one of y’all please connect me with field Marshall Foshe silv vous play - Why thank you ma’am!

So long!

• We speak with the team about the upcoming Sgt Stubby film release

• March Preview - Roundtable with Dr. Edward Lengel, Katherine Akey & Theo mayer | @02:15

Welcome to World War 1 centennial News - episode #61 - It’s about WW1 THEN - what was happening 100 years ago this week  - and it’s about WW1 NOW - news and updates about the centennial and the commemoration.

Today is March 2nd, 2018 and our guests for this week include:

• Dr. Edward Lengel, Joining Katherine Akey and I in a March preview roundtable.

A great lineup -- today -- on WW1 Centennial News -- a weekly podcast brought to you by the U.S. World War I Centennial Commission, the Pritzker Military Museum and Library and the Starr foundation.

I’m Theo Mayer - the Chief Technologist for the Commission and your host. Welcome to the show.

[MUSIC]

Last month we did an experiment. Dr. Edward Lengel, Katherine and I sat down together - as we often do in our editorial meetings - and talked about the upcoming month of February.

We got great feedback from you so we are going to do it again, here at the top of March!

I put a sidecar on our centennial Time Machine so we’d all fit as we roll back 100 years to the war that changed the world!

[MUSIC TRANSITION]

Overview Chat with Ed, Katherine and Theo

Ed, Katherine - welcome to early March 1918.

[Ed & Katherine make some comment]

So guys - I understand that this is our last chance to take a breather - Starting this month, the action gets pretty hot and heavy with the Germans getting ready for their big Spring offensive.

[Katherine - you use the term Kaiser Schlagt or Emperor’s Strike. Is that the same thing as the “spring offensive?”]

[Ed - this is going to go on for months going forward - can you give us an overview and what the German’s have in mind?]

[Quick change of subject - As we get into the military action we keep throwing around all these names of military formation like division, corps, regiment, brigade -  and I’ll wager 80% of our audience has no idea of what all that means - so let’s do an overview - We sent over a Field Army - that’s the big one - the American forces]

[Ed - can you break it down for us - sort of big to small and tell us about how many soldiers are in these various formations?]

[Force building in Europe - March - April - May - June etc…]

[Now that we have a clear idea that there are ARMIES on the ground -

As the German offensive starts - Our US General Pershing needs to integrate with the French and the British commands - How does all that lay out?]

[Flu begins]

That was Dr. Edward Lengel and Katherine Akey as we talked about an overview for the upcoming month of March, 1918 and even looking forward a bit more than that.

Next week we will be back to our regular 100-years-ago this week format including our regular feature ‘America Emerges - Military Stories from WWI”

[SOUND EFFECT]

Now on to the Great War project with Mike Shuster - former NPR correspondent and curator for the Great War project Blog….

Mike’s recent   posts have told us of the devastating suffering of the German people in the fatherland, But…. the Kaiser and his Generals are feeling hot and empowered by the total defeat of the Russians on the Eastern front. They think they are going to win this thing!

The spoils-of-war from that campaign include vast territorial gains, massive stashes of captured arms, repatriation of huge numbers of soldier all now available to put the big wallop on the French and Brits -  hopefully before the Americans can really join in the fight.

So Mike the details of the Russian collapse are really monumental, aren’t they!?

[MIKE POST]

Mike Shuster from the Great War Project blog.

LINK:

http://greatwarproject.org/2018/02/25/german-attack-in-west-is-imminent/

[SOUND EFFECT]

The Great War Channel on Youtube is hosted by Indy Neidel. Here is Indy.

[Hello WW1 Centennial News Listeners - I’m Indy Neidell, host of the Great War Channel on Youtube. American troops are about to experience their first major battle of the war-- the Kaiserschlacht. Join us every Thursday for a new episode to follow this massive German offensive as it unfolds. Find us on Youtube and follow us on Facebook.]

This week’s new videos from the Great War Channel include:  

• Operation Faustschlag - Germany advances in the east again

To see their videos by searching for “the great war” on youtube or following the link in the podcast notes!

