Transcripts For CSPAN3 National World War I Museum And Memorial Call-In 20180101

In the fields of flanders, because of the munitions, and one presumes because of death, those grounds then were disturbed, and those poppies began to grow. And so, the poppies then grew in amongst what is the killing fields. And so, then the poem in flanders field, was written. It began popularity in 1919 after the war in britain and then soon in the United States. Poppies began being sold as remembrance to raise funds for wounded veterans. When you come into the National World war i museum and memorial, as you mentioned, theres a bridge that takes you into the main galleries under which this glass bridge is a beautiful field of poppies, red poppies of flanders field. There are 9,000 blooms, each representing 1,000 combatant deaths. Its really an architectural masterpiece, i think, of the museum, very striking for visitors. Whats interesting is to see how Different Countries respond to that. Americans, theyre moved by the poem, theyre moved by the experience. Europeans or people from the commonwealth for whom poppies have a deeper resonance, its very striking for them. So, what we find is even its a great way to begin telling the story of the sacrifice of those whose lives were lost and the work that we all have in doing of memory, of remembering. Its said history often repeats itself. History never repeats itself, but it often rhymes. And so, our work in this poppy field and part of all we do here is about remembering to remember the past and create a more adverse future. I think veteran groups still make and salvage poppies. They do. On veterans day, we in partnership with the vfw distribute those here. We have just a little bit of time left with matt naylor, who is the president and ceo of this museum. Big week ahead for all of the folks here at this museum, marking the 100th anniversary of the u. S. Entry into world war i. As we close here, im going to ask sort of what i did at the beginning. For people, especially young people, what are the lessons they should take away from this global war . Is it possible that there are threads of that history that are pertinent to whats going on in the world today . I think that its fair to say that the world is as much like the world of 1913 today as at any time in the last 100 years. We think about the impact of social media. One of the things that that does is the days of broadcasting are gone. Its all narrowcasting. The ability for us to link to the clan or to our own nationalism, its rife all over the world, like we saw going into world war i. Changes in Energy Sources that were seeing, alliances, which are uneasy or are being questioned. I have, as weve mentioned earlier, my grandfathers shaver in my office. Its issued by the british and it was made by the germans. It has made in germany on that blade that was issued by the British Government to a british soldier. It tells me about the ways in which things can quickly change for us. I dont say this as somehow a fearmongering, for it to be fear, but rather to say, there is a fragility in the world, and it is right that we learn from the past and then take care in thinking about how decisions are made, about how easy it is to slip into a path which can then lead to conflict. We do right to remember the sacrifice, think about the values which shaped our past, and then choose which path of the future we would want to go down. Well, thank you for allowing our cameras into the museum today, and we wish you well with your big ceremonies later this week. Yeah, thank you. Were going to show you a little bit more of the exhibits inside the world war i museum in kansas city, and then well come back with the first of two world war i historians and more of your phone calls. Im with doran cart in front of an exhibit that shows what was inside a u. S. Soldiers pack. Can you go through the items . Well, a lot of it in the exhibit was actually carried in the pack and another was carried on the belt, and some was carried on the in the pockets of the soldiers. The canteen cover, of course, would have held the cup with the folding handle on it, the aluminum canteen fit inside of that. Above that then would have been the knife, fork and spoon that they all carried, and then the emergency rations were two tins with hard crackers in them. And then the mess kit goes around and the ubiquitous bacon tin. Never actually carried bacon in it, but it carried their toiletry supplies and their combs and their toothbrushes, things like that. Then a condiment can with salt, pepper and sugar. An emergency ration, which was basically a big, hard bar of lousy chocolate carried in a can. Then the full field pack in the center that you see there would have carried a lot of these supplies along with an entrenching tool and their mess kit, of course, would have fit in the pocket. And then in the exhibition, we have some of the things that were led to their comfort. And one of the things in the packet with the sheets, thats actually sheets of toilet paper, which they quaintly called the time napkins. And above was tooth powder, a toothbrush and a carrier, shaving brush, foot powder. Feet were a common problem with the soldiers, especially being in wet conditions. A folding cup. An extra wool shirt was carried, long underwear, the shirt and the pants and wool socks. And of course, with all this clothing they had, they didnt have anybody with them to sew their clothes for them, so they carried a sewing kit, from the british, which they called a housewife. Then each soldier carried an emergency medical kit on the side, which was a brass box in a canvas carrier, which hung on their ammunition belt. Also on their ammunition belt they carried a trench knife, which was one of the american inventions during the war. Then the shaving kit. And they had to shave not necessarily for appearance, but because you kept your face shaven so your gas mask would fit closely to the face. What about on the bottom . Whats over on the far right . Okay. Each soldier would have a blanket. They would also carry half of a tent. It was called a shelter half. So, they would button it together with one of their buddies, and they each carried three of the stakes and one of the tent poles, and then the canvas tent itself was carried on the pack and then laid out and buttoned together. But usually, they didnt do that, they just pulled it over themselves when it was raining. And then they wanted the creature comforts as well, and thats what they carried in their pockets. And so, they carried lockets of loved ones, of course, letters and writing utensils. They carried their pay book, which was very important. The average american soldier got 30 a month. When they went overseas, they got 33. Then they carried playing cards. They carried pictures of the folks at home, which was very important. They even carried dominos, and they carried some that were so flat, they would actually fit right in their pocket. And of course, smokes were very important, both the tailormads, the ones that were commercially produced, then they would roll their own. They would do that during the daytime, because at night you didnt want to lose your tobacco. So, they would carry prayer books. Those catholics would carry rosaries. And of course, men that needed spectacles, they would carry those. And some at the beginning carried pocket watches, which they quickly found out that it was hard to get a pocket watch out of your pocket with the straps on, so wristwatches really came into vogue. Then the pocket knife was very useful. And then jewish prayer book for jewish soldiers. So, you figure, the average soldier weighed about 140 pounds and was 56, and he carried about 70 pounds, so he carried at least half his weight into battle. And it was not an easy life. What do you hope that visitors to the museum take away from an exhibit like this . We hope what they take away is the humanity, is that people carried these, people used these, they wrote home about how they got cold and wet and what they had to carry, and they wrote home that they needed soap and they would love to have more letters from home. And so, thats what affects me the most is the humanity that used these objects and carried these with them in their lives during the war, because theyre no longer with us. But if we can show this through the exhibitions, i think thats very important. Doran cart, thank you very much. Thank you very much. And youre watching American History tv as we commemorate the 100th anniversary of the United States entry into world war i. April 6, 1917, was the date congress voted to declare war against germany. Were here for 2 1 2 hours. Our next two guests are world war i historians, and one is on the set with me in the studio hall, mitchell yockelson. He is the author of many books and is also serving as a consultant to the Centennial Commission that you heard that the u. S. Government has set up. Tell us about the commission. Its a 12member group, is that right . Its a 12member group that really is going around the country as storers of the First World War. For historians, this is our moment to shirnsine, and its important that we dont let this period of 20172018 go by unnoticed, and the commission is working extremely hard to make the American People recognize what happened 100 years ago when we entered the war, and ultimately, 4 million men and women served in uniform. Half of that number were overseas fighting, and we want to educate people. There are a lot of, and im sure your listeners have relatives who served in some capacity in the war, and theyre anxious to hear more. So, one of the main focuses of the commission is to educate, and what better place to do that in this museum here in kansas city. Well, our focus with you is going to be a great deal on the United States getting itself ready and then going over to war, but weve got callers who have lots of battlerelated questions, so were going to mix it all up with you. In fact, i want to go right to a caller whos been nicely holding for us for a while. His name is james, and hes in minnesota. James, thanks for waiting. You are on with Mitch Yockelson. Go ahead, please. Caller thank you. My grandfather served in the war during that time, but he was a member of the Minnesota National guard. I also was a member of the Minnesota National guard during the korean war, and id like someone to comment on the fact that the National Guard was used widely during the organization for the world war. Id also like to comment that in the American Legion magazine currently out, theres a great story about the world war i and also about albon new york, who was one of the heroes of the time. Great. Thank you for that question. When the United States declared war, to get to that number, there were various components of society. This caller mentions the National Guard. Right. Can you talk about how people were mobilized . Sure. There were three components of what was known as the American Expeditionary forces. Thats what general john j. Pershing commanded overseas. So, you have the regular troops, the regular army. They were the professional soldiers. Many of them had served with him in 1916 into 17 during the mexico punitive expedition, when he chased after into mexico when he crossed over into new mexico. When war was declared, of course, we relied on the regular soldiers, but there were like 120,000something, not remotely close that would be needed when the u. S. Would go overseas. So then president wilson, what he did was he federalized the National Guard, like this caller had mentioned, and they were the militia troops. They were state troops that originally were funded by state governors, but once they became part of the regular army, they were given the same nomenclature, they were given u. S. Army uniforms, guns, and they were also trained the same way. Its interesting about the National Guard is the fact that most of the regulars, including pershing, didnt really care for them. They felt that they were weekend warriors or they would get together monthly in these fancy National Guard armories around the country