"Why does the First World War get no respect in America?" asks author Michael Peck in an article on The National Interest web site this month. Peck notes that "over 100 years after America’s declaration of war on Germany on April 6, 1917, our nation’s participation in World War I is seldom remembered except for a few old statues on town squares." Peck wonders if "it has to do with why the war was fought" and how soon "the world was again engulfed by global war." Click here to read the entire article urging Americans to remember the "courage and commitment" of the Doughboys..

Doran Cart, Senior Curator at The National World War I Museum and Memorial in Kansas City, MO, published an article in Ms. magazine this month chronicling the "thousands of American women served in all duties overseas during World War I," on the occasion of International Women's Day. Noting that women served as "doctors, hospital administrators, ambulance and truck drivers, telephone operators, nurses, dietitians, physical therapists, reconstruction aides, entertainers, canteen workers, office workers, fundraisers and many other occupations," Doran also noted that while none were in combat roles, some lost their lives. Click here to read Doran's entire article on the extraordinary performance of American women in the Great War.

Nearly a century after the World War I Doughboy monument in Martinsburg, West Virginia was installed in front of the historic Martinsburg post office, the impending sale of the Federal property has reignited a controversy from the 1920's about just where the statue should be located. Berkeley County, which own the sculpture, intends to place it in the county's War Memorial Park. The Martinsburg City Council has received a petition requesting the statue be placed in the town square. Click to read articles in the Herald-Mail newspaper and The Journal newspaper that outline a disagreement going back to the original placement of the memorial after World War I.

The peaceful serenity of the neighborhood surrounding the stately home at 4825 Glenbrook Road, in the Spring Valley section of Northwest D.C., was matched by the potential danger and uncertainty of chemical agents buried beneath it. Almost eight years since heavy machinery knocked down the first bricks of the home that had been built atop a World War I chemical weapons testing and disposal site — known as the American University Experiment Station — the painstaking cleanup of what’s been called the “mother of all toxic dumps” is entering its final stages. Click here to read the entire story, and listen to the audio report.

Perhaps 50 million people died worldwide during the flu outbreak in 1918-19, a number that included 675,000 Americans, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Nearly 12,000 Virginians died of the flu, 10 times more than died on the battlefields during World War I. Today, as Roanoke joins the rest of the world in trying to fend off another global pandemic, the response to the swift and deadly outbreak of influenza in the fall of 1918 still holds a few lessons.  Click here to learn more about how the city's health department and the Red Cross fought the the pandemic a century ago.

A man is only missing if he is forgotten.

Our Doughboy MIA this month is SGT John T. Curran, M CO/316 INF/79 DIV, DWRIA while POW 07NOV1918.  John Thomas Curran was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania on 01AUG1891, the fifth of ten children born to James and Mary Curran. Mary Curran died in 1911; it is not believed James remarried. On draft registration day (05JUN1917) Curran listed his home address as Bethlehem, Pennsylvania and his occupation as carpenter. He is described as tall and slender with grey eyes and dark brown hair. He claimed no exemption from service.

Curran was inducted into the service on 02NOV1917 at Allenton, Pennsylvania and sent to Camp Meade in Maryland for training, where he was assigned to Company M/316^th Infantry Regiment / 79^th Division. He would remain with this unit until his death. He was elevated in rank to Private First Class on 21JAN1918; Corporal ten days later on 31JAN1918; and Sergeant on 10JUN1918. He departed for overseas service with his unit on 09JULY1918 aboard the steamship France, departing from Hoboken, New Jersey.

Records show that SGT Curran was in Base Hospital #31 from 22SEPT1918 through 16OCT1918, cause unknown but likely as a result of the so-called Spanish Flu pandemic then sweeping the world. During this time the 79^th Division participated in the assault on Montfaucon on 26 & 27SEPT1918 during the Meuse-Argonne Offensive, taking massive casualties in the process. It is very lucky that Curran missed this action – the 79^th was pulled off the line by 30SEPT1918 for rest and refittment with replacements; after just five days on the line, the division was combat ineffective.

