WW1
It won’t be hard to tell that tonight’s posts are dedicated to World War I. As you can see, there is a great deal of information for the student to cover, but I think it’s really interesting.
Unless I’ve noted otherwise, most of the literature won’t be testable. I’ve added that for those of you who enjoy reading history, and hopefully, aspects of it that either you weren’t aware of or may need reminded of.
The many flags posted on Flag Day mean something. I don’t add “numbers” to alarm, but to show you what a costly flag it is. So much has been sacrificed and though it certainly didn’t begin with World War I, it is one I don’t think as much attention is paid to at this late date.
Remember, we said we’d never forget. And though they’re no longer here on this earth to witness their names, numbers, their literature and their suffering, perhaps they may look down from Heaven to know that we’ve cared enough to honor them in some small way here and that we care enough for their lineage that we support those they’ve bred into the battlefields today.
I chose to go heavy on the literature for a reason. I want those of you who may be shy in writing your wartime experiences, either on the battlefield or on the homefront to be encouraged to do so. So much of the literature I like during war has been something handed down and undiscovered for years. There’s not a one of us without a story to tell. And if you don’t tell it, your lineage will know it through someone’s eyes! Let it be yours.
I hope you enjoy the posts and links, and I better get back to the test!
Semper Fi,
De’on
Showing posts with label WW I. Show all posts
Showing posts with label WW I. Show all posts
Saturday, June 16, 2007
World War I and declarations thereof
U.S. President Woodrow Wilson outlined the case for declaring war upon Germany in a speech to the joint houses of Congress on 2 April 1917.
A formal declaration of war followed four days later, on 6 April 1917.
United States President Woodrow Wilson declared a U.S. policy of absolute neutrality, an official stance that would last until 1917 when Germany's policy of unrestricted submarine warfare - which seriously threatened America's commercial shipping (which was in any event almost entirely directed towards the Allies led by Britain and France) - forced the U.S. to finally enter the war on 6 April 1917.
Using this link, be able to chronicle events that led to the Great War.
A formal declaration of war followed four days later, on 6 April 1917.
United States President Woodrow Wilson declared a U.S. policy of absolute neutrality, an official stance that would last until 1917 when Germany's policy of unrestricted submarine warfare - which seriously threatened America's commercial shipping (which was in any event almost entirely directed towards the Allies led by Britain and France) - forced the U.S. to finally enter the war on 6 April 1917.
Using this link, be able to chronicle events that led to the Great War.
Other declarations:
"Hun" was a slang term used by the allies, to describe the Germans. "Boche" was another.
"Coffin Nails" was a term used by British soldiers to describe cigarettes.
A "pal's battalion" was comprised of soldiers raised in the same locality with the promise they would serve with their friends for the duration of the war.
The USA suffered 57,476 fatal army casualties during the war.
It is estimated that there were around 37.5 million total casualties of the First World War out of 65 million troops mobilised. Up to 10 million are said to have died.
"Suicide Ditch" was a term used by British soldiers to refer to the front-line trench.
A howitzer is any short cannon that delivers its shells in a high trajectory. The word is derived from an old German word for "catapult".
Friday, June 15, 2007
World War 1: What would a war be without its cartoons?
Punch CartoonThe Great War was dominated by two satirical papers; Punch and the journal best known by it's original name, The Wipers Times. Punch magazine was a well-established journal comparable in style and content to today's Private Eye. It had a wide circle of distribution and was recognised by the British Nation as a middle-class and supposedly unbiased account of current affairs.
The Wipers Times took its name for the army slang for Ypres, where it was first produced. It emulated Punch, but contained a more specific type of comedy relating exclusively to the soldiers on the Western Front. The practicalities of trench warfare had created a sudden and often uncomfortable closeness between classes, and therefore The Wipers Times targeted a far wider audience class wise, despite it's relatively limited circulation.
The two papers had many similarities, the greatest being that they shared the same ethos. Both believed that comedy should be employed in a cathartic role against the tension, fear and grief caused by the fighting. However, both dramatically diverge in outlook, contents, the ideas they pursued and the ways in which these ideas were expressed and laid out within each paper.
Yes, testable!
Source
World War I "The Morning Hate" more test thoughts....
Stand-To
Updated - Sunday, 13 October, 2002
Short for 'Stand-to-Arms', the process of Stand-To was observed morning and evening by both sides of the war in the trenches, most notably on the Western Front.