Link:https://www.youtube.com/user/TheGreatWar

OK… time to  fast forward into the present with WW1 Centennial News NOW -

[SOUND EFFECT]

In this section we explore what is happening NOW to commemorate the centennial of the War that changed the world!

We have a lot to unpack here so let’s get going with Medicine in WWI!

We have three guests with us today who not only know a whole lot about the subject - but they have also bundles that know-how into an amazing new website on the Commission’s server at WW1CC.org/medicine - all lower case.

Charles Van Way, a retired Army Colonel, Professor Emeritus at University of Missouri–Kansas City

George Thompson, Adjunct Associate Professor in the Department of the History and Philosophy of Medicine at the University of Kansas Medical Center, and

Sanders Marble, the senior historian with the Army Medical Department Center of History and Heritage.

These are the three men responsible for this website. And they did a masterful job. It may be one of the most authoritative, in-depth, well illustrated and concise subject sections on our site.

Welcome, gentlemen!

[greetings]

[Gentlemen: At the very top of your website you put a statement.. It reads: A century ago, American Medicine went to war! I love that - it’s very illustrative.]

[How did the three of you come together to undertake making with wonderful resource?]

[What was the biggest impact of the war on American Medicine? Charles, let’s start with you.]

[OK - a round table question - with a one phrase answer - what was the single most important innovation in medicine coming out of this war - ] [Sanders --- George --- Charles----]

(talk about how they agree and disagree)

[We just had a question come in from a member of our live audience:

When influenza cases started to appear on the in-transit troop ships - what kind of isolation units were set up on these overcrowded transports to lower the contagion rate? ]

[Quickly about the website - It is really comprehensive - You could do a semester course with it. Charles, could you give us a high level overview of what all is there?

Gentlemen - thank you for introducing us to the subject of Medicine in WWI - but most of all - thank you for the huge effort you put into building the scholarly, in-depth and well thought web site at ww1cc.org/medicine!

[they respond]

[goodbyes]

Charles Van Way, George Thompson, and Sanders Marble are the curators of Medicine in WW1, the amazing new resource at ww1cc.org/medicine.

Link: www.ww1cc.org/medicine

To kick off our Remembering Veterans Section this week, let’s talk about VSOs - that stands for Veteran Service Organizations. Organizations like  the American Legion, the Veterans of Foreign Wars or VFW, The Daughters of the American Revolution or DAR and a whole lot of others. These organizations are very important partners for the commission with closely aligned goals and missions.

Many of you listening today are in fact members of a VSO, but if you are not, let me give you an overview of who they are. First of all - they are amazing - and amazingly dedicated organizations focused on the men and women who served and sacrificed for our nation.

And although they have national organizations, for the most part - they are very grassroots by nature with thousands of local posts or chapters all around the country that do all the real hands stuff.

For example - When my dad, who was a Marine Corps Pilot in WWII passed away, a local American Legion post provided an honor guard for his funeral - because he served his nation! And they won’t forget one of their own. And I’ll never forget how they honored him - even though he was not a member of their post.

VSO’s have been deeply involved in many of our commemoration programs including 100 Cities / 100 Memorials, centennial commemorations with States, and they have been key financial contributors to the national WWI Memorial project in Washington DC.

But as I said - it is all about the local level - so for the local posts and chapters -  we just published a special landing page on our website just for them - it’s a landing page with a series of “subject and activity tiles” that make it easy to see how to get involved with the centennial commemoration of the war that changed the world.

It’s actually not a bad resource for anyone - at ww1cc.org/veteran all lower case and of course you can always follow the link in the podcast notes.

Link: www.ww1cc.org/veteran

Staying with veterans, wrapping up African American History Month and leading us into Women’s History month, this segment is about the experiences of African American Nurses.

Joining us again is Dr. Marjorie DesRosier (de-roh-zuhr), who was on a few weeks ago. Dr. DesRosier is an international nurse historian and independent scholar. She, herself is also a Registered Nurse and former clinical professor from the University of Washington School of Nursing, in Seattle.

Welcome back, Dr. DesRosier!

[greetings]

[The story of African American Nurses in WWI is fascinating - To start, could you tell us about how an African American woman would go about becoming a Nurse in that era? ]

[What kinds of resistance did these women encounter?]