Curran rejoined the division at Verdun during this its refittment and wrote his last letter home from there dated 25OCT1918. On 03NOV1918 the 3^rd/316^th again went into action. During the heavy fighting on 06NOV1918, SGT Curran was severely wounded in the ankle by machine gun fire and taken prisoner. He was transported by to a house serving as German Base Hospital # 72 where he is reported to have died on 07NOV1918 of his wounds and been buried in the garden of the house, then serving as a cemetery for the hospital. His death was reported by the International Red Cross on 20MAR1919.

Following the war an investigation into Curran’s death and burial was conducted as late as 1926, and German authorities were questioned on the subject. Records are sparse but indicate German officials insisted at the time they knew nothing further than what had been reported. To date no further Graves Registration Service searchers' reports have been located. Curran is currently believed to be unrecovered, and Doughboy MIA maintains this case as open and under continued investigation.

Want to help in Curran’s case? Why not consider a donation to Doughboy MIA that can help us in our mission of making a full accounting of our missing US service personnel from WW!? Large or small – the size doesn’t matter. What does is that you care and remember. Give to Doughboy MIA and help us make a full accounting of the 4,423 American service personnel still listed as missing in action from WW1. Make your tax deductible donation now, with our thanks.

A man is only missing if he is forgotten.

Commemorative World War I Hat

Inspired by the iconic image of a U.S. Doughboy, you can wear your American pride with this Made in the USA hat.

An informal term for a member of the U.S. Army or Marine Corps, “Doughboys” especially used to refer to the American Expeditionary Forces in World War One. This poignant silhouette of a soldier in trench warfare serves as a reminder of those who sacrificed so much one century ago.

Hat features: Navy with white Doughboy embroidery.100% cotton, structured hat with contrasting pancake visor, sweatband and taping. 6 panel soft crown, pre-curved bill. Velcro closure features U.S. flag emblem on this exclusive commemorative hat. One Size Fits All.

Proceeds from the sale of this item will help to fund the building of the National World War One Memorial in Washington, D.C.

A Certificate of Authenticity as Official Merchandise of the United States World War One Centennial is included. 

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

Pershing Sponsors

To the fresh-faced and naive cadets at the University of Nebraska, he was “The Loot.” Some 25 years later, he was “The General” to battle-hardened officers of the American Expeditionary Force (AEF) at the end of World War I.  Writing in The Officer Review magazine, Kevin Upton explores how John J. Pershing's experiences on the university campus both shaped and presaged his success on the battlefield in World War I, and his enduring influence on military organizations a century later.  Click here to read the entire thoughtful article.

Leon Bates "came across Lt. Col. Joseph H. Ward’s name while doing research before returning to college, and came to appreciate his legacy while doing additional dissertation research." Writing in American Legion magazine, Bates notes that while digging further, "I discovered he was a medical trailblazer and early American Legion member whose achievements – decades before the civil-rights movement – have been largely forgotten." Click here to read the entire article, and find out how "this first-generation freedman became a successful physician, surgeon, entrepreneur, Army officer, hospital administrator, civic leader, and prominent member and commander of American Legion Post 107 in Indianapolis."

One of the most overlooked and neglected stories of African-Americans struggling for their inalienable rights was embodied by the 2,369 Black men who volunteered for training in the two Black Officers Training Camps at Ft. Des Moines, Iowa from June to November, 1917. Hal Chase, professor of African American studies at Des Moines Area Community College, takes up the story of how two of the 2,000 men who trained at Ft. Des Moines and "perceived themselves as the vanguard of their race that would forge a new future" went on to become leaders in the Civil Rights movement. Click here to read Chase's entire article.

When the United States entered World War 1, a platoon of 1,500 black soldiers from McDowell County, West Virginia  signed up for the fight.They served our country with distinction, and many were recognized with special honors for their service. A memorial dedicated specifically to the African-American soldiers of the First World War (the first memorial of its kind in the nation) opened in 1928 in Kimball, McDowell County.  Click here to learn more about how the memorial, like the soldiers who it was built to honor, was first a key part of the community, then neglected and forgotten, but now being restored again to its place and role of honor.

More than 20 million people were killed and another 20 million or more were injured in World War I, but it’s difficult for Americans today to wrap their minds around just how catastrophic the conflict was. The last survivors have died, the war wasn’t fought on American soil, and it ended more than a century ago. But a group of Notre Dame students now has more than numbers, texts, or photos to help them understand the devastation. Click here to read more about how an interdisciplinary course combined "conventional battlefield analysis with the collective and individual things people did to understand and come to terms with the war."