Each man would be expected to stand on the trench fire step, rifle loaded, bayonet fixed. The theory ran that most enemy attacks were mounted either before dawn or shortly after dusk under cover of darkness. Consequently both sides took care to ensure adequate preparation at such times, manning the fire step an hour before dawn and dusk.
There was an obvious irony in that both sides took such elaborate precautions against the eventuality of an attack despite the fact that each would be engaged in Stand-To at exactly the same time. Nevertheless attacks were indeed launched at either dawn or dusk, particularly once it became clear to one side that the trench opposite was manned by relatively inexperienced troops.
Stand-To lasted between half an hour and an hour, after which each man would be ordered to stand down; breakfast would follow in the morning. Stand-To came to be referred to as "the morning hate", for self-evident reasons.
Both sides would often relieve the tension of the early hours with machine gun fire, shelling and small arms fire, directed into the mist to their front: this made doubly sure of safety at dawn.
Source
Updated - Sunday, 13 October, 2002
Short for 'Stand-to-Arms', the process of Stand-To was observed morning and evening by both sides of the war in the trenches, most notably on the Western Front.
Each man would be expected to stand on the trench fire step, rifle loaded, bayonet fixed. The theory ran that most enemy attacks were mounted either before dawn or shortly after dusk under cover of darkness. Consequently both sides took care to ensure adequate preparation at such times, manning the fire step an hour before dawn and dusk.
There was an obvious irony in that both sides took such elaborate precautions against the eventuality of an attack despite the fact that each would be engaged in Stand-To at exactly the same time. Nevertheless attacks were indeed launched at either dawn or dusk, particularly once it became clear to one side that the trench opposite was manned by relatively inexperienced troops.
Stand-To lasted between half an hour and an hour, after which each man would be ordered to stand down; breakfast would follow in the morning. Stand-To came to be referred to as "the morning hate", for self-evident reasons.
Both sides would often relieve the tension of the early hours with machine gun fire, shelling and small arms fire, directed into the mist to their front: this made doubly sure of safety at dawn.
Source
World War I--Life in the Trenches
Life in the Trenches
Updated - Saturday, 24 January, 2004
Life in the trenches during the First World War took many forms, and varied widely from sector to sector and from front to front.
Undoubtedly, it was entirely unexpected for those eager thousands who signed up for war in August 1914.
A War of Movement?
Indeed, the Great War - a phrase coined even before it had begun - was expected to be a relatively short affair and, as with most wars, one of great movement. The First World War was typified however by its lack of movement, the years of stalemate exemplified on the Western Front from autumn 1914 until spring 1918.
CLICK HERE FOR THE LINK YOU WILL NEED FOR WWI QUESTIONS ON THE TEST.
Updated - Saturday, 24 January, 2004
Life in the trenches during the First World War took many forms, and varied widely from sector to sector and from front to front.
Undoubtedly, it was entirely unexpected for those eager thousands who signed up for war in August 1914.
A War of Movement?
Indeed, the Great War - a phrase coined even before it had begun - was expected to be a relatively short affair and, as with most wars, one of great movement. The First World War was typified however by its lack of movement, the years of stalemate exemplified on the Western Front from autumn 1914 until spring 1918.
CLICK HERE FOR THE LINK YOU WILL NEED FOR WWI QUESTIONS ON THE TEST.
World War I In Flanders Fields (testable)
Prose & Poetry - In Flanders Fields: The Making of the Poem
Updated - Saturday, 11 August, 2001
John McCrae's In Flanders Fields remains to this day one of the most memorable war poems ever written. It is a lasting legacy of the terrible battle in the Ypres salient in the spring of 1915.
One of the most asked questions is: why poppies? The answer is simple: poppies only flower in rooted up soil. Their seeds can lie on the ground for years and years, and only when someone roots up the ground, they will sprout. There was enough rooted up soil on the battlefield of the Western Front; in fact the whole front consisted of churned up soil. So in May 1915, when McCrae wrote his poem, around him poppies blossomed like no one had ever seen before.
As a surgeon attached to the 1st Field Artillery Brigade, Major McCrae, who had joined the McGill faculty in 1900 after graduating from the University of Toronto, had spent seventeen days treating injured men - Canadians, British, Indians, French, and Germans - in the Ypres salient.
It had been an ordeal that he had hardly thought possible. McCrae later wrote of it:
"I wish I could embody on paper some of the varied sensations of that seventeen days... Seventeen days of Hades! At the end of the first day if anyone had told us we had to spend seventeen days there, we would have folded our hands and said it could not have been done."