and didnt take fighting seriously. In fact, wilson had called up the National Guard during the punitive expedition, but pershing wouldnt allow them to cross over to mexico. Instead, they were keeping close watch on any incursions along the texas new mexico arizona border, training, squadding, tarantulas, scorpions, all that kind of stuff. And the third component were the drafted troops or the recruited ones, and that was known as the National Army. Once the United States instituted the draft, was it continuous . It was. There were three phases of the draft that went on literally to the end of the war. And by the time you had the last phase, they were looking at men well into their 40s. The caller also mentioned alvin york. He was, i believe, around 40 or 41 when he i may have that number off a little bit, but he was older than most troops. He was drafted. Of course, the famous story about him is because of religious reasons he didnt want to serve. He felt that his church was, like quakers, they were against fighting, and he applied for deferment through the Conscientious Objector status and was twice turned down, ended up serving as part of the 82nd allAmerican Division, 382th infantry, and the rest, as they say, is history. He would go on to win the distinguished service cross, and that was upgraded to become a recipient of the medal of honor, and then gary cooper plays him in a movie during world war ii. You mentioned deferments. During the civil war, the last great war that the country had fought, of course, people were famous for being able to buy their way out of service, so they could conscript someone to serve on their behalf. By the time we got to world war i with the large number of callups, were there ways for people to escape serving if they wished to . Well, they couldnt buy their way out, like you point out in the civil war. Theodore roosevelts father was one of the war famous who did that, but in world war i, you could apply for hardship or through Conscientious Objector status, and the War Department looked at these very carefully and made a decision of whether or not they felt that you had a reason to stay home, maybe you had a large family, maybe you had a business or a farm that could help the war effort better than putting on a uniform, but you couldnt buy your way out. And certainly, if you tried to escape and go elsewhere, you were a deserter and prosecuted. Were going to take another telephone call for you. Its tom in garland, texas. Tom, welcome to our discussion on world war i and u. S. Entry. Caller good morning, and thank you for the program. My grandfather was a farm boy from louisville, texas, and he was in world war i. I have a picture of his battery unit. Its an old picture. Its about three feet long and about eight inches tall. My grandchildren wont have the emotional connection to this that i do. Is it possible to donate Something Like this to the museum to keep it there as part of the treasure of the war . Thanks very much. Well, since i dont work for the museum, i cant say definitively. What tom is referring to is, of course, the panoramic photographs. You see some of those on display here. Those were very popular at the time. They were done by commercial photographers, and then they were sold to soldiers after the war. Not unlike when you were in high school and had your class photograph taken. I will pass that on to doran cart, whos here, and see if this is something that they would be interested in to see if toms ancestors unit is not already represented. But if not here, places like the National Archives still lacking for those . Well, the National Archives, we do have some panoramic photographs that have been donated. Its not a focus of our collections, our donations, but i would suggest to the caller that since it has a local identity that maybe somewhere around the garland, texas, area theres a Historic Society or museum that would perhaps cherish it more because of the fact that hes from texas. I want to pick up on the point he made, a form boy that went to fight the war. Would you comment on and matt naylor did touch on this before. The u. S. Was largely an Agrarian Society at the turn of the 20th century, beginning of the Industrial Age and ramping up. How in that regard did it change america . Well, two points id like to make on that. One, the point of eventual soldiers, agrarian being farmers. So, it was interesting to them when they went overseas and fought in either france or belgium, because they got to see the farmland, the bread basket of europe, which was badly torn up. I mean, by the time the american troops got over, which was mostly in 1918, a large part of the socalled western front where wheat had grown and barley and other crops were just completely decimated, and i think that had a huge impact on a lot of these soldiers. But going back to your other point, by the time the u. S. Got into the war, yeah, we were still an Agrarian Society, but we were also one of, if not the most advanced industrial nations in the world. Practically everyone now had electricity and combustible engines, which meant that when coupled with the electricity, factories can run, as we say today, 24 7. So, we were cranking out supplies and henry ford was cranking out model ts, which are well represented in this museum. So it changed to the sense of going from strictly agrarian really to an industrialized nation. And how many women went to work in those factories at that point . Was that a phenomenon in world war i . I dont know the exact number, but it was a huge phenomenon, because once the men started going over, whether they were drafted or they joined up or they happen to be part of the National Guard, a lot of private industry, just like in world war ii, turned over as part of war production, and somebody had to work in those factories, and women jumped ahead and took over and were working long hours either in armaments building eventually war equipment, uniforms, really, you name it. Women played a significant role on the home front, but they also played a significant role on the battle lines as nurses, as ambulance drivers in the famous hello girls, the telephone operators. And women were not able to vote yet in the United States, we should point out. Yeah, thats really one of the more baffling things about world war i, the fact that here women are playing significant role, you know, equal to men in certainly most capacities, but they dont have the right to vote and there are famous photographs of them in front of the white house protesting. And eventually, they would get that right based on world war i, but it seems so antiquated to me to think that that didnt happen. World war i historian Mitch Yockelson is our guest from the world war i museum in kansas city, missouri. Next up is joni in wisconsin. Caller hi. Hello, joni, youre on the air. Caller thank you for the fantastic program. Ive really enjoyed it. Thank you. Caller im calling because ive been doing some Family History research, and ive discovered that my maternal grandfather, his name was Francis Patrick mclaughlin, he was the grandson of irish immigrants, and he was born and raised in st. Paul, minnesota. He served with the u. S. Marines in world war i, which i found kind of surprising because i didnt realize that we were a presence in haiti at that time. But ive learned through my research that between 1911 and 1916, seven president s of haiti were either assassinated or overthrown. And so, the u. S. Was concerned about heightened activity in haiti during that time, so they wanted to, you know, have a presence there and restore order and political and economic stability in the caribbean. In july of 1916, another haitian president was assassinated, so they sent in the u. S. Marines at that time. And i was just wondering, are there any exhibits or any materials in the world war i museum concerning the u. S. Presence in haiti at that time . Thanks very much. Well, Mitch Yockelson doesnt work for the museum, so he cant answer whether or not there are exhibits here, but do you know about the haitian story . We talk about how this was a global conflict. So even in the caribbean, were americans involved in the fighting . Its interesting that the caller brings this up because a lot of people dont know that when the u. S. Entered world war i, as far as the National Guard series, the marines actually had more experience than the United States army. And the fact that there were marines that were sent to haiti, there were even some sent to Santa Domingo at a later time or even early. There were even some troops earlier on that were in korea. The marines were kind of known as the troops that would go anywhere, fight anywhere. They were mobile basically infantry troops. And when the u. S. Got into the war, the marines were kind of cast aside, as the callers ancestor was down in haiti and i dont know if that had much to do directly with the world war, other than she mentioned about the instability there. So im not sure, im not up on enough of my marine corps history to know if it directly correlated to the world war, but its a good segue into the fact that the marines literally had to fight their way into serving overseas in france. Pershing was an army guy. He wasnt interested in the marines and he originally rej t rejected their offer, even though they were ready and experienced. He had to battle against secretary of the navy, joe cefus daniels, who through the commandant of the marine corps at the time, they went up on capitol hill and a big argument ensued. Finally, pershing accepted two regiments of marines, the 5th and 6th, that he attached to a regular army division, the 2nd. And it ended up that the marines fought significantly in world war i. The most famous battle where they took a lot of losses was at bella wood in the early summer of 1918, but then they also fought at sanmial. How long after the april 6th duration of war against germany by the United States congress was the American Expeditionary force formulated and general pershing chosen as its leader . Well, pershing was selected within the first couple of months after the u. S. Declared war. He had been back from mexico. Some historians say it was a failed expedition because we didnt capture poncho villa. He was wounded, many were killed and wounded, but it was a wonderful experience for pershing, and he wanted to become commander of whatever force the americans were going to send over. In fact, he lobbied hard on his own behalf. After the april 2nd speech by president wilson before congress, where he lays out why he thinks the u. S. Should join the war. As we all know, he ran for reelection on keeping america out of war, and then he backpedaled on that, but he laid it out very carefully in a wonderful speech. Pershing read that speech. He wasnt in attendance that night. And he wrote a letter to wilson congratulating him and said, hey, by the way, im available. Also, he wrote to secretary of war newton baker a similar letter. And so, when it came time to select a commander from what ultimately would become the American Expeditionary forces, it was plural, pershing was really the number one guy. There were a few other guys being considered, officers, but he had the most experience, not just because of the punitive expedition, but his earlier in his career serving in the philippines. He had the ability as not only as an army officer but as a diplomat. He understood how to work with other commanders and foreign powers, and that was a huge part of his job, not just commanding the eef overseas, but having to deal with french commanders and british commanders. So he was selected, i believe it was in may, and then he went over in june with a token force. And then slowly, more americans started coming over. The First Division came over and slowly other troops. Part of the problem was we didnt have enough shipping to get soldiers overseas. We had to borrow a lot of that from the british and we had to train our troops, so it took a while, upwards of nine months in some cases to get troops trained before they could go over. And how did the American Fighting man get