[How did these women respond? Especially to the Surgeon General’s policies?]

[Did it work?]

[Where can people learn more about this?]

We’ve posted some links in the podcast notes for our listeners - Dr. DesRosier - thank you for coming back on the show to bring us this story.

[goodbyes]

Dr. DesRosier is an international nurse historian, independent scholar and registered nurse  - Follow the link in the podcast notes to learn more about African American Nurses in WW1 and Dr. DesRosier’s work.

link:http://desrosierhistory.com/

http://history.amedd.army.mil/ancwebsite/articles/blackhistory.html

http://www.edwardianpromenade.com/african-american/african-americans-in-the-great-war/

http://www.worldwar1centennial.org/index.php/communicate/press-media/wwi-centennial-news/4046-honoring-african-american-women-who-served-in-the-army-nurse-corps-in-wwi.html

Moving on to our 100 Cities / 100 Memorials segment

about the $200,000 matching grant challenge

to rescue and focus on our local WWI memorials.

This is a perfect tie-in to the VSO story we told you about earlier -  because this project is being done by --- Veterans of Foreign Wars post 968 in Raymond, Washington. With us tell us about their city and the project is Gordon Aleshire, Adjutant of VFW Post 968.

Welcome Gordon!

[greetings]

[Gordon - you live in a beautiful - and pretty remote part of the country - tells us about Raymond, Pacific County and the areas roll in WWI?]

[I have seen the before and “in process” pictures of your memorial. It really needed help. Tell us about how the post decided to take this on.]

[Did the 100 Cities / 100 Memorials project come along for you before or after you took on the challenge?]

[What are your rededication plans?]

Gordon - Thank you and post 968 for the great work you are doing in remember our WW1 doughboys!

[goodbyes]

Link: www.ww1cc.org/100cities

Project support link:  https://www.gofundme.com/ww-i-memorial-restoration

Gordon Aleshire, is Adjutant of VFW Post 968 in beautiful Raymond Washington

As we mentioned - March is Women’s History month -

So This week for our Spotlight in the Media --

We’re joined by Eliza Chin, Keri Kukral and Mollie Marr. They are the team that researched and produced a documentary called:

[greetings]

Welcome to you!

[Eliza: You are the executive Director of the American Medical Women’s Association - Briefly - what is that? What does the organization represent?]

[Keri: You are the founder and CEO of Raw Science TV - again briefly what is that?]

[Mollie: you know this was coming - I know you are a student at the Oregon Health & Science University - but you’re also the Executive Chair of the American Medical Women's Association branch at the school - how does that work at a university?]

[Alright - So the three of you came together to create this wonderful documentary - AND I have to add - impressive companion online web exhibit - How did this come together?

Eliza can you tell us?

[Keri-- the film has a 3D component to it. Tell us about that - What was the intent?]

[Mollie would you please tell us how you researched the subject - anything particularly surprize you?]

[Eliza -- If someone would like to book the film for a local screening or WWI event -- how do they do that?]

Thank you all for joining us today and telling us about this great project!

[goodbyes]

Eliza Chin is Executive Director of the American Medical Women's Association -- Keri Kukral is the CEO of Raw Science TV -- and Mollie Marr is an MD/PhD student at Oregon Health and Science University.

You can learn more about their project: At Home and Over There: American Women Physicians in World War I and how to access the documentary for your WWI event by following the links in the podcast notes.

link:https://www.amwa-doc.org/

https://www.amwa-doc.org/wwi-exhibition/

https://www.amwa-doc.org/wwi-film/

[SOUND EFFECT]

And now for our feature “Speaking World War 1” - Where we explore the words & phrases that are rooted in the war  ---

During WWI as planes flew over the front - little puffs of smoke appeared in the sky… Well - actually each one of those puffs was a deadly expanding ball of shrapnel designed to mangle planes and pilots!

True to British humor this deadly deterrent for fliers got a silly nickname - which is our Speaking WWI word for this week.

“Archie” -- was the British nickname for anti-aircraft fire-- and it has two contested origins.