Homer Givens was 19 years old when he received the title of “America’s first World War I hero,” as well as one of France’s highest honors, the Croix de Guerre. Givens, born in Florence, Ala., also received a Purple Heart and is now honored on the Walk of Honor at Florence, AL’s River Heritage Park. Click here to read more about how "the unassuming, bespectacled young man" became "an unlikely hero" for his actions during a bloody battle with German forces in 1917.

"Lest We Forget: The Great War"

World War I Prints from the Pritzker Military Museum & Library 

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

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

Pershing Sponsors

"Historically-significant landscapes require a nuanced approach to managing change, one that is respectful of the past, but that lifts the bell jar, so that history can be made accessible to twenty-first century society. Such is the case with our work on Pershing Park in Washington, D.C., revivifying a modernist construct redefined as a national memorial and a welcoming place of urban respite." So says David Rubin, the Landscape Architect for the new National World War I Memorial in Washington, DC. Click here to read his entire thoughtful essay about how his team strove to find "a balance between the preservation of a culturally significant landscape and the creation of a fitting national memorial within a twenty-first-century urban park. "

The National Museum of African American History and Culture’s expansive new exhibition, “We Return Fighting: World War I and the Shaping of Modern Black Identity,” focuses on both soldiers (and sailors) and civilians to explore the experiences and sacrifices of African Americans during the war, and how their struggles for civil rights intensified in its aftermath. Click here to read more about how “World War I was a transformative event for the world, but also a transformative experience for African Americans.”

Black History Month "provides teachers an important opportunity to highlight diversity too often overlooked in classrooms. World War I content can assist in teaching diversity with lesson plans that highlight the service, sacrifice and heartbreak of African American World War I soldiers and sailors," says Paul LaRue, educator and former member of the Ohio World War I Centennial Committee. Click here to read more, and find great educational resources produced in Ohio that can be used in schools everywhere during Black History Month in February.

American Legion Post 43 in Florham Park, New Jersey is named after Pvt. Frank A. Patterson of Madison, NJ.  Patterson was struck down by the greatest killer of the war, against which all of his training and equipment provided no defense. The battlefields of World War I are well known for their ability to take human life on an industrial scale. But the war’s most insidious killer was disease. Infectious diseases such as influenza, pneumococcal meningitis, and tuberculosis claimed the lives of tens of thousands of American soldiers. Click here to read more about Frank Patterson's tragic fate, and his service that is remembered today in an American Legion post.

American Legion Post 182 is named after Manuel “Mannie” E. Reams, who served in the American Expeditionary Force during the First World War. Reams was born in February 1890 in Suisun, California. He attended local schools in the area and, between the years 1910 and 1915, made a name for himself playing semi-pro baseball where his teammates gave him the nickname “Babe.” But Reams left the ball fields for the battlefields of World War I, never to return. Click here to read more about a hero in sports and real life is remembered by his hometown American Legion post.

Before Humphrey Bogart and Claude Rains squared off in the classic movie Casablanca, both were among the many 20th century films stars who saw active military service in World War I. As did so many others in Hollywood and elsewhere, both actors carried scars from their service for the rest of their lives. As the 2020 Oscar awards approach in February, this is a good time to read more about Bogart, Rains, and the other famous actors whose Great War military service helped shape their characters, both on and off the silver screen.

Lewis Beale, writing in the Los Angeles Times, asserts that Director Sam Mendes’ new film, “1917” is "in its own way, every World War I movie in microcosm: the trenches, the scarred battlefields, the rats, the gruesome deaths, the utter futility of a conflict fought over minuscule pieces of land; a war that seems to make no sense, despite the heroism of its combatants." Click here to read more about how cinematic storytelling about war differs between WWI and WWII, and also between movie makers in America and those in the rest of the world.

A man is only missing if he is forgotten.