the nickname dough boy in world war i . Thats an interesting question. The definition that i go with it written in a book by lawrence stallings, who wrote a book called the doughboys. He was in the 2nd division and wrote a wonderful narrative thats Still Available today. He says that it dates all the way back to 184648 during the Mexican American war. So, american troops are crossing over the rio grande. Theyre in mexico. Its dusty, its dirty, their uniforms are covered in dust, which matches the adobe buildings and houses. And they shortened it to doby, then it became anglocized to dough boy, and it stuck. So thats the definition ive seen and i think thats probably the most accurate. Was it used exclusively in world war i and not so much in world war ii . I never heard it used in world war ii, other than maybe as a term of endearment for troops that may have served in the First World War as wink. Well learn more about the exhibits here at the world war i museum here in kansas city with doran cart, who is the chief curator. Doran, what can you tell us about this ambulance that were standing next to here . This is a ford model t 1918 truck bed, and it was getting ready to be floated over to europe, but the armistice occurred first, so it never got overseas, so it basically was in a warehouse. And after the war, a fellow who was interested in rare automobiles and things like that, his father had been a driver, an ambulance driver in the war, and so, he had it restored and he called me up one day and said ive got this beautiful ambulance, and its like the same one that my father drove in the war, would you like to have it as a donation to the museum . And i said, i sure would and so, it really shows us the whole idea of how the wounded were transported during the war and that the medical advances during the war were helped by the ambulances that were able to get right up to the fighting. Even before the war began, there were americans overseas volunteering . Thats correct. As soon as the war started in august of 1914, americans volunteered their services overseas. It first started off on mostly humanitarian projects with the food relief and to help with refugees. By the end of the war, there were almost 12 million refugees displaced by the war. And one of the big efforts that started was the american field service, and it came out of the American Hospital that were in paris already, and this was really to help the french army with transport of the wounded soldiers. And primarily at the start of the war, it transported wounded french soldiers, and they could carry three men on stretchers or four men sitting in the back. And who made the truck . This was made by ford. And ford produced a lot of the ambulances from the United States, but also dodge and cadillac and other countries did produce them. They liked the lightweight of the ford model t truck because it could go a lot of places. What would life been like for an ambulance driver . Life for an ambulance driver would have been very cold, very wet, very muddy. They had to know how to fix the ambulances. They had to get them out of harms way, when possible, and a lot of them didnt. A lot of the volunteer ambulance drivers did die in action during the war. In your work as a curator here, as the senior curator at the museum, what have you learned about what sorts of americans volunteered to do this work . You know, it was all walks of life. It was cowboys from the west. It was College Students from the east. There was even a group of fellows who volunteered to drive that were from the university of missouri. And so, they covered all gametes. And also women. We forget that women were volunteers in all aspects of the war, both before the americans entered and then after that as well. And theyre one of the areas that we really need we try to cover here in the museum is the Womens Service as volunteers and also with military. Do you still accept donations to the museum . Whats that process . Well, its interesting. The museums been collecting since 1920, and were very selective anymore about donations to the museum. We get about 99 of our collection through donations from people all over the world, because we do collect all of the belligerent nations. And the best way to find out what were looking for and how to donate is to go to our website and look under donating an object, afterward that will give our Contact Information and people can contact me or the Museum Archivist for archival material. And then we can go from there. But we do ask that people contact us first. Walkins with materials is a little difficult because were not always available to look at them, but we are looking for specific things, and we do have that on our website. Doran cart, thank you very much. Thank you. Youre watching live with us as cspan visits the National World war i museum in kansas city, missouri. Were spending 2 1 2 hours here on this saturday morning on the week of the centennial of the u. S. Entry into world war i. Our guest is mitchell yockelson, who is a world war i historian, and his latest book is fortyseven days how pershings warriors came of age to defeat the german army in world war i. So, let me pick up on that topic. The war had been raging in europe for about 3 1 24 years before the United States decided to get into it, and you described it as pretty much a stalemate. Neither side was advancing very far. So, what tactically did general pershing plan to do to break that stalemate . Well, pershing was adamant about socalled open warfare. In other words, he felt that the allies whose side we joined were basically hiding behind the trenches, popping out from time to time and attacking the german positions. And the german positions were extremely difficult. The German Forces really were the masters of defense. They were behind these concrete bunkers and they were utilizing farmhouses and hillsides, and really, anything part of the terrain, both natural or manmade that they could find or build to keep themselves protected, and the allies were attacking and not making any progress. And the allies had warned pershing, said this is the tactic youre going to have to use, and he said, no, im going to have my troops, im going to teach them how to use firepower, how to shoot from the rifle. He was certain that they were learning that in the u. S. Before they came over, and then they had further training. Whats interesting on that sideline is there arent enough guns to train american troops within the u. S. You see them with either fake wooden guns or broomsticks, anything just so they could learn the rudiments of war. So when they got overseas, many of them hadnt fired a gun before, so they had to learn all this on the fly. Pershing wanted them out of the trenches and Going Forward, jumping ahead to what ultimately becomes the largest battle in American History. More than a million american troops participate in that. He has them leaving fixed positions, jumping off, as they said, either from taped positions, or some of them were in trenches. A lot of them were in woods or shell craters, Going Forward against these german positions. First couple of days, the americans caught them off guard, so we, the americans, had made great progress, but then the german troops started bringing up more reinforcements i think slow down and american casualties increased. So as time went on, the americans had to start changing the tactics. They were still using the open warfare of going out, and it reminded a lot of soldiers of the American Civil War attacks at marys heights at fredericksburg or the famous picketts charge at gettysburg but american troops, especially in small bunches, were learning how to encircle the german machine gun positions which the germans had really masterminded. And by that point, casualties on the german sides were increasing. They didnt have the reinforcements. A lot of the german troops were also surrendering to americans. So, it was inevitable that the american tactics were starting to improve and get better, but the war was eventually going to end up as it did in an armistice. The museum is open, so you will see people that are touring the exhibits around us as we talk here, and its very much a wellvisited museum, and especially on this anniversary week, so we expect to see people wandering around as we do our live program in their midst. Lets take another telephone call. Norman is in haslett, michigan. Norman, welcome to our world war i discussion. Caller good morning. Good morning. Caller i would like to ask dr. Yockelson, at first i was going to ask him about the famous loss brigade, but i would like to change my question, if i may. My grandfather had an older brother who fought in world war i, and had he suffered from shell shock. And when he came back, he spent the rest of his life in an insane asylum because of his shell shock. And i was wondering, didnt the government deal with cases of battle fatigue like they did after world war ii and other wars since with our gis, or did they just ignore battle fatigue after world war i and institutionalize the vets like my uncle had been . Thank you, norman. Appreciate the question. So, what is shell shock . Well, shell shock was a term that i believe the british came up with. Because artillery shelling, which is referred to, was one of the main sort of technologies of the war. During world war i, artillery had been around for centuries, but now youre talking about artillery thats lobbed by much larger shells greater distance that caused much destruction, and it went on day and night. And as norman pointed out that his ancestor i cant imagine what it must have been like to constantly shell. I was reading one account recently where often, whether there was a soldier or a civilian, they were able to interpret the sound of a particular shell because of so much experience, so they could figure out whether it was going to land close to them and they had to go into hiding or if they were safe. But if you had somebody at front lines thats constantly being shelled, one nickname was wiz bang because the shells would make like a whizzing monoise, a then bang, they would hit. The term was coined mostly i believe for british soldiers, and the British Government did deal with the shell shock, certainly better, i think, than the americans. They had a hospital in scotland that was set aside. When the american troops came back from the war in 1919, there were a number of casualties that werent as obvious as say somebody losing a limb. You had soldiers who were badly wounded from gas warfare, so their lungs were damaged, but certainly shell shock. And the va, to the best of my knowledge, back then, the Veterans Administration and its various incarnations, was just learning how to deal with it. I think they had one hospital that kind of specialized in it, but it was something that was relatively unknown, and i dont think it was treated very well. It probably should have been, because we dont think about this, but you know, soldiers serving in the civil war would have experienced the same thing. So, each war seems to have its own set of particular casualties because of the kinds of munitions that are used. For example, afghanistan and iraq, we saw the rise of brain damage from ied and the helmets. You mentioned gas, use of gas. What were the other kinds of things that world war i veterans were bringing home . Well, there were any sort of wound. I mean, lets not forget that during, in 1918, there were three phases of the influenza pandemic, and that struck all the troops, certainly the american troops, pretty hard in the autumn of 1918, going back to the muse argon battle. And anybody whos been to northern france in the autumn knows that its damp and its rainy, and its difficult not to get sick, so you have the influenza, and that had lingering effects on soldiers who came home. But any sort of gunshot wound, whether it was from a machine gun or a rifle, or perhaps even a plane firing its machine guns above where troops might have been in a fixed position. So, its not unusual to see photographs of veterans coming back to the u. S. Walking around