One death particularly affected McCrae. A young friend and former student, Lieut. Alexis Helmer of Ottawa, had been killed by a shell burst on 2 May 1915. Lieutenant Helmer was buried later that day in the little cemetery outside McCrae's dressing station, and McCrae had performed the funeral ceremony in the absence of the chaplain.
The next day, sitting on the back of an ambulance parked near the dressing station beside the Yser Canal, just a few hundred yards north of Ypres, McCrae vented his anguish by composing a poem. The major was no stranger to writing, having authored several medical texts besides dabbling in poetry.
In the nearby cemetery, McCrae could see the wild poppies that sprang up in the ditches in that part of Europe, and he spent twenty minutes of precious rest time scribbling fifteen lines of verse in a notebook.
A young soldier watched him write it. Cyril Allinson, a twenty-two year old sergeant-major, was delivering mail that day when he spotted McCrae. The major looked up as Allinson approached, then went on writing while the sergeant-major stood there quietly. "His face was very tired but calm as we wrote," Allinson recalled. "He looked around from time to time, his eyes straying to Helmer's grave."
When McCrae finished five minutes later, he took his mail from Allinson and, without saying a word, handed his pad to the young NCO. Allinson was moved by what he read:
"The poem was exactly an exact description of the scene in front of us both. He used the word blow in that line because the poppies actually were being blown that morning by a gentle east wind. It never occurred to me at that time that it would ever be published. It seemed to me just an exact description of the scene."
In fact, it was very nearly not published. Dissatisfied with it, McCrae tossed the poem away, but a fellow officer retrieved it and sent it to newspapers in England. The Spectator, in London, rejected it, but Punch published it on 8 December 1915:
In Flanders Fields
In Flanders fields the poppies blow
Between the crosses, row on row,
That mark our place; and in the sky
The larks, still bravely singing, fly
Scarce heard amid the guns below.
We are the Dead. Short days ago
We lived, felt dawn, saw sunset glow,
Loved, and were loved, and now we lie
In Flanders fields.
Take up our quarrel with the foe:
To you from failing hands we throw
The torch; be yours to hold it high.
If ye break faith with us who die
We shall not sleep, though poppies grow
In Flanders fields.
Updated - Saturday, 11 August, 2001
John McCrae's In Flanders Fields remains to this day one of the most memorable war poems ever written. It is a lasting legacy of the terrible battle in the Ypres salient in the spring of 1915.
One of the most asked questions is: why poppies? The answer is simple: poppies only flower in rooted up soil. Their seeds can lie on the ground for years and years, and only when someone roots up the ground, they will sprout. There was enough rooted up soil on the battlefield of the Western Front; in fact the whole front consisted of churned up soil. So in May 1915, when McCrae wrote his poem, around him poppies blossomed like no one had ever seen before.
As a surgeon attached to the 1st Field Artillery Brigade, Major McCrae, who had joined the McGill faculty in 1900 after graduating from the University of Toronto, had spent seventeen days treating injured men - Canadians, British, Indians, French, and Germans - in the Ypres salient.
It had been an ordeal that he had hardly thought possible. McCrae later wrote of it:
"I wish I could embody on paper some of the varied sensations of that seventeen days... Seventeen days of Hades! At the end of the first day if anyone had told us we had to spend seventeen days there, we would have folded our hands and said it could not have been done."
One death particularly affected McCrae. A young friend and former student, Lieut. Alexis Helmer of Ottawa, had been killed by a shell burst on 2 May 1915. Lieutenant Helmer was buried later that day in the little cemetery outside McCrae's dressing station, and McCrae had performed the funeral ceremony in the absence of the chaplain.
The next day, sitting on the back of an ambulance parked near the dressing station beside the Yser Canal, just a few hundred yards north of Ypres, McCrae vented his anguish by composing a poem. The major was no stranger to writing, having authored several medical texts besides dabbling in poetry.
In the nearby cemetery, McCrae could see the wild poppies that sprang up in the ditches in that part of Europe, and he spent twenty minutes of precious rest time scribbling fifteen lines of verse in a notebook.
A young soldier watched him write it. Cyril Allinson, a twenty-two year old sergeant-major, was delivering mail that day when he spotted McCrae. The major looked up as Allinson approached, then went on writing while the sergeant-major stood there quietly. "His face was very tired but calm as we wrote," Allinson recalled. "He looked around from time to time, his eyes straying to Helmer's grave."
