A Soldier's Journey will be the largest free standing high relief bronze in the western hemisphere. The sculpture speaks to all military members and families as it tells the story of a soldier leaving home to serve a greater cause, experiencing intense battle and the cost of war, and returning home a changed man. Sculptor Sabin Howard and the WWI Memorial Design Team have been working on this project since 2016.

World War I is important for our nation to remember. 4.7 million Americans served; 116,516 gave their lives. It shook the world with technological advances. It marked the beginning of the American Century, the beginning of the women's suffrage and civil rights movements. It laid the groundwork for World War II, and all the other global conflicts that have followed..

Smithsonian Magazine had this to say about A Soldier's Journey: "Across five scenes and 38 larger-than-life-size human figures, it will be nearly 60 feet long and ten feet high. And it may become the greatest memorial bronze of the modern age."  Find out more here and register to attend the First Illumination event in person or via livestream.

The Doughboy Foundation announces a special event for the Marquis de Lafayette featuring speakers from the French Embassy and American Friends of Lafayette to mark the bicentennial of the Revolutionary War hero's last American visit in 1824-25. The ceremony will take place on Friday, September 6, at 11 a.m. at the National World War I Memorial in Washington D.C., by the statue of General John Pershing. The general public is invited to attend the event. Learn more about this special event, and why the Marquis de Lafayette had a special meaning for those who served in the American Expeditionary Forces in France during World War I.

Congress is still out on its August recess, but progress toward the required number of cosponsors to gain passage of H.R.1572, the Hello Girls Congressional Gold Medal legislation, is still continuing.  As of the date of publication of this newsletter, the bill has earned 218 cosponsors in the House -- 75% of the number needed!  Again, we thank everyone who reached out to their Representative to ask for their support of the legislation. All your calls, emails, and letters are making this happen!  As of now: the measure has closed to within 72 of the required 290 cosponsors needed to bring it to a vote in the House of Representatives. (The companion Senate legislation has already gained the required number.)

Since Congress does not return to D.C. until September 9, that means you still have some time to get in touch with your Representative while they are back home in their district, and ask them to become a cosponsor of this important legislation now. You can make your voice heard on this issue right from your computer! Go here for our online toolkit that makes it easy to reach out by email to your Representative.  But during the recess, you can also call the local district offices of your Representative, since you know that they are there, and tell them that YOU want them to cosponsor the Hello Girls Congressional Gold Medal legislation in the 118th Congress.  The toolkit has links to all Congressional Offices in all states--you can look up their phone number and call, or send them an email message. Either way, it is essential that you make your feelings known to your Representative.

The Hello Girls made an transformative difference for the American Expeditionary Forces in WWI. The ability of the bilingual female operators to pass critical tactical information calmly and seamlessly between two allied armies that spoke different languages was a fundamental breakthrough in rapid tactical communications on the Western Front. The service of the Hello Girls helped bring the fighting to an end in the Allies’ favor as much as one year earlier than it might have taken without them, according to General John Pershing, commander of the American Expeditionary Forces. 

Even after the Armistice in 1918, the Hello Girls stayed on duty in Europe after most of the other Doughboys went home, so that they could support President Woodrow Wilson during the Versailles peace talks. But when all the Hello Girls finally returned home, these women who had served in the U.S. Army Signal Corps, and wore U.S. Army uniforms, received a shock. They were denied veteran status and benefits, not receiving them until 1977.  The brave Hello Girls earned and deserve the recognition of a Congressional Gold Medal, and you can join Team Hello Girls in advocating for passage of the Hello Girls Congressional Gold Medal legislation!

"If you like treasure hunts, solving mysteries and maybe surprises, then you will like, if not, love genealogy," says Catherine Bourgin, the granddaughter of WWI American Hello Girl Marie Edmee LeRoux, as she recounts how her search for information about her grandmother's service encountered the "unexpected" this year.  Learn how an off-hand question during an online session uncovered a link to a 1936 letter by her great-grandmother, and a remarkable published painting of her grandmother from 1918, "a beautiful and romantic depiction of a young woman in her prime of life going off to war alongside the Doughboys."