either with a prosthetic or, you know, Walking Around with a loss of a limb or some sort of disfigurement in their face. Perhaps an eye could be missing, an ear, part of a nose. It was a devastating war. It was by far technologically advanced, but not in a positive way in that regard. Next caller is john from dunkirk, new york. Youre on, john. Caller good morning. I had two grand both my grandfathers were in the navy in world war i on battleships, one the texas, the other one, i believe, the iowa. Can you laboratory on telaboratf the missions during the war . Was world war i primarily a land war . By the time the United States got in it was primarily a land war. There had been a naval battle that took place in 1916, the battle of jutland, which was a british attack. The American Navy played a significant role more in line with the destroyers, not so much the battle ships that this caller mentioned, although both the iowa and the texas were both famous battle ships during the spanish american war, and i believe both of them also saw Significant Service in the Second World War. But in the First World War, when the american troops were going over on transport sthapz were former oceanliners that the british had lent us, there was such a fear of the german uboats that were prowling underneath the Atlantic Ocean and the fact that these ships were vulnerable. So what the u. S. Navy did was provide destroyers, and they would travel from the poferts along the east coast, primarily often new york, but even off of norfolk and virginia. And it with about a twoweek voyage from the east coast to one of the British Ports or the french port. And along the way, the destroyers were guard these ships. They would go on a convoy and they would go in a zigzag pattern, so they werent sailing, you know, directly, but they were kind of maneuvering around that way to throw off the german uboats. We have another caller in oak forest, illinois, by the name of rich. Rich, youre on our program. Welcome. Caller yeah, id like to talk. My grandfather was in world war i. He also served in brownsville, texas, as Border Patrol to cavalry. And he was on the bottom of the panama canal when they first were building it. He served in the 25th Infantry Division in world war i. My father was also in my father was in world war ii, in the navy. He served with the marines that invaded iwo jima, and i got drafted during the vietnam war. And i remember my grandfather telling me, you know, you should be proud to serve in the military. One of the things id really like to say is your museum is magnificent. I was there last year, and i spent the whole day there, seeing all the different things. I was way up into the tower there that you have over there. It just was id recommend it for anybody. I mean, its really a great museum to visit, okay . Thank you very much. Thank you very much. Im sure the people in this community who support the museum and the folks who work here really appreciate that call, and we hope more people will come visit as a result of watching this program. You can make it a twofer, because its not very far from independence, missouri, and you can see Harry Trumans home. Harry truman actually had a role in world war i. What was it . He was in the National Guard. He was in the 35th division, which was primarily troops from the missouri kansas area. Truman was an artillery officer. He was a battery commander. A battery is equivalent to an Infantry Company or a cavalry troop. And he saw a lot of action during the war, going to the muse argon, they have a nice display on him. Here at the museum, they quote some letters he wrote home to bess, who was his girlfriend fiancee at the time, later his wife. And he talks about what it was like to be in combat, and he specifically talks about the mud and trying to get the huge, heavy artillery pieces that are drawn by horses through the rough terrain thats shellpocked, thats muddy. The roads themselves have been destroyed by enemy fire. And trumans letters are digitized and available on the Truman Library website so kpeem read them, and i recommend they do. They are fascinating. You have made the point that the United States had to ramp up to be able to participate in world war i. What was the size of this countrys Standing Army before war was declared, and once the war was over, what was the size of the Permanent Army in the United States . A good question. The regular army that i alluded to before, the regular soldiers that were spread out the United States, whether they were in coastal after tirtillery forts,r they were not far from here at ft. Leavenworth or somewhere out on the west coast, but some were in the neighborhood of the 120,000some, so thats the reason why we had to bring in the National Guard and troops. After the First World War, typical of the United States, we downsized significantly. So, the drafted troops and those enlisted, they all go home, they put their uniforms away, and theyre done with the military. And pretty much the same thing with a lot of the National Guard troops. If you were in the regular army, somebody like george s. Patton, for example, who played a significant role as a tank commander, that was his life. Dwight d. Eisenhower, who didnt serve overseas but was a major in gettysburg, in fact, he was training tankers and also at camp mead. That was his life as well. So, the army had downsized significantly. I dont know the exact number, but i know that if you were in the military in the socalled interwar period between world war i and world war ii, it wasnt all that glamorous, and there was a possibility that you couldnt make much of a career out of it, although truthfully, a lot of the belligerents in the First World War, including general pershingan inkling that this was the First World War. The fact that germany hadnt been invaded, germany was forced into an armistice, eventually the surrender at versailles. There was a lot of thought that there was going to be another war. So, if you could hold on in the regular army like guys like patton and eisenhower did and kind of make yourself useful in thinking about the next technology, theres a good chance youre going to have an opportunity to see more action. Eloise, youre next, calling from silver spring, maryland, in the washington suburbs. Hi, eloise. Youre on the air. Caller hi. Put it on mute. Sorry, my husband put the television on mute. I was a recreation director working for the air force in northern france at long air base. And in the late, part of my job was running tours. And in the late 50s and into the early 60s, i got some requests, cant we have a tour to verdunne . So i got in my car and drove there, which wasnt that far away, and they only had one guide who spoke any english at all. But with his english and my french, which was somewhat limited, we managed to go over everything there, and it was exciting, because he wanted to share the information. And so, i got things arranged that we could have a tour there. And what had prompted this interest was an area south of western france. The german trenches came to that point because there was a big gully there, and then this road was going across. And on the other side something of a gully. And the allied forces were on that side. And they would bring the bodies up at the end of the day and set them on the road and the women from two villages would come out with wagons and pick up the bodies and take them back and bury them. And so this is why its called chemin de dom, the road of the women. I was so glad that i was encouraged to have tours there because it was quite exciting to go through. And what i was shown and i took my troops through and showed them also are things that i understand they dont show now, but any way, its it was really something to see. Eloise, thank you. Ill pick it up from here. So why was that battle important . Well, it was a fortress area for the french. It was an extremely important it was a symbol of france because of all of these forts that encircled the city. The germans knew that. The germans rarely went on the offensive. Certainly by this point in the war were talking 1916. And so they felt in order to break the stalemate from their side by attacking these forts and the fortress city of verdun, they were going to leave them. Literally theyre going to bleed the french white. And so they attack verdon and the france miraculously hang on. They suffer significant casualties both in military but also civilians. And its going on and on for weeks. And this is when the british launch the attack of the battle of the somme on the other side of france north of paris where 19,000 young british men were killed in one day. So that was the kind of the attack eventually it comes to an end in february of 1917 and the germans held on. Eloise was absolutely correct. Its very interesting to see, in fact, there is a museum thats reopened recently that deals with the whole siege of verdun. And you can see some of the forts in the area. And theres a lot to see now that maybe wasnt there when she was serving that i encourage people to go visit if they are going to be in that area. Its not that far from paris that they can make a trip. We have four minutes with you. We have a caller in massachusetts. Is that correct . Caller yes. Yes. Hello. Youre on the air. Go ahead, please. Caller hi. Im a volunteer helping to build a National Desert storm war memorial in d. C. , and that was a 100 day endeavor. So my question is can you comment on what was the support for the draft when it was introduced . Was it outpouring and how has the draft changed over the years till today . Thank you very much. Its an excellent question. When the draft was introduced by president wilson, it got mixed results. A lot of americans were feeling very patriotic and wanted to join up but there were other pockets of the United States in the south, for example, there were a number of southern citizens, not so much because of the civil war and lingering effects of being the confederate association, but more of thinking of also in todays term of a rich mans war where poor men are fighting it. You mentioned at the very beginning of the discussion about the agrarian country. And of course, the south had a lot of farmland, and the south has a lot of farmers in that time, a lot of tenant farmers, and the Wealth Distribution in the country was not equal by any means. There was a fair amount of animosity. Slowly that disappated. And by and large most of the country was joined together in an effort, even though even some congressmen and senators said this really isnt our war, mr. President , why are we getting involved . This is a european war. But by and large, as i say, most americans joined up and got together and participated. That caller was talking about wanting to be a desert storm memorial in washington, d. C. I wanted to ask you, there is a world war i memorial being built in washington. Can you tell our viewers more about it. Whats the Main Initiative of the United States world war i commission where i proudly advise as a historian, and were really hoping that it will come to fruition where depending on donations from the public, whether its, you know, a little change here and there or some huge donor contributions. What stage is it in the process right now . Well, cspan has covered this. Its been a designer has been picked, an architect. The land has been set aside. Theres work being done with the National Park service, which will maintain it once its built and talks going on with the d. C. Government and other u. S. Government entities so right now its in the fundraising stage. The hope is all that have will get taken care of within the next year or so, and on november 11, 2018 when we commemorate the armistice, that will be done in washington, d. C. At the new world war i memorial, which is really needed. Out of all the conflicts that the u. S. Has been in and the caller is absolutely right. We dont have one for desert storm. But we dont have one for world war i and the fact that there were 4 million americans participated in that conflict both domestically and overseas tells me