When McCrae finished five minutes later, he took his mail from Allinson and, without saying a word, handed his pad to the young NCO. Allinson was moved by what he read:
"The poem was exactly an exact description of the scene in front of us both. He used the word blow in that line because the poppies actually were being blown that morning by a gentle east wind. It never occurred to me at that time that it would ever be published. It seemed to me just an exact description of the scene."
In fact, it was very nearly not published. Dissatisfied with it, McCrae tossed the poem away, but a fellow officer retrieved it and sent it to newspapers in England. The Spectator, in London, rejected it, but Punch published it on 8 December 1915:
In Flanders Fields
In Flanders fields the poppies blow
Between the crosses, row on row,
That mark our place; and in the sky
The larks, still bravely singing, fly
Scarce heard amid the guns below.
We are the Dead. Short days ago
We lived, felt dawn, saw sunset glow,
Loved, and were loved, and now we lie
In Flanders fields.
Take up our quarrel with the foe:
To you from failing hands we throw
The torch; be yours to hold it high.
If ye break faith with us who die
We shall not sleep, though poppies grow
In Flanders fields.
World War I propaganda (testable)
Each of the nations which participated in World War One from 1914-18 used propaganda posters not only as a means of justifying involvement to their own populace, but also as a means of procuring men, money and resources to sustain the military campaign.
In countries such as Britain the use of propaganda posters was readily understandable: in 1914 she only possessed a professional army and did not have in place a policy of national service, as was standard in other major nations such as France and Germany.
Yet while the use of posters proved initially successful in Britain the numbers required for active service at the Front were such as to ultimately require the introduction of conscription. Nevertheless recruitment posters remained in use for the duration of the war - as was indeed the case in most other countries including France, Germany and Italy.
However wartime posters were not solely used to recruit men to the military cause. Posters commonly urged wartime thrift, and were vocal in seeking funds from the general public via subscription to various war bond schemes (usually with great success).
Interestingly, for all that the U.S.A. joined the war relatively late - April 1917 - she produced many more propaganda posters than any other single nation.
World War I Literature: Diaries
Memoirs & Diaries: France, Egypt, Mesopotamia 1915-1916
Updated - Sunday, 16 September, 2001
by E. E. Jones
Background To the Diary
On 5th November 1914 Britain declared war on Turkey and a few days later the first echelon of an expeditionary force, consisting of the 16th Infantry brigade and two Indian mountain batteries under Brigadier-General Delamain, landed at Fao, a fortified town near the head of the Persian Gulf.
After two stubbornly contested engagements both Fao and Basra were captured. The invasion of Mesopotamia was ostensibly to protect the oil wells at the head of the Persian Gulf. This motive became obscured, however, when, lured by the prospect of capturing the legendary Baghdad, the British commander Gen. Sir John Nixon sent forces under Maj. Gen. Charles Townshend up the Tigris. After overwhelming a Turkish outpost near Qurna in an amphibious assault on May 31 1915, Townshend began to move inland. By September the British had taken Kut-el-Amara. Refusing to stop there, Nixon ordered the reluctant Townshend to continue northward.
Click here for continuation
Updated - Sunday, 16 September, 2001
by E. E. Jones
Background To the Diary
On 5th November 1914 Britain declared war on Turkey and a few days later the first echelon of an expeditionary force, consisting of the 16th Infantry brigade and two Indian mountain batteries under Brigadier-General Delamain, landed at Fao, a fortified town near the head of the Persian Gulf.
After two stubbornly contested engagements both Fao and Basra were captured. The invasion of Mesopotamia was ostensibly to protect the oil wells at the head of the Persian Gulf. This motive became obscured, however, when, lured by the prospect of capturing the legendary Baghdad, the British commander Gen. Sir John Nixon sent forces under Maj. Gen. Charles Townshend up the Tigris. After overwhelming a Turkish outpost near Qurna in an amphibious assault on May 31 1915, Townshend began to move inland. By September the British had taken Kut-el-Amara. Refusing to stop there, Nixon ordered the reluctant Townshend to continue northward.
Click here for continuation
World War I Literature: Memoir
Memoirs & Diaries: A Gunner's Adventure
Updated - Sunday, 9 September, 2001
by N. H. Bradbury
One of the most exciting experiences which befell me during the War happened on the Somme front on June 26th, 1916, four days before the great Allied offensive. Our battery, of which I was a signaller, was in action at Sailly-au-Bois, and was to support the attack on Gommecourt Wood on July 1st.