Captain Hamilton Coolidge was a pilot with the U.S. 94th Pursuit Squadron in France during World War I. On October 27, 1918, Coolidge’s Spad XIII was shot down by enemy antiaircraft fire, just north of the village of Chevière. His family arranged for his burial at a memorial site next to the Aire River in 1924. Over the last century, erosion of the banks of the winding Aire River has brought the stream's edge within one meter of the memorial site by 2022. Find out how the pilot's family, and the people of Chevière, worked together to relocate Coolidge's remains to a new & safer memorial site that will be dedicated in ceremonies on September 15, 2024.

Back in June, author Elizabeth Cobbs broke the story that WWI Hello Girl Renee Messelin (left) had been revealed as the only Black woman to serve in the U.S. Army in World War I. Now genealogical researcher Diane Boettcher, whose work uncovered this remarkable revelation, traces the journey of discovery that led her to the truth that Renee Messelin had successfully concealed during and after her life, which included a long career in showbusiness. Learn how Diane ultimately tracked down "the story of a woman who hid so effectively that her heritage remained in shadows for over a century."

At sunset on Friday, Sept. 13, Phil Mazzara ’70 will join a select group of dignitaries, major donors, and other VIPs for the “First Illumination” of the National World War I Memorial’s centerpiece sculpture, “A Soldier’s Journey.” The upcoming “First Illumination” represents the culmination of a multiyear, $50-million fundraising effort, which Mazzara helped lead while he was director of development of the Doughboy Foundation, after starting out as a volunteer in 2014. Learn more about why Mazzara thinks “Heading the Doughboy Foundation was the perfect job for me.”

On Friday morning, Aug. 23, almost 126 years after World War I ended, some 150 civilians and members of the military gathered at the St. Francis Solano Catholic Cemetery in Sonoma to remember and honor Juliette Louise Courtial Smith at her grave site. She moved to Sonoma, where she lived for 19 years before her death. She was buried without a headstone in the St. Francis Solano Catholic Cemetery. Through the efforts of Maeve Smith, director of Sonoma Live Arts Theatre Company, and Lillian Meyers, a local Sonoma businesswoman and community leader, she was finally getting a headstone, one that honors her service to her country. Find out more about the ceremony and Courtial Smith, one of 7,000+ women who responded to General Pershing’s call for a small unit of women to serve as telephone switchboard operators and real-time translators to join his campaign in France.

Founded in 1928 and Congressionally Chartered in 1984, American Gold Star Mothers began their mission of serving Veterans when the United States entered World War I in 1917. Over a century later, the organization is still working "to keep the memory of our children alive by working to help veterans, those currently serving in the military, their families, and our communities." Find out more about the post-World War I creation and legacy of this unique organization, and how the group today continues "extending the hand of friendship to other mothers whose sons had lost their lives in military service."

Members of the U.S. Army Signal Corps female telephone operators unit (known as the "Hello Girls") like Oleda Joure (pictured at left) connected calls between high ranking officers and served as translators during calls between French and American military units. In this role, they had access to unprecedented amounts of information that would be of great value to the enemy. Author Jill Frahm explores how the security gauntlet that Hello Girls like Joure had to pass through before being selected for service was "a case study to examine how the U.S. Army attempted to protect vulnerable assets from German spies during World War I."

Joacim Hallberg is an Army Major in the Swedish Armed Forces. In his own personal time, Joacim curates the remarkable Swedes in the Great War website, exploring "why and how Swedish born individuals ended up participating in the Great War during 1914 to 1918."  In this article, Joacim looks at Swedish immigrants who participated in the American Expeditionary Forces (AEF), and explains how he has documented to date 285 Swedish born soldiers who fought with and fell for the AEF, and are buried or commemorated in Belgium and France.