that its sadly needed. As our time wraps up with you here, if weve whetted the appetite of people who didnt know much about it, whats the one thing you want them to take away about the importance of world war i . Well, it brought the United States into the modern age. I mean, it not only militarily, as i mentioned, some of our later figures like George Patton and Dwight Eisenhower but it brought the americans into the forefront as a superpower. We wouldnt be the nation we are today had we decided not to enter the great war on the side of the allies. Really we turned the tide of that war, not just in troops but in that last battle that led to the armistice. Thank you so much. Author of 47 days how pershings warriors came of age to defeat the german army in world war i. A world war i historian and also home base is National Archives and serving as chief historian consultant to the world war i Centennial Commission. Thank you for being with us. Appreciate it. We have about 55 minutes left to go and two and a half hours of Live Programming from the world war i museum in kansas city, and next well return to some of the exhibits that visitors see here. Were going to learn about the africanamerican contribution to world war i with dorrin cart. Can you talk about this exhibit right next to us . Well, basically, what were featuring here is some of the activities that the africanamerican soldiers took part in during the war. Of course, they came from a society where they were asked to go fight for democracy but they did not have democracy at home. But many of the africanamericans who first went over to serve in the army had been part of National Guard units. And the 15th new york National Guard unit was primarily an africanamerican unit. And when the National Guard units were federalized, that unit became the 369th infantry regiment. They were not in a division at that time. But later became part of the 93rd division. They gained quite a repetition very quickly on. Since a lot of them were from harlem, they got the nickname of the harlem hell raisers. They liked a lot. When they really got over in europe, and they primarily fought alongside the french. They were under french command. They also got the nickname of the black rattlesnakes, or the black rattlers, they had a lot of nicknames. And even though the insignia on the uniform here thats shown is post war, it was their symbol during the war itself. And since they were american troops fighting with the french, they wore american uniforms but they used french equipment. Why did they serve under the french . Well, primarily because there were two reasons for that. One is that the french needed soldiers in a particular area to help bolster their defense. And general john j. Pershing, he did not hold a lot of confidence in the africanamerican troops. And so he lent out the 369th and the 371st to the french and so they were issued french helmets, the french adrian helmet. They wore the french ammunition belt and ammunition boxes. They carried the french rifle and they learned to use the french machine guns. And the french wanted them and they wanted them because they were used to colonial troops. They were used to commanding other soldiers, and they did not have the racism against them that occurred. It was interesting, the band leader of the 369th was a man named james reese europe. He was credited with during the war with his band of introducing jazz to france. And so that was his contribution as well as being in the army there. And probably one of the most famous soldiers in the 369th was a man named Henry Johnson. Henry johnson was the First American soldier to get the grench gadicare, and just in a defensive fight against a german raiding party. Less than a year Henry Johnson was awarded posthumously, a medal of honor, the highest award given to an american soldier. He really was given this award, because they had not been given the medal of honor during the war. And since then, there have been two africanamericans awarded the medal of honor. And what we like to show here in the museum is their contributions were great. They were great at home with the africanamerican women who were working in all the war time industries. And then not only did the africanamericans serve in that regiment but also in a full division, the 92nd division. They were called the buffaloes. And so they fought the longest on the line of any American Division during the war. Were going to walk over behind you, there are some Women Service uniforms. All right. Okay. So what is this uniform . What were seeing here is the military uniform that was developed by for the american women ambulance drivers who were primarily volunteers and they were considered part of the military in service to the military but they were not under direct military command as opposed to some of the other women who were in service with the americans. And they copied the this is the french style of tunic and skirt that were worn by the american women ambulance drivers. And they followed the pattern, basically, of the british, who had really started it. So what was the experience i know its hard to generalize but for women serving both in the military and as with the red cross and all during the war . Well, of course there were over 25,000 american women who served overseas, and their experiences were that they felt they were really contributing to the war effort. They were awarded that kind of respect because they were contributing to the war effort and over 350 american women died overseas during the war, primarily from disease but several of them were killed directly from combat. And so they did not fight as soldiers but they did every other duty that was asked of them. Were going to walk down and see u. S. Signal corps uniform. Yes. What was their role in the signal corps . The u. S. Women signal corps telephone operators were responsible for communicating between the american lines and the french lines, especially in two battles and they were part of the signal corps. So they served directly under army command. They were in the army but they did not receive their recognition as veterans until 1977. And the uniform that were looking at was worn by olive shaw who was one of the telephone operators. She was from maine. And her uniform, she wore when they gave testimony before congress in 1977. And she was really very succinct. This is my army uniform. Look at the buttons on there, the United States army buttons. Theyre United States army collar insignia, i was supposed to be given the consideration of an officer of my rank. And so she said, i was in the United States army. So this was 1977. Did Congress Pass a law . Yes, they did. They gave the remaining 48 signal corps telephone operators full veteran status along with the Women Service pilots from world war ii. Thank you very much. Thank you. And we are back at our set here at the world war i museum and memorial in kansas city. We have about 45 minutes left to go. Were very much enjoying your telephone calls as part of the process here. So keep them coming in. Lots of Family History weve been learning. Let me introduce you to our final guest who is a military historian and a retired member of the military, Richard Faulkner. Has a ph. D. In American History from Kansas State University and taught 15 years at the command and general Staff College at ft. Leavenworth. Military history. Hes also the author of a book called pershings crusaders, the american soldier in world war i. So youve had a lot of military history. Why are you particularly interested in world war i . Thats a good question. I grew up on the battlefields of the American Civil War north of atlanta. That was a period of the civil war with trenches. For some reason, that just stuck with me. And when i was 4 years old, my parents gave me a world war i play set. Little tanks and little airplanes, and it just went from there. And i was building a period that i was going to study, its really an era thats not very well done in American History, so youre able to plow new ground. Were hoping to do a little of that and interest more people in coming to this museum and reading your books and learning more about this important period in American History. Weve talked quite a bit already about general blackjack pershing. Over your shoulder, as im looking at you, is one of his battle flags. Would the american effort have been successful without him . He is the right man at the right time. Generalship itself has changed dramatically in world war i. The scope and the scale meant you are no longer going to be the great man on horse back leading troops into battle. This is now about being able to manage huge armies over huge spaces and to sustain them. Pershing is bringing a couple of really important attributes. First of all, he is politically reliable. Wilson administration had sent him to chase down pancho villa during the mexican revolution. And pershing himself knows this is a fools errand. Hes not going to be able to accomplish what the president wants. Despite his private when it comes time to select the commander for the aef, hes got a good reputation. The other thing is, hes got an eye for talent. He exacts requires a lot of talent from himself or makes a lot of demands on himself and those of his subordinates also. You see that in a couple of key individuals. Wong is Charles Dawes. Hes a neb businessman. He met him when he was teaching precursor to rotc. They had struck up quite a good friendship. But as pershing is trying to build this huge aef with all the supply requirements, the army doesnt have a lot of experience in this so he calls on his old friend not because he is comfortable with him but he knows that hes going to be competent. Now pershing is very exacting when it comes to things like uniforms, and he will call Charles Dawes one of the most unmilitary man that he has ever seen. He tends to go around with a big cigar in his mouth. Pershing taps him on the shoulder and knocks off the ashes. But he knows hes competent. Another one is george marshall. Marshall goes to war as a young captain in the First Division and is on the staff. And pershing is not real happy with the division commander. And during a Training Exercise in late 1917, pershing is just breathing out. Just reaming out silver in front of the staff. Marshall takes exception to this and tries to buttonhole pershing and try to explain to him the amount of problems that he is facing. When pershing turns around, marshall has the audacity to grab him by the arm and spin him around and tell him forcefully and logically what the problems are. After that incident later that night all of marshalls friends said thats it for you. But youll be back on the first boat to the United States. But in fact, pershing had Great Respect for someone who is willing to stand his ground and marshall will go on to be one of the great Staff Officers of the aef. And lastly there is hunter ligett. Hes a large man. Hes well north of 260 pounds. Pershing is a stickler. He believes modern war requires quite fit officers. He has worked out a deal with the administration that he gets last say on which officers get to serve. General officers. All of them have to rotate to france to figure out what is going on with the army but also to get pershings approval. When liggett shows up, hes too old, too fat for modern service and pretty well dismisses it. When liggett has the final interview he said, pershing, watch this. He takes off on a run, nice trot along a steep hill. Comes back down without breaking a sweat. What impresses pershing the most, what you have to keep in mind is my fat stops at the neck. Everything above there is good, strong gray matter. Again, pershing respected that. Last but not least pershing has an iron will. Its going to take that to bring the army into existence. Hes going to take on the likes of ferdinand and hes able to stand his ground and bring this army together despite all the problems it faces. I have 40 minutes left with you. Here is what id like to do, mix in calls. We have someone standing by in anchorage, alaska. Id like to touch on components, learn