It was my turn to be on duty at the "O.P.," so off I started on my journey, accompanied by two other comrades, one acting as a runner. We fully realized that a hot time was in store for us, his duty being to carry messages back to Headquarters, which were situated in Hebuterne village, should occasion arise in any emergency, such as telephonic communication breaking down or other unforeseen circumstances arising. My other comrade, Signaller Thompson, was to assist with the work that we were to do at the "O.P."
Leaving the battery at half-past seven, the three of us made our way over the plain, passing Hebuterne Wood and along the road, and through a winding of trenches known as "Wood Street," to a place called "The Grotto" and some more trenches known as "The Keep," well-known spots in this sector, where more often than not, one had to keep very alert of machine-gun fire, owing to the fine overlooking position the Hun had at his command.
The morning was fine and bright with the sun just breaking through. We leisurely made our way along the trench leading to our observation post, which was situated at a junction of the support and front-line trenches, arriving there about nine o'clock.
After testing our telephone lines and receiving the "O.K." from the stations in communication with us, we awaited the arrival of the major and Lieutenant Hasper, who took a very brave and active part, saving my life, of which I will give you further details later.
After we had been on the look out for some hours our infantry put over a smoke screen. Jerry had been on the alert for several weeks, knowing too well that we had been preparing for a big offensive. In fact more than once he had put notice boards on the top of his trenches, intimating that he was already aware of our intentions and suggesting a number of likely dates for the offensive to take place. Being in such readiness, he at once realized what we were at. His artillery opened fire on our front-line trenches, many shells getting direct hits on our "O.P ." We at once made for our dug-out.
Click here for rest of story
Updated - Sunday, 9 September, 2001
by N. H. Bradbury
One of the most exciting experiences which befell me during the War happened on the Somme front on June 26th, 1916, four days before the great Allied offensive. Our battery, of which I was a signaller, was in action at Sailly-au-Bois, and was to support the attack on Gommecourt Wood on July 1st.
It was my turn to be on duty at the "O.P.," so off I started on my journey, accompanied by two other comrades, one acting as a runner. We fully realized that a hot time was in store for us, his duty being to carry messages back to Headquarters, which were situated in Hebuterne village, should occasion arise in any emergency, such as telephonic communication breaking down or other unforeseen circumstances arising. My other comrade, Signaller Thompson, was to assist with the work that we were to do at the "O.P."
Leaving the battery at half-past seven, the three of us made our way over the plain, passing Hebuterne Wood and along the road, and through a winding of trenches known as "Wood Street," to a place called "The Grotto" and some more trenches known as "The Keep," well-known spots in this sector, where more often than not, one had to keep very alert of machine-gun fire, owing to the fine overlooking position the Hun had at his command.
The morning was fine and bright with the sun just breaking through. We leisurely made our way along the trench leading to our observation post, which was situated at a junction of the support and front-line trenches, arriving there about nine o'clock.
After testing our telephone lines and receiving the "O.K." from the stations in communication with us, we awaited the arrival of the major and Lieutenant Hasper, who took a very brave and active part, saving my life, of which I will give you further details later.
After we had been on the look out for some hours our infantry put over a smoke screen. Jerry had been on the alert for several weeks, knowing too well that we had been preparing for a big offensive. In fact more than once he had put notice boards on the top of his trenches, intimating that he was already aware of our intentions and suggesting a number of likely dates for the offensive to take place. Being in such readiness, he at once realized what we were at. His artillery opened fire on our front-line trenches, many shells getting direct hits on our "O.P ." We at once made for our dug-out.
Click here for rest of story
World War I and Women and Verse (Testable)
There is a strong but neglected tradition of women's poetry written in response to the events of the First World War. Many of these poems are the products of direct experience of the processes of war -- making weapons, nursing the wounded, the loss of brothers, sons, or lovers in the trenches -- by women on active service in the battle areas as well as by women involved in the war effort at home. The range of this poetry is wide. It is often experimental and in advance of the male poetic response. Some of the women poets are well known in other contexts - like Rose Macauley, Edith Nesbit, and Edith Sitwell -- others are largely unknown. It was an American woman poet, Harriet Monroe, who founded and edited Poetry, the first American periodical devoted exclusively to verse, and who published some of Rosenberg's work. Below are some examples of such works by a number of women poets of the period.