Paul LaRue, former member of the Ohio World War I Centennial Commission, led a tour at the St. Colman Cemetery in Fayette County, OH this summer. The most decorated veteran buried there was James Aloysius Ducey, who served in World War I and World War II, earning numerous awards and decorations. Jeff Garringer from the Fayette County Historical Society portrayed Ducey and spoke of his life in war times. Learn how over 35 veterans from the World War I, Spanish-American War, and Civil War are buried there, and at least 16 of those were Irish immigrants.

After three years of pushing for change, a group of Upstate South Carolina volunteers is one step closer to creating a memorial park to honor the legacy of a lesser-known division in WWI, proving the past is continuing to shape Greenville County’s present. What is now an abandoned golf course in Taylors, SC was once a training camp for soldiers from the Southeast in WWI. Camp Sevier started at the base of Paris Mountain and covered nearly 2,000 acres across the county. Find out how these volunteers are fighting to preserve the piece of land in order to pay tribute to the troops who bravely served in World War I.

Was it the gun that was designed to fire through the propeller, or the propeller designed to be used with the biplane machine gun? There was a lot of new technology brought to the battlefield during World War I. Two of those were used in tandem – and somehow managed to perfectly complement each other. It was the fighter plane and the machine gun, mounted perfectly for the pilot’s use, without shooting up the propeller that kept the bird aloft. Learn whether it was the gun that was designed to fire through the propeller, or the propeller designed to be used with the biplane machine gun. Spoiler: The answer is "yes.".

An extraordinary painting depicting an American soldier charging “over the top” was painted in 1918 by Corporal Charles Santford Morrison, Company L, 354th Infantry Regiment, 89th Division. Morrison was overseas from June 5th, 1918, until May 20th, 1919, meaning that Morrison painted this in France, likely before traveling into Germany to become part of the Army of Occupation. It may be a depiction of himself during the act for which he was awarded the Distinguished Service Cross in 1923. But learn how Morrison's post-war story took a darker turn, as the artist and combat hero became the first American soldier to receive the Distinguished Service Cross while incarcerated.

A man is only missing if he is forgotten.

Our Doughboy MIA this month is Corporal William Franklin Ingram, born on May 10th, 1898, in Rocky Springs Township, North Carolina. Little is known about his civilian life. He enlisted in the North Carolina National Guard on September 16th, 1916, and served on the Mexican border with the 3rd Infantry Regiment. On July 25th, 1917, his unit was federalized, becoming the 120th Infantry Regiment, 30th Division.

 On August 2nd, 1918, while in the Canal Sector near Ypres, Belgium, Corporal Ingram participated in a daring raid on a system of German pillboxes alongside Lieutenant Williams and Corporal Teachey. The three men successfully killed 12 Germans, but Corporal Ingram was fatally wounded during the operation. While Lieutenant Williams and Corporal Teachey safely returned to their lines, Corporal Ingram was left missing in no man’s land. Corporal Teachey was later Killed in Action on September 29th, 1918. There was no evidence or documentation to suggest that Corporal Ingram had been captured, and he was officially listed as "Missing in Action."

In March 1919, Private James Baker provided the Graves Registration Service with information regarding Corporal Ingram’s disappearance and possible recovery. He reported:

"Corporal Ingram, along with others, was raiding a pillbox of machine guns. Ingram did not return with the others and has not been seen since. Sometime later, a body was found near there, and the burial party said the tags identified the body as Corporal Ingram. This was at Ypres. He was on patrol."

Unfortunately, this information could not help the Graves Registration Service solve the case, and he could not be identified from a set of “Unknown” remains." He was never identified and remains Missing in Action to this day. In August 1933, Laura Ingram traveled to France with the Gold Star Mothers Pilgrimage, where she visited the Somme American Cemetery. Corporal Ingram is memorialized here on the Tablets of the Missing.

Would you like to be involved with solving the case of Corporal William Franklin Ingram, and all the other Americans still in MIA status from World War I? You can! Click here to make a tax-deductible donation to our non-profit organization today, and help us bring them home! Help us do the best job possible and give today, with our thanks.  Remember: A man is only missing if he is forgotten.

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