about each thing. Such as . Trenches, horses, just a capsule of the role they played in the battle paul is in anchorage, thank you for joining us. Caller yes. Thank you. Youve talked about africanamericans contributions and women in the war, also the contribution of choctaw indians as the first code talk eers in e u. S. Military. Also if the gentleman can talk about those indians as well as the military service that dwarfs that of york. Id love to hear your responses. Thank you for asking your question. We certainly heard about code breakers in world war ii. They had a his in world war i as well . Absolutely. Native americans as a whole probably not given the credit they serve. Unlike africanamericans they do not serve in segregated units. They are mixed in with white comrades. They tend to have large numbers in units such as 36 division. The code talkers are relatively small number. Smaller than the numbers in world war ii. They also dont get recognition they deserve. Part of this is the nature of communications. By world war ii you get radio and the ability to intercept communications of the enemy and keep them from intercepting yours is a lot more difficult than swore i where you get telephone lines. Its still a security precaution the army thinks its important. Native americans draw on warrior tradition and think its a great honor to serve. In fact, some of the complaints later after the war is they probably did too much. In the quest fof this warrior honor expected of their people, they tend to volunteer to be scouts, snipers, tend to volunteer for other jobs that tend to be more hazardous than average doughboy. Since our set has a tank behind you, weve talked about the role of tanks. Let me go the other direction and talk about the role of horses in world war i. It was a modern and ancient form of warfare coming together on the battlefield. Absolutely. Atmosphere time of technological change. Horses are still vital when it comes to moving supplies and moving most of the artillery. So for the aef, for example, they either bring to france or purchase over 250,000 horses. That pales in comparison to trucks, 250,000 trucks. Horses have their own problem. If you look at it, a horse is not a well suited animal for war. If you feed it too much it dies. If you feed it too little it dies. If you give it too much water on a warm day, it dies. If you dont take care of it, it will break down sooner than a soldier will. Early regulations, supposed to receive 20 pounds of fodder a day. Thats a lot. Ultimately youre using horses to bring up fodder for horses. It cuts down the amount of fodder, its already difficult to bring up heavy, bulky fodder, the health of the horses are in rapid decline. Were all familiar with the play war horse, the luckiest in history to make it a full four years of the war. American horses generally arent that fortunate. They died by the tens of thousands. They died by the tens of thousands. One of the reason the army goes increasingly to automobiles because they are in the he said a lot more reliable than horses. Segue to automobiles in world war i. You get the famous taxis in 1914, joseph commander of garrison of paris putting men into tax cabs to rush them to the front lines. Where automobiles have an impact is during the battle of verdun. To keep this basically cut off the french line supplied with men and material, he organizes a system of constant trucks and maintenance, known as the sacred way open to keep supply. Were learning from the french in many ways hu to use motor transport to offset inherent problem of horses. Lets take a call from bernie watching us in howard beach, new york. Hi, bernie, you are on American History tv. Caller thank you. Mr. Faulkner, i want to go back to the armistice. The armistice was supposed to take effect on the 11th day of the 11th month of the 11th hour. Between the time it was agreed to and to the armistice actually taking effect, my understanding is that the french continued an offensive, even though they knew that it was coming. Many thousands of soldiers died. I want to know if any of the american soldiers at pershing take part in this and is this true . Am i correct, that there was continued offensive, even though they knew the war was coming to an end . Thank you. Back up and tell us when the agreement was reached that the war would come to an end. The days leading up to the 11th of november, the germans were sending representatives across the line to meet with the general of the allied armies journalist of the allied armys. He, in consultation with the leaders, are finally agreeing to the armistice. As the caller pointed out, it will begin at the 11th hour of the 11th day of the 11th month. November 11th. Sadly, hes correct, that in the waning hours of the war the orders are to push as hard as they can, both to crack what remains of the german army and also to grab as much land as possible from the enemy. And in doing that, a number of american soldiers, probably several thousand, are actually killed in the waning hours of the war. I have read an account of artillery battery banging away into the last possible second. So casualties are being suffered on both sides really for no real gain. I do believe that is one of the great tragedies of the war. So, tactically, the arrival of american troops, 4 million in number, while the germans were fighting with the same size army and obviously suffering casualties, was that really what brought the war to a close . It definitely contributes. I hesitate to say it, but it is close. The americans win the war just by showing up. 1917 is a critical year of the war. 100 years ago almost exactly as we are sitting here, you get the beginning of the russian revolution. And, of course, by october of 17, Vladimir Lenin will take the russians out of war completely. So now thats a huge number of allied soldiers that the german can divert and will divert against the western allies. The western allies themselves had not done very well in 1917. French launch a massive offensive in april of 1917 that ends up being such a debacle that half the divisions in the french army go into what they call collective indiscipline, mutiny. French follow up with their own offensive which turns into really the iconic vision of world war i, soldiers dying in the mud to accomplish very little. Finally, in november of 17, the germans and the austrians launch a counter attack against italians and nearly break the italian army. So the americans are really are the only bright spot that comes out in 1917. Sadly, we are so woefully unprepared for this war, its going to take us a while. 2 million men ultimately make it to france before the armistice, and its a miracle that we get there. And we only accomplished that by cutting a lot of corners so american soldiers will suffer for lack of training, lack of preparedness, and lack of even junior leadership to understand the reality of war. When was the period of the heaviest u. S. Casualties . Well, again, we suffered 53,402 combat casuals of the war and 200,000 wounded. And the vast majority of those occur in the last six months of the war. If you want to put into a smaller number, most of them occur in the last six weeks of the war. And it is important to sort of keep those into perspective. The second week we lose over 6,000 dead which is almost as much as weve lost in the last 16 years of global war on terrorism in one week. We lost sight of the amount of sacrifice that this army undergoes. Our next caller is michael in dearborn, michigan. Hi, michael. Welcome to the conversation. Caller i want to thank you very much. I have never interviewed a real historian before. I just want to ask, i have two questions. First of all, the bigger question, do you think that the allies would have won the war without america . Because some people say with the blockade, the allies would have won . So you can answer that . Do you have a second question . Why dont you ask both and well take them at one time. Caller im just learning about john j. Pershing. I want to know, what was he like . Was he a conservative . Was he more liberal . Was he like the George Patton of world war i or not George Patton do you mind if i ask your age . Those are my questions. Thank you very much. I missed his age. If you heard it. I didnt hear it. Im guessing high school student. Great that he is studying the history. So the first was would the blockade have been successful on its own . A follow on to the last question we asked. The british blockade is certainly slowly and surely strangling the german war economy. The germans will claim after the war that it is directly or indirectly responsible for 700,000 deaths. Civilian deaths. But as the americans come in, following on on the americans winning the war, is it forces the germans to do some things that are ultimately detrimental to their war effort. With all the soldiers released from the russian front, collapse of the czarist impair, the germans know that the americans are entering the war and going to be able to bring huge numbers of men. And so in the late winter of 1917, Eric Ludendorff who was basically running the war comes to the conclusion that germany must knock one of the allies out of the war before the American Forces can come to bear. And so in march of 1918 he will launch what is known as series of offensives. What they ultimately do is sap the last remaining manpower reserves of the german army. And so, as these offenses peter out in the summer of 1918, the american numbers are arriving just in time to do an overall allied war effort to crush the remains of german strength. Good question. His second question was on John Pershings personality, and specifically was he a conservative . As far as his political views he is a man of his time. This was a time when American Generals at least ostensibly tried to be apolitical. Of course, leonard wood, former chief of staff of the army and good friend of Theodore Roosevelt is an exception to that. Pershing himself tries to stay out of politics. As i said before, he benefits from that. The fact that he has political reliability not only means that he selected to command the aef but more importantly, he is given more freedom to build his army and use his army than any other American General in our history. Woodrow wilson is not very interested in military affairs and trusts pershing to do the right thing. So he has given a much more free hand than any general before or since. So during this segment with colonel faulkner, weve been talking about particular military aspects of world war i. Were going to continue that with onvisit to some of the exhibits in the museum with doran cart. Were going to learn about small arms that soldiers carried into battle. Doran, please explain the rifle and also what the soldier is wearing here. Well, there were two standardissue rifles for the american infantry men in world war i. There was the u. S. Model 1903 springfield. And also there was the u. S. Model 1917 infield rifle. They both fired what was called a. 3006 cartridge. Came from the year it was developed. 