Source
Source
World War 1 Poetry
Munition Wages
Earning high wages?
Yus, Five quid a week.
A woman, too, mind you,
I calls it dim sweet.
Ye'are asking some questions –
But bless yer, here goes:
I spends the whole racket
On good times and clothes.
Me saving? Elijah!
Yer do think I'm mad.
I'm acting the lady,
But – I ain't living bad.
I'm having life's good times.
See 'ere, it's like this:
The 'oof come o' danger,
A touch-and-go bizz.
We're all here today, mate,
Tomorrow – perhaps dead,
If Fate tumbles on us
And blows up our shed.
Afraid! Are yer kidding?
With money to spend!
Years back I wore tatters,
Now – silk stockings, mi friend!
I've bracelets and jewellery,
Rings envied by friends;
A sergeant to swank with,
And something to lend.
I drive out in taxis,
Do theatres in style.
And this is mi verdict –
It is jolly worth while.
Worth while, for tomorrow
If I'm blown to the sky,
I'll have repaid mi wages
In death – and pass by.
Madeline Ida Bedford
World War I Literature from women
The Wind on the Downs
I like to think of you as brown and tall,
As strong and living as you used to be,
In khaki tunic, Sam Brown belt and all,
And standing there and laughing down at me.
Because they tell me, dear, that you are dead,
Because I can no longer see your face,
You have not died, it is not true, instead
You seek adventure in some other place.
That you are round about me, I believe;
I hear you laughing as you used to do,
Yet loving all the things I think of you;
And knowing you are happy, should I grieve?
You follow and are watchful where I go;
How should you leave me, having loved me so?
We walked along the tow-path, you and I,
Beside the sluggish-moving, still canal;
It seemed impossible that you should die;
I think of you the same and always shall.
We thought of many things and spoke of few,
And life lay all uncertainly before,
And now I walk alone and think of you,
And wonder what new kingdoms you explore
.Over the railway line, across the grass,
While up above the golden wings are spread,
Flying, ever flying overhead,
Here still I see your khaki figure pass,
And when I leave the meadow, almost wait
That you should open first the wooden gate.
Marian Allen
I like to think of you as brown and tall,
As strong and living as you used to be,
In khaki tunic, Sam Brown belt and all,
And standing there and laughing down at me.
Because they tell me, dear, that you are dead,
Because I can no longer see your face,
You have not died, it is not true, instead
You seek adventure in some other place.
That you are round about me, I believe;
I hear you laughing as you used to do,
Yet loving all the things I think of you;
And knowing you are happy, should I grieve?
You follow and are watchful where I go;
How should you leave me, having loved me so?
We walked along the tow-path, you and I,
Beside the sluggish-moving, still canal;
It seemed impossible that you should die;
I think of you the same and always shall.
We thought of many things and spoke of few,
And life lay all uncertainly before,
And now I walk alone and think of you,
And wonder what new kingdoms you explore
.Over the railway line, across the grass,
While up above the golden wings are spread,
Flying, ever flying overhead,
Here still I see your khaki figure pass,
And when I leave the meadow, almost wait
That you should open first the wooden gate.
Marian Allen
Monday, April 2, 2007
Last WWI Navy Vet Dies
Associated Press April 02, 2007
CHARLOTTE HALL, Maryland - Lloyd Brown, the last known U.S. Navy veteran to fight in World War I, has died. He was 105.
Brown died Thursday at the Charlotte Hall Veterans Home in Maryland, according to family and the U.S. Naval District in Washington.
His death comes days after the death of the last known surviving American female World War I veteran, Charlotte L. Winters, 109. Their deaths leave three known survivors who served in the Army, and a fourth who lives in Washington state but served in the Canadian army, according to the Department of Veterans Affairs.
The fourth of nine children, Brown was born Oct. 7, 1901, in Lutie, Missouri, a small farming town in the Ozark Mountains. In 1918, 16-year-old Brown lied about his age to join the Navy and was soon on the gun crew on the battleship USS New Hampshire.
"All the young men were going in the service. They were making the headlines, the boys that enlisted," Brown told the (Baltimore) Sun in a 2005 interview. "And all the girls liked someone in uniform."
Brown finished his tour of duty in 1919, took a break for a couple of years, then re-enlisted. He learned to play the cello at musician’s school at Norfolk, Virginia, and was assigned to an admiral's 10-piece chamber orchestra aboard the USS Seattle.
