WWI DISPATCH January 15, 2019

update subscription preferences

View this in your browser

Dispatch header 800 - 061217

January 15, 2019

January 1, 2019 Memorial Header

"We aligned our performance with the WWICC’s mission of remembrance and recognition of the war that changed the world."

Brancy Classical Singer magazine

Vocalist John Brancy was featured this month in a new interview article in Classical Singer magazine. In the brilliant piece by interviewer Mary Claire Curran, Brancy opens up about his unique style, his remarkable commitment to World War I material, and his next efforts.  Click here to read the entire insightful and revealing article about the vocal half of the duo performing Silent Night: A Memorial in Song.


Color of Memory: Fabric Art in WWI exhibit coming to the World War I Museum in KC

Air Base fabric art 1917-1919

"Remember Me.” “Souvenir de France.” “Mother Dear.” “Merci!” These and countless other sentiments are expressed in the fabric art that came from World War I. Romantic and patriotic scenes were created on silk and cotton and wool felt. Many of the objects were made in direct response to those loved ones going to war from every country. Others were made for commercial purposes to serve the clamor for souvenirs. Click here to read more about the new exhibit that illustrates how fabric art became a colorful reminder of how deeply World War I affected those at home and away.


Names on a Wall: Documenting an Ohio county's World War I Deaths in Service 

Fayette County Ohio War Dead Memorial

Paul LaRue, a member of the Ohio WWI Centennial Committee, became curious about the sources available to locate or identify his community’s WWI deaths in service. Most Ohio counties honor their community's World War I service members with a list of those who made the ultimate sacrifice. Paul's county, Fayette, is no different. On the Fayette County Courthouse lawn is a monument with two plaques containing the names of Fayette County's World War I dead (left). But the process of developing the list was more involved than just looking it up. Click here to read about the sources Paul used to develop a definitive database of Fayette County's WWI deaths in service.


"There remains a lot to be seen on the American battlefields, if one knows where and how to look."

Randy Gaulke

Randy Gaulke is a legendary battlefield tour guide, with particular expertise in World War I. He has been providing living history and tour services for several decades, to audiences here in the United States, and in Europe. He spent some time with us, to talk about his background, his efforts -- and about how our followers can best work with professional battlefield tour guides, on their own trips to World War I sites.  Click here to read the entire interview, including Randy's advice on planning a successful post-Centennial Commemoration tour of the American battlefields in France.


TSNGO poster encore

Encore screenings of Peter Jackson’s “They Shall Not Grow Old” announced by Fathom Events for January 21

Back by popular demand! Fathom Events and Warner Bros. Pictures have partnered to bring Academy Award winner Peter Jackson’s poignant WWI documentary They Shall Not Grow Old to cinemas for an encore presentation on January 21. Applying state-of-the-art restoration, colorization and 3D technologies to century-old footage—carefully chosen from hundreds of hours of original Great War film held in the archives of the Imperial War Museum (IWM)—Jackson has created an intensely gripping, immersive and authentic cinematic experience. The only narration comes from Great War veterans themselves, selected from over 600 hours of BBC and IWM archive interviews, resulting in a gripping account of “The War to End All Wars,” told by the soldiers who experienced it. The Fathom Events showings of They Shall Not Grow Old in December sold out quickly. Tickets for this encore January screening are available at FathomEvents.com and at participating theater box offices.


WWI Centennial NEWS Podcast

Podcast Logo New

The WW1 Centennial News Podcast is about WW1 THEN: 100 years ago this week, and it's about WW1 NOW: News and updates about the centennial and the commemoration. 

Available on our web siteiTunesGoogle Play, PodbeanTuneInStitcher Radio on Demand.  Spotify  listen on Youtube. New - Comment and ask questions via twitter @TheWW1podcast

American Indian Warriors - Pima tribe

Episode #105
Highlights: Looking Ahead at 1919!

Host: Theo Mayer

1919 Overview Roundtable - Dr. Edward Lengel, Katherine Akey, Host | @02:00

Wilson’s Great Challenge - Mike Shuster | @17:40

First into Germany: SGT Roy Holtz - And he did it on a Harley - Host | @22:00(Courtesy of author Robert Laplander)

A Century in the Making: The Winning Team - Joe Weishaar & Sabin Howard | @29:00

“American Indians in WWI”: New Website - Erin Fehr | @39:30

New showings of Peter Jackson’s “They Shall Not Grow Old” - Host | @46:40

WWI in education: Memorializing The Fallen - Host | @49:00


Literature in WWI This Week

Wwrite Blog Logo

Not One, But Two Years of WWrite in Review! 
Part 3: WWrite Goes to Yale for Armistice Day.

After almost two years of WWrite’s life, the blog had the opportunity to go from writing on the screen to live discussion at Yale University. Why Yale? Nearly 10,000 Yale students served and the campus served as a militarized facility with an officers training camp and artillery training courses. It would have been hard for any Yale student to ignore WWI. For November 2018, The Yale Veterans Association organized a panel "The Literary Legacy of World War I: Screening of Paths of Glory" with featured WWrite contributors Adrian Bonenberger, Peter Molin, Benjamin Busch, Jennifer Orth-Veillon, and Yale Dean, Brianne Bilsky. Read the panel proceedings at WWrite this week, which include analyses of Stanley Kubrick's legendary Paths of Glory pivotal WWI literary works by Siegfried Sassoon, Ernest Hemingway, and Aline Kilmer.


Official WWI Centennial Merchandise

Honoring the Doughboys: Following My Grandfather's World War I Diary 300

Honoring the Doughboys Book

Honoring the Doughboys: Following My Grandfather's World War I Diary is a stunning presentation of contemporary photographs taken by the author that are paired with diary entries written by his grandfather, George A. Carlson, who was a soldier in the U.S. Army during World War I. A segment of the book was recently featured in the December 25 edition of DISPATCH. Lowdermilk followed his grandfather's path through France, Belgium, Luxembourg, and Germany and returned with these meticulously crafted photographs and his own engaging stories that bring the diary to life for contemporary readers. Lowdermilk's passion for World War I and military history began as a young boy when he listened to his grandfather tell his stories about serving as an infantryman-- a "doughboy"--in Europe during the Great War.

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


Double Donation Dreadnoughts new


William B. Wilson

A Story of Service from the Stories of Service section of ww1cc.org

William B. Wilson

Submitted by: Harold G. Delamater {Commander VFW Post 666}

William B. Wilson was born around 1893. William Wilson served in World War 1 with the United States Army. The enlistment was in 1916 and the service was completed in 1918.

Story of Service

Beacon’s Veterans of Foreign Wars Post 666 commemorates the 100th anniversary of the death of the solider who is the eponym of that organization -- Private William B. Wilson. He was killed in action in Belgium on August 19, 1918, the first soldier from Beacon to die in World War I.

Today, a century after his death on the battlefield, few know of him or the reason why the Wilson Post was so named. History can be fickle and easily forgotten after a generation or two, but Private Wilson’s story of sacrifice needs to be retold and remembered.

Wilson went off to war with two of his best friends, George Van Pelt of Beacon and Herbert Miller of Newburgh. The three, with about 50 other Beacon boys, joined up in Newburgh’s “Company L” of the 107 Infantry Regiment. By late April of 1918, the regiment had landed in France.

Read William B. Wilson's entire Story of Service here.

Submit your family's Story of Service here.