1906. While people tended to romanticize the infield was really the workhorse of the war. It was supplied four times the amount that springfields were because it was easier to make. The american soldier, typically infantrymen, had the same equipment, same uniform within all divisions of the army. It started with the steel helmet, of course, and that was a copy of the British Steel helmet. When america went to war, they didnt have helmets. Go down in the gas mask carrier for the box respirator gas mask. The gas mask is carried inside there. Again, a british invention, the americans adopted it. And its interesting, they made the bag backwards. So when they put it on, if you had the flap on the front, fasten on the front, you couldnt get to your gas mask properly. So they wore it backwards basically, the flap was in the front. Carried the cartridge belt and carried clips and carried that springfield ammunition. There was a trench knife that they carried was a true american invention. They carried that on their belt. It was used for close hand combat. But the americans never used to like to fight very close. The bayonet, of course, people said that pershing wanted his soldiers to fight with the bayonet. Really, americans killed more french chickens with bayonets than they killed german soldiers. They called them poulle catcher. That was chicken catcher. And then the other things that the american soldiers had adopted from the british was they carried a spoon in their patise. The spiral were to keep legs warm and break mud off. Because they got covered in mud. They stuck a spoon in it because if they had to try to get the spoon out of the backpack when they got to where a field kitchen was they wouldnt get food very quickly so they carried a spoon there. You always see that with the british soldiers and the american soldiers. And a field kitchen would provide primarily what was called slum or slum gum, which is the stew made of potatoes, tomatoes and beef. And were going to move down and look at a couple of machine guns. Well, of course, the machine guns were in use before the war. It is interesting that most of the armys that use machine guns in the war, they use use the derivation of the maxim machine gun. It was invented by an american. Most were invented by americans but we didnt have many of our own machine guns except for the colt machine gun that we see on exhibit here. It was called the potato digger because the front, in the front part, underneath the barrel that actually would flip up and down and looked like a machine that they used for digging potatoes. Another true american invention which was movable machine gun a carriable machine gun, was the browning automatic rifle. It was invented by john browning. This was so american troops could advance with a lot of fire power. When they were going against the German Forces could rout them with this kind of firepower that they were carrying. So it got into the war probably july, august 1918 and played a very Important Role in the american defense. An earlier caller asked about Harry Trumans service during the war. Can you talk about what kind of weapons that he used . Of course, harry truman being an artillery captain would have been armed with a side arm, a pistol. And his guns that he commanded in his battery were french 75 millimeter guns because we didnt take a lot of cannons over with us. And the french were that was their standard weapon. It was called in french. The americans, of course, wouldnt say that. And they always made the french sound toward their language, so they called the french 75 the saucy cans. And so truman commanded a battery of those and he was really responsible at times for directing his fire and using the doran cart, thank you very much. Thank you very much, susan, for having me on today. We have about 20 minutes left to go in our live production from the world war i museum and memorial in kansas city. And our final guest, if youve been with us, is colonel Richard Faulkner who is a professor of military history at the u. S. Army command in kansas. He is also the author of a book called pershings crusaders and we are talking with him about the role of the doughboy and u. S. Military in helping to win world war i. As we work our way through this, we just saw small arms. What advances in artillery happened during world war i . Artillery is ultimately the most important weapon of the war. It is the big killer. 70 of the casualties are caused by shell fire. As the war is developing it really becomes the tactic of how can you best use your artillery. And in trench war fare and later in open warfare, it comes down to the fact that if the artillery does not pulverize the drm defenses, then your attack is going to grind to a standstill. It really is a fearsome weapon. If you look at the time of the American Civil War, cannon was giving off one shot a minute. And it had to be a direct fire. You could see the cannon if it shot you. By world war i the Technology Allows indirect fire so firing from several miles away. And theyre firing highexplosive shells. So this is literally changing the surface of the earth when these things explode. To be under shell fire, the doughboys would say was one of the most nerveracking experiences. So theres nothing you can do. You just endure it. You shelter in the ground. You get down and dig and hope that you survive on the back end. And it leaves horrible wounds. Lass laceratiny wounds, destroying faces. And of all the weapons of the war the doughboys feared it the most. For good reason. The museum has exhibit that just opened of photographs of the french landscape and how it is still very much pock marked from all of the artillery fired during world war i. Our next call is from michael in galveston, texas. You are on the air. Caller yes. I think that the colonel may have addressed my question before, and i apologize if he did. But given that the russians had withdrawn from the war leading to the treaty, why did the transfer of german soldiers from the Eastern Front to the western front have not a greater impact . And kind of a followon question which you may have also addressed, was it that the blockade had not only interfered with manpower, but it interfered with material delivery also. . Thats a good question. Well, the problem with the germans, when they occupied russia this is going to be their leavings around. The idea that the germans come up with this world war ii is actually false. Theyre already thinking about living space in the east in world war i. Theyre hoping that the vast rain belts of the ukraine will free them of the food blockads that occurred with the allied war effort. Unfortunately, the ukrainians have their own ideas and there is a Ukrainian Liberation Movement that hits as part of the russian civil war. So while the germans hope to take large numbers to the western front, in the end they have to keep the at least a million men blockaded down in the east just to garrison the areas that they have taken. The second question . Was about the success of the blockade. I think you covered it. With that. Getting back to my tactics during the war, what was the role of airplanes and air ships . What were the roles . Well, as we said before, artillery is the big killer on the battlefield. And you find out early, as you start to do indirect fire. You have to see where the shells hit. You use barrage balloons or perhaps observation balloons that you put up to see where the shells hit so the artillery can adjust it on the target. Theyre fixed targets, though, these observation balloons. So if you can take them down, its going to be better for your side. And a fixed wing aircraft can also do the same mission. Arguably the most Important Mission you have in world war i for observation. Since Everybody Knows that now you get in this oneupsmanship. If i can deprive you of aviation assets, it is good for me, bad for you. By the beginning of 1915 you get the worlds first true design fighter plane designed to keep you from observing your fire and gathering intelligence. Now its keeping up with the joneses. If you look at the life span, the operational life span of a world war i fighter plane, its months. Its taking us years, decades to develop an f22 fighter. World war i, because of the important of this mission, and the little bit of Incremental Advantage you get if you can fly higher or turn in quicker than the enemy, its changing over the air frames at a very rapid pace. If you get caught on the back end of the development, as will happen a couple of times for the allies, you get the scourge when this first fighter plane comes out in 1915 and then later in 1916 the germans will come out with another fighter plane and you will have a second one. By then the life of the allied pilot is weeks. Until they can also come out with new airplanes that can match the governments. Am i remembering that Theodore Roosevelt lost a sun in flight in world war i. Yes, quinn roosevelt. This is a war where everyone is expected to give. Arguably, its the fairest draft we ever have. It is an expectation, and roosevelt has this that those are given much, much is expected. All three of his sons served in world war i. All three are wounded. Quinton, of course, is shot down and killed. Do you know where it happened . Not off the top of my head. Sorry to stump you. You have lots of facts in here. I found one you didnt have in here you didnt have in your disposal immediately. Mary in phoenix. Hi, mary. Caller hi, thank you for the wonderful program. I wondered if you could talk more about the war fervor, the effort here. My father just turned 18 about the time president wilson asked for declaration of war. He was in the service but i dont know if he was drafted or if he was recruited. Hes from rural north dakota. And then went to college in st. Paul. And i dont know if somewhere in between there, where was the war fervor . And how did the country get behind the war when it was so compelled against getting into it in the first place and so forth . Can you talk about that, and where can we find out about the service of the people that didnt go overseas . I dont think he went overseas, but i dont really know anything about his service. Can we find out a little bit more about where we can learn about that . Thank you. Well, if he was 18 in 1917, he probably enlisted. When the draft law comes out, it only applies to age 21 to 35. As we start to take serious casualties in the summer and fall of 1918, a new draft amendment comes out and lowers the age to 18. So if he is in the army in 1917, he is probably enlisted. And with parental approval, you can actually enlist as young as 17. I found accounts of soldiers enlisting as young as 14, against the rules, but they either lie or an enlisting sergeant takes sympathy for him and allows him to go. When it comes to the war itself despite divisions inside america, by 1917 the United States has pretty much come to the conclusion that this is a war we are not going to avoid and it is in our interest to participate in. So there is mass participation. The draft is sold as a nation that volunteers in mass, a little propaganda. But it actually works. One of the most brilliant things that this Selective Service act does is decentralizes the execution of the draft board. So you have over 4,000 local draft boards consisting of your friends and neighbors who decide whos going to go into the service. Because of that, there is a lot less problem with americans accepting the draft as with the civil war. So as we work through things that changed during world war i and conducting battle, how about communications . Well, this is one of those things where technology lags. On one hand you have artillery and rapid fire machine guns, magazine bolt action rifle, but technology when it came to communications had lagged quite a bit. There are no radio. The radios they have are huge, several thousand pounds that are hard to get around on the battlefield. They lightened them up before the war is done. The most advanced communication this time are field phones. So they are like the Old Fashioned telephone. You have to run the wire. You connect it up and it goes only in two directions. It goes from your headquarters to the headquarters in the rear. That is going to be one of the problems with artillery. Today if a soldier needs to call for artillery, he gets on the radio and shortly thereafter, he gets air support and artillery support. In world war i, since going from headquarters to headquarters, and through a vast network of telephone lines it is slowing down the process. Its not very responsive. And the wires themselves are quite frag. Quite fragile. Anything can break them. Shell fire, your own soldiers not paying attention to the wire. And the minute that that is broken now someone has to go out from the headquarters, trace back the line, put them back together. And if that is being accomplished under enemy fire shell fire you can see how hazardous it is. A telephone lineman attached to an infantry regiment is one of the most hazardous positions in the war. Next is david in mechanicsville, virginia. Hi, david. Caller yes. Good morning, colonel. I