Origin #1:  A pilot in the Royal Air Force, Vice-Marshall Borton, who, upon encountering enemy anti-aircraft fire, apparently quoted a lyric from a popular music hall song of time: “Archibald certainly not!” - a popular contemporary cultural exclamation of defiance.

[*play song*]

Origin #2: The training grounds for RAF pilots back in England at --- Brooklands in Surrey -  neighbored a “sewage farm” -- The Archibald sewage farm.

Apparently the farm, which processed sewage to irrigate and fertilize the land, had notoriously difficult air currents above it, creating a wafting turbulence the pilots found quite similar to that of the anti-aircraft weapons.

Either way, Archie! an humorous and very English term for the explosives that trailed and tormented pilots as they flew over the front in WWI.

-- See the podcast notes to learn more!

link: https://english.stackexchange.com/questions/301554/why-is-german-anti-aircraft-fire-called-archibald

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/history/11156904/The-slang-words-that-defined-the-First-World-War.html

http://mentalfloss.com/article/58233/21-slang-terms-world-war-i

Song: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mZkyKLZghUc

https://languagesandthefirstworldwar.wordpress.com/2017/06/06/archibald-certainly-not/

[SOUND EFFECT]

Browning Machine Gun

For WW1 War Tech -- this week, we’re taking a look at  The Browning Machine Gun.

It got a lot of press this week 100 years ago because apparently on February 27, 1918, in the vicinity of Congress Heights in Southeastern Washington D.C, it sounded like the War in Europe had suddenly spread to America. This is because they were test firings of the new Browning at the U.S. Government’s shooting range.

The guns, the Browning Automatic Rifle (BAR) and the Browning M1917, were being demonstrated to a crowd of American politicians, foreign army officers, and the press.

The firearms were being touted as “the finest gun in the world”.

The machine guns were the brainchild of John Moses Browning, a man known as “the father of modern firearms” whose weapons designs, including the pump-action shotgun.

When the Army sent out a request to all American inventors asking for new firearms designs in 1917, Browning personally traveled to the capital to present his new prototypes. The Ordinance Department demanded these weapons be put to the test by shooting 20,000 rounds of ammunition. When the test was performed at the Government Proving Grounds in May 1917, Browning’s gun fired the 20,000 rounds with no complications, then fired another 20,000 only breaking a single part.

Besides reliability, another impressive feature was a design so simplistic,  the officers who demonstrated the weapon could take it apart and put it back together while blindfolded. This made such an impression on the War Department that the “blindfold test” soon became an essential part of military training.

Mass production began soon thereafter, with the first Browning guns arriving in France on June 29, 1918. Though only 1,168 Brownings saw combat, the general design proved so useful the Browning M1917 was an essential part of the American arsenal all the way until the Korean War.

Read more about the Browning at the links in the podcast notes.

Links: http://www.sadefensejournal.com/wp/?p=358

https://www.militaryfactory.com/smallarms/detail.asp?smallarms_id=785

http://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/gun-designer-john-browning-is-born

http://www.firstworldwar.com/atoz/mgun_bar.htm

http://www.firstworldwar.com/atoz/mgun_browning.htm

https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1918/02/27/103191974.pdf

https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1918/02/28/109328811.pdf

http://www.worldwar1centennial.org/index.php/educate/places/official-bulletin/3329-ww1-official-bulletin-volume-2-issue-244-febuary-27-1918.html

This week for the WWrite Blog, which explores WWI’s Influence on contemporary writing and scholarship, the post reads: “Brest-Litovsk: Eastern Europe’s Forgotten Father” The post was  written by Adrian Bonenberger

In his lifetime, the world-famous Polish dancer, Vaslav Nijinsky, might have also claimed Russian, German, or Ukrainian nationality. The future of Nijinsky's Europe–and his identity–was decided on March 3, 1918. Veteran author, Adrian Bonenberger, calls the event "the moment" when "the old world falls apart, and creates space for the new to arise."

In this week's WWrite post, Bonenberger gives us a rich overview of the Brest-Litovsk Treaty and its implications for the former Soviet bloc countries! Read the story at the Wwrite Blog. Ww1cc.org/w w r i t e or follow the link in the podcast notes.