Our Doughboy MIA this month is Private Charles B. Jeffries, born 21 July 1892 in Columbus, Ohio, the only son of Van and Ada Jeffries. He and his sister Mary would grow up in Columbus. Charles’ draft card shows him to have been a time keeper at the Ralston Car Company on registration day, and he tried to claim exemption for having a ‘bad throat’. He was 5’6” tall, blond, and slight of stature.

Bad throat or not, Charles received his draft call in May, 1918 and on the 31^st of that month was inducted into the army at Camp Jackson, South Carolina. He trained with Battery C, 15^th Battalion, Field Artillery Replacement Draft before sailing for overseas service with the 14^th Battery, Field Artillery Replacement Draft (part of the Camp Jackson July Automatic Replacement Draft) on his 26^th birthday, 21 July 1918.

Once in France, in August Jeffries was sent as a replacement to the 77^th Division, by then heavily engaged in combat in the Vesle sector, and assigned to Battery D, 305^th Field Artillery. As an inexperienced replacement, he was assigned duty as a runner with the battery. In September, when the 77^th moved into the Argonne Forest, Private Jeffries, along with Private Thomas G. Sadler, found himself attached as runner to Lieutenant John P. Tiechmoeller, who by then was the artillery liaison officer from Battery D assigned to 1^st Battalion, 308^th Infantry. Lieutenant Tiechmoeller’s job was to assist the infantry in its attack forward by calling in artillery fire on stubborn targets of resistance and targets of opportunity. However, in the jungle of the Argonne this job was dubious at best, and the three artillerymen were looked upon with a certain amount of derision.

By October 3^rd, Jeffries, Sadler and Tiechmoeller found themselves in the Charlevaux Ravine as part of Major Whittlesey’s ‘Lost Battalion’. There, on 4 October, while surrounded in that ravine, Whittlesey’s men faced an hour and a half artillery barrage by their own division’s guns, from 2:30 pm until about 4:00 pm; a situation inadvertently set in motion by a set of incorrect map coordinates sent back by Lieutenant Tiechmoeller the previous day. It was during that terrible barrage that Lt. Tiechmoeller later recalled seeing Private Jeffries running for the cover of his funk hole in the hillside. That was the last anyone saw of him.

When Tiechmoeller – himself wounded during the barrage – later went to search for Jeffries after the position was relieved, all he found was the boys smashed in the funk hole. Ironically, Private Jeffries was more than likely killed by fire from the guns of his own battery.

Though no trace of Jeffries was ever found, there were five sets of remains from the episode in the Charlevaux Ravine that remain unidentified to this day.

Would YOU like to be a part of our mission of discovering what happened to our missing Doughboys from WW1? Of course you would, and you CAN! Simply make a donation to the cause and know you played a part in making as full an accounting as possible of these men. Large or small doesn’t matter – that you cared enough to help does. Visit www.ww1cc.org/mia to make your tax deductible donation to our non-profit project today, and remember:

A man is only missing if he is forgotten.

15 oz White Ceramic
WWI Centennial Mug

Featuring the iconic Doughboy silhouette flanked by barbed wire so prevalent during WWI, you can enjoy your favorite beverage in this 15-ounce ceramic mug and honor the sacrifices made by U.S. soldiers, sailors, and Marines.  

Proceeds from the sale of this item will help build the new National World War I Memorial in Washington, DC.

A Certificate of Authenticity as Official Merchandise of the United States World War One Centennial is included.

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

Pershing Sponsors

It's been an an incredibly dynamic year for the Doughboys. In late August, sculptor Sabin Howard moves his studio from the Bronx to Englewood, NJ to accommodate the "full size" sculpting of the 58 foot long, 38 character bronze relief sculpture called "A Soldier's Journey". The final Memorial design is approved, and first phase construction has begun. It is your continued support that is making all this possible. So we ask you to please include the new World War I Memorial in Washington, D.C. in your tax-deductible year-end giving. Click here to donate today!

The 2020 National Defense Authorization Act, signed on December 20, requires the service secretaries to re-examine the records of African American, Asian American, Hispanic American, Jewish American, and Native American veterans of World War I who earned medals for valor, and decide whether any of them should be upgraded to the nation’s highest military honor. The Valor Medals Review Task Force, a joint project by the World War I Centennial Commission and the George S. Robb Centre for the Study of the Great War at Park University in Parkville, Mo., has identified World War I service records that the service secretaries can use to determine whether they should be reviewed further to be considered for the Medal Of Honor. Click here to read more about this long-sought opportunity to be sure no Doughboy deserving the nation's highest honor is left overlooked.