When Brown ended his military career in 1925, he joined the Washington Fire Department's Engine Company 16, which served the White House and embassies.
CHARLOTTE HALL, Maryland - Lloyd Brown, the last known U.S. Navy veteran to fight in World War I, has died. He was 105.
Brown died Thursday at the Charlotte Hall Veterans Home in Maryland, according to family and the U.S. Naval District in Washington.
His death comes days after the death of the last known surviving American female World War I veteran, Charlotte L. Winters, 109. Their deaths leave three known survivors who served in the Army, and a fourth who lives in Washington state but served in the Canadian army, according to the Department of Veterans Affairs.
The fourth of nine children, Brown was born Oct. 7, 1901, in Lutie, Missouri, a small farming town in the Ozark Mountains. In 1918, 16-year-old Brown lied about his age to join the Navy and was soon on the gun crew on the battleship USS New Hampshire.
"All the young men were going in the service. They were making the headlines, the boys that enlisted," Brown told the (Baltimore) Sun in a 2005 interview. "And all the girls liked someone in uniform."
Brown finished his tour of duty in 1919, took a break for a couple of years, then re-enlisted. He learned to play the cello at musician’s school at Norfolk, Virginia, and was assigned to an admiral's 10-piece chamber orchestra aboard the USS Seattle.
When Brown ended his military career in 1925, he joined the Washington Fire Department's Engine Company 16, which served the White House and embassies.
Thursday, March 29, 2007
Rest in Peace Yeoman Charlotte Winters
Last Female WWI Vet Dies at 109
Associated Press March 29, 2007
BOONSBORO, Md. - The last known surviving American female World War I veteran, a refined Civil War buff who met face-to-face with the Secretary of the Navy to fight for women in the military, has died. She was 109.
Charlotte Winters died Tuesday at a nursing home near Boonsboro in northwest Maryland, the U.S. Naval District in Washington said in a statement. Her death leaves just five known surviving American World War I veterans.
In 1916, Winters met with Secretary of the Navy Josephus Daniels to persuade him to allow women in the service, said Kelly Auber, who grew up on South Mountain, where Winters and her husband, John Winters, settled.
When the Navy opened support roles to women, Winters and her sister, Sophie, joined immediately in 1917, Auber said. By December 1918, the Naval District said more than 11,000 women had enlisted and were serving in support positions.
Winters served as a secretary and retired in 1953 with the rank of yeoman in the U.S. Naval Reserve.
Friends said she was proud of her role but didn't like to be fussed over as she grew older and there were fewer and fewer WWI veterans alive.
"Why are they doing this for me? I don't deserve all this," Doug Bast of Boonsboro recalled her saying.
Auber said Winters was "an absolutely refined lady" who with her husband was fond of traveling the country looking for burial spots of fallen Civil War generals.
"She was very proud of her accomplishments, and when asked, she'd say it was the thing to do, to be patriotic. And, she was very patriotic," Auber told The Hagerstown Herald-Mail.
Military.com
Associated Press March 29, 2007
BOONSBORO, Md. - The last known surviving American female World War I veteran, a refined Civil War buff who met face-to-face with the Secretary of the Navy to fight for women in the military, has died. She was 109.
Charlotte Winters died Tuesday at a nursing home near Boonsboro in northwest Maryland, the U.S. Naval District in Washington said in a statement. Her death leaves just five known surviving American World War I veterans.
In 1916, Winters met with Secretary of the Navy Josephus Daniels to persuade him to allow women in the service, said Kelly Auber, who grew up on South Mountain, where Winters and her husband, John Winters, settled.
When the Navy opened support roles to women, Winters and her sister, Sophie, joined immediately in 1917, Auber said. By December 1918, the Naval District said more than 11,000 women had enlisted and were serving in support positions.
Winters served as a secretary and retired in 1953 with the rank of yeoman in the U.S. Naval Reserve.
Friends said she was proud of her role but didn't like to be fussed over as she grew older and there were fewer and fewer WWI veterans alive.
"Why are they doing this for me? I don't deserve all this," Doug Bast of Boonsboro recalled her saying.
Auber said Winters was "an absolutely refined lady" who with her husband was fond of traveling the country looking for burial spots of fallen Civil War generals.
"She was very proud of her accomplishments, and when asked, she'd say it was the thing to do, to be patriotic. And, she was very patriotic," Auber told The Hagerstown Herald-Mail.
Military.com
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