Link: http://www.worldwar1centennial.org/index.php/articles-posts/4094-brest-litovsk-eastern-europe-s-forgotten-father-2.html

Changing formats a little - Katherine Akey is going to close out this week with a story about an article we posted on our website at ww1cc.org/news about American painter and ambulance driver - Waldo Pierce - but her report is equally about the Corine Reis - the author of the article and a dedicated French curator of WWI stories and images.

[Katherine - you were the one who came across Corine that led to the article maybe we should start with her - her curated images are truly  AMAZING!!!]

Hey Theo -- yeah, the project Corine has been working on is something else.

Published on our website, and included in our weekly email dispatch, is an interview with Corine. She’s a French citizen historian -- and the great-niece of American painter and ambulance driver Waldo Peirce. He was one of the many students voluntarily leaving their lives at home-- for him, his studies at Harvard-- to aid the French years before America joined the war. Corine meticulously, and with a great sense of storytelling, curates and shares his photographs, artwork and writings on her Tumblr and Facebook pages, chronicling his experience throughout the war. Her interest and personal connection to Waldo grew over time, expanding to include the American Volunteers of WW1 at large.

In the interview, Corine discusses her passion, the incredible archive left behind by her great-uncle Waldo, and her plans for documenting the lives of volunteers during WW2 as well.

Additionally to reading the interview, I’d really, really encourage you to take the time to scroll through her Tumblr, which can be found embedded in the interview at WW1cc.org.

To say that Corine is a dedicated storyteller is a understatement of the highest order. Through this project, she has gathered photographs and excerpts from collections all across the world, creating a single body of stories that is unlike most we encounter when researching World War One. I first came across her Tumblr during my weekly search for photographic content for the Commission, and was really surprised at how few of the images were familiar to me. So much of what she has rediscovered and shared with the world is quiet, quotidian, and somehow spectacular: An image of a woman ambulance driver holding a kitten and casually wearing the Croix de Guerre; an over-the-shoulder shot of a young British officer staring longingly at a photo of a woman tucked inside his hat; an image of a man sitting in the midst of a dense, unspoiled French forest as sunbeams glance through the trees; a crowd gathering around a deep, shearing hole in the Parisian street, the result of a recent German air raid.

The collection Corine has assembled -- and continues to assemble-- is exceptional. The hours of work -- as well as her very artful eye and deep passion for the subject-- are evident in every post.

We’ve included links in the podcast notes to the interview we did with her, as well as to her Facebook and Tumblr pages.

Links: http://www.worldwar1centennial.org/index.php/communicate/press-media/wwi-centennial-news/4082-waldo-peirce-goes-to-war-is-a-remarkable-new-wwi-tumblr-blog.html

https://waldopeircegoestowar.tumblr.com/

https://www.facebook.com/waldo.peirce

Thank you Katherine -

Thank you for listening to this week’s episode of WW1 Centennial News.

We also want to thank our guests...

• Dr. Edward Lengel, Military historian and author

Thanks also to our intern John Morreale for his great research assistance.

And I am Theo Mayer - your host.

[MUSIC]

The US World War One Centennial Commission was created by Congress to honor, commemorate and educate about WW1.

Our programs are to--

inspire a national conversation and awareness about WW1; this podcast is a part of that…. Thank you!

We are bringing the lessons of the 100 years ago into today's classrooms;

We are helping to restore WW1 memorials in communities of all sizes across our country;

and of course we are building America’s National WW1 Memorial in Washington DC.

We want to thank commission’s founding sponsor the Pritzker Military Museum and Library as well as the Starr foundation for their support.

The podcast can be found on our website at ww1cc.org/cn  

on  iTunes, Google Play, TuneIn, Podbean, new this week on Stitcher - Radio on Demand --- as well as the other places you get your podcast --  even on your smart speaker.. Just say “Play W W One Centennial News Podcast.”

Our twitter and instagram handles are both @ww1cc and we are on facebook @ww1centennial.

Thank you for joining us. And don’t forget

to share the stories

you are hearing here today

about the war that changed the world!

[MUSIC]

Archie, Veronica and Jughead - Three types of deadly munitions from WWI - Not true…. Just kidding… So long!

So long!