Spokane, WA Daughters of the American Revolution chapter member Rae Anna Victor was chatting with a local historian about the Argonne Bridge in the Millwood section, noting "how sad it was that the plaques had been taken off the Argonne Bridge because now hardly anyone knew the origins of the name. Both of us agreed that it needed to be rectified." From this seed sprouted an amazing grass roots project that culminated in a new memorial dedicated on November 11, 2019. Click here to read more about this project "joining the past to the present, and moving on into the future" that has many lessons for other groups looking to rescue and restore local World War I memorials across the nation.

Pennsylvania historian Joseph Felice was driving along Main Street in Coatesville, PA earlier this year when he noticed banners lining the sidewalks, placed there by Veterans of Foreign Wars (VFW) Post 287 in honor of Coatesville area men and women who served their country past and present. One banner in particular grabbed his attention: it read “Wellington G. Sahler, Killed in Action, 1918, Died in the Battle of Argonne Forrest.” Click here to read how Felice's piqued interest resulted in a new understanding and appreciation of Sahlar, his friend Lance Eck, and the story of how and why VFW Post 287 got its name after World War I.

American Legion Post 29 in Greenwood, Mississippi bears the name of three World War I veterans who all sacrificed their lives during the Great War. The three officers (one an aviator, two infantrymen) were killed in action in 1918 during the final month of combat in World War I, but thanks to the support of Greenwood’s American Legion Post 29, the stories of these three heroes will live on in perpetuity. Click here to read more about these three heroes: Lt. Samuel R. Keesler, Jr., Cpt. Henry W. Hamrick, and Lt. Gordon Gillespie.

For Robert Eugene Johnson, the author of Austin in the Great War, it started out as a beguilingly simple question about his father, Austin Johnson: "My family always longed to know what happened to Austin during the Great War. When I retired I resolved to find out." That resolution led him on a remarkable journey that started with "only the barest facts about my father’s time “over there” and ended up with a book that shed light on both his father's experience and the history of a half-forgotten component of the American Expeditionary Forces. Click here to read the whole story about the many "goosebumps" encountered in the journey to discover and tell the whole story about Austin in the Great War.

The small French village of Saint-Parize-le-Châtel (just south of the city of Nevers—former site of the Service of Supplies of the American Expeditionary Forces in WWI) still commemorates the American presence in their area where the huge Mars-sur-Allier Hospital Camp was located during 1917-1919. Click here to read a message from mayor, the head of the local historical society, and the designer of the historic route around the former U.S. Hospital, which tells of how citizens from the village continue to honor the American men and women who were killed during the First World War.

A man is only missing if he is forgotten.

This month Doughboy MIA would like to thank everyone for their contributions throughout 2019. It is through your generous donations that we are able to continue our work, and you will begin seeing more results of this work as 2020 progresses. We have several cases in the works and have made conclusions in several more more, and these will all be featured in coming editions of Doughboy MIA of the Month. 

We took on a big job when we launched Doughboy MIA several years ago, and it has been a hard pull getting started, but we have made progress and that was only possible via YOUR donations and the hard work of our volunteer team. 

Thanks! And blessings to you and yours this holiday season. 2020 promises to be a big year for us, and that means for you, too. Keep those donations coming and know we are ever grateful. The size doesn't matter - the feeling behind it does. Together we will continue to try and make a full accounting of our missing Doughboys until a determination has been made for them all and any that might still be found are.

A man is only missing if he is forgotten - and together we'll keep them from being forgotten.

A Happy New Year to you all.

Sincerely,

Rob Laplander and the whole Doughboy MIA team.

Would YOU like to be a part of our mission of discovering what happened to our missing Doughboys from WW1? Of course you would, and you CAN! Simply make a donation to the cause and know you played a part in making as full an accounting as possible of these men. Large or small doesn’t matter – that you cared enough to help does. Visit www.ww1cc.org/mia to make your tax deductible donation to our non-profit project today, and remember:

A man is only missing if he is forgotten.

Pershing Sponsors