just got finished reading a very interesting book. You are probably familiar with that. A couple of things came up that i found interesting. One was that there was a third component of the army that is not often talked about called the National Army. I would like you to talk a little bit about that. But i would also like to find out what your feelings are regarding an interesting officer that was under pershings command by the name of Major General robert e. Lee. Im trying to remember his last name. Bullard. His actions and nonaction with regard to people that are adjacent to his command in the final days thanks very much. Im going to stop you only because our time is starting to run out. I think quick answers on big topics. Okay. The National Army is actually the army thats going to be the draftees. In the beginning you have regular army divisions. You have National Guard divisions, and you have the draftee divisions or National Guard and National Army divisions. The reality is the vast majority of american soldiers for the first time in American History are going to be draftees, nearly 70 . The National Guard cant make its numbers, the regular army cant make its numbers. By the middle of 1918, the army gets away from these designations. And every one of these units, whether regular, National Guard or draftees, have substantial number of draftees inside. I have read the book on mt. Mccon. And it is one of those sad tradeoffs. It chronicles the 79th division and engaged in the opening days of the battle. Part of this, there have been the battle of san miguel. This is going to be the coming out party for the aef. So pershing wanted everything to go perfectly for this. Because of that he took his most experienced best trained units and put them towards that. But that meant he was not going to have those types of units ready. So the 79th division when theyre thrown in the battle in the early days of this campaign are not very well trained, not very well prepared, and they pay the price. Harry trumans 35th division will also go in at the same time. Also, not a lot of experience before this battle, and they also will have substantial problems, overcoming a very stiff german resistance and very difficult terrain. I once had a physician tell me that war forces the greatest advances in medical science. What did world war i contribute to medical science . Well, a host of things. One of the signature maladies of the war is something called gas gangrene. If you look at where it was fought in northern europe, it has been well maneuvered for millennia. When you get hit by a shell fragment or bullet, it carries all of that into the wound. Its creating very nasty secondary infections. The wound themselves could easily be treated but it is the infection thats killing them. So medical science, mostly the british and french, are trying to figure out how to how to deal with this. Ultimately they go to radical solutions. Traditionally you would close up the wound and let it heal. If you do that, all you are doing is keeping the infection inside. They pioneer keeping the wound open and using a solution that they still use today to slowly irrigate the wound. It has beginnings of antibiotic properties. The war will also push forward neuropsychotic treatments. I know one of the previous callers talked about shell shock. Over 27,000 american soldiers suffered neuropsychotic injuries. That covers a host of things. There are efforts by british psychiatrists, american psychiatrists just not very far removed from freud to deal with the psychological injuries of war. One of the other ones is Plastic Surgery. The wounds are causing horrible mutilating injuries. So Plastic Surgery is really coming into its own. More or less successful. But in a war that france, theyll call them the men without faces, those that could not be helped. When you talk about gas, were both sides of the conflict employing gas . Or was it primarily germans. Both sides were. What i spoke about being was gas gangrene, it has nothing to do with gas. It just swells up and creates its own gas. Both allies and germans are using gas. In fact, even though we were slow to mobilize and get our weapons overseas, the United States producing more chemical agents than any other power before the wall. Was blindness permanent from the use of gas . Well, mustard gas is a blister agent so when it gets on the skin it raises nasty blisters. If it gets in the eyes it can cause temporary blindness. If you get enough of a dose, it can cause permanent blindness. We just about five, six minutes left. We have another caller, probably our last, from david this time in phoenix. Hi, david, youre on. Caller hi. Good afternoon. My dad actually was in the First World War, and he was part of the National Guard unit coming out of pennsylvania. I have two questions. Number one is how were they transported out from the east coast . Did they bring them through the panama canal and around . Because i know he was in ft. Bliss going through training. And my second question is, after that, he was converted to an artillery unit and was a driver with the 128th and 108th Field Artillery battery f. He was in six major engagements. And i cannot and his discharge papers only shows him having victory medal. I have all of his medals, and im trying to verify that these are authentic. But theres no documentation. Could you speak about the transportation from east to west for the Mexican Border conflict and also about how i can maybe verify some or all of these medals that he accumulated through the six major engagements. Thank you. Thanks, david. The United States in world war i has one of the finest Railroad Systems in the world. Very few soldiers go through the panama canal. Its just easier to put them on trains and send them across the United States. They will embark from ports along eastern seaboard with new york city being largest one. It sounds like your father was in the 28th division and youre correct, they participate in all of the major campaigns of the aef in the war. Sadly, the veterans Records Administration that held most world war i records suffered a fire in the 1970s so a number of those records were lost. Though if you get on ancestry. Com, you can get his theres a paid political announcement, i guess. You can get his draft certificate. You can also maybe hook up some other information. But you can be assured that if he had gone over with early contingent, the 28th division, he would have had a number of campaign bars, signifying each one of the major campaigns of the aef attached to his victory medal. While were talking about resources, i recall that mary in phoenix had asked where can she find out more about people who didnt go to europe and fight. I might recommend the website for this museum. If youre not able to travel here, the website that theyve built has a lot of resources, not just about how the war was fought, but how the country went to war and many of the stories of the people back here that contributed to the war efforts. That would be the first place i would start if youre interesting in finding out a little bit more. As we close out, we talked about how throughout this program the war fundamentally changed the United States. It changed warfare, it sounds like. But im wondering what it changed politically and diplomatically. That is a good question. Woodrow wilson sends the American Force overseas to get the americans a place at the peace table. Its sort of sad, but hes going to bleed ourselves to versailles. He knows he has to send over a large army to give us credibility with the likes of George Clement and david lloyd george. And the europeans are actually receptive to what wilson is pushing. Hell come out with the 14 points. His idea of what a modern Peaceful World would look like. He is all about creating the peace, more than he is about waging the war. And in the beginning when he arrives and he arrives in europe shortly after the armistice. He is met with cheering throngs everywhere he goes. The more he sits down with the sharks in the tank, the less he is able to get what he wants. At the end while the europeans like the idealism that hes pushing, this is the ugliest war in human history. And theres a wide belief, especially in france and in italy, that they need to get something in return for the sacrifices that they have pushed. The most important people that wilson is unable to win over are the American People. That his idea of a league of nations that will keep a great war from happening again does not resonate with the American People. We have made the world safe for democracy. We have done everything we possibly can. Europeans dont seem to want to really buy what we are selling. So when he comes back to the United States to try to sell his idea of the league of nation, changes, of course the role of women, 33,000 women serve in uniform in world war i. Several hundred thousand more serve in the red cross and the salvation army, thousands more in industry back home. Without the women, we could not have won the war. This will finally give impetus for the 19th amendment which will be passed in august of 1920, giving women the right to vote. It plays a major role. We also go from being a debtor nation to a creditor nation. And the locus of economic power in the world slowly but surely moves from london to new york city. Was the Second World War inevitable because of the end of the first . You hate to ever say that war is inevitable, but the unresolved issues that come out of the war itself and the expectations that are not met are definitely leading in that direction. But a combination of it and the Great Depression is creating a lot of the tensions. Japan, of course, participates in the war on the side of the allies and in rush geturn gets number of islands in the pacific that we will have to take in 1943, 44 and 45. Dealing with these unresolved issues are definitely the impetus. We have run out of time. Its been a very interesting 2 1 2 hours. Thank you very much for being a part of it. We thank the staff of the world war i Memorial Museum for allowing us to be part of their busy week here. Thanks to all our callers for adding your questions to it. Tweet us at cspan history, a tweet from madman across the water asking about an issue that still resounds today. This question is about how many people were fathered by u. S. G. I. S in vietnam. You could be featured during our next live program. Join the conversation on facebook at facebook. Com csp facebook. Com cspanhistory. The c span bus tour continues with stops in raleigh, columbia, atlanta and montgomery. Follow the tour and join us on january 16th at 9 30 a. M. Eastern for our stop in raleigh, north carolina, when our washington journal guest is josh stein. Tonight, on the communicators, a look at the internet, broadband expansion and 5g with u. S. Telecom president and ceo jonathan spalter. Hes interviewed by kyle daly. You mentioned that the companies you represent have a lot of work to do. Can you talk a little bit about that . We hear a lot about 5g networks, these ultra fast wireless broadband networks. Can you talk about how we get to that stage . Sure. The essential ingredient to moving forward not only with extending broadband to more americans but also ensuring our Global Competitiveness is this Wonderful Technology called broadband. Our companies are committed to make the investments to provide the fiber, the resources, the infrastructure, the networks to get more Broadband Connectivity to more americans. It takes a lot of work. It takes the right amount of investment, the right types of Business Models and the right types of smart 21st century forward looking policy frameworks that can accelerate and advance and incent watch the communiqcators tonight on cspan 2. Next on American History tv, the United States world war i Centennial Commission hosts a program from the National World war i museum and memorial in kansas city, missouri, marking the 100th anniversary of americas entry into the war. President Woodrow Wilson signed a congressional declaration of war against germany on april 6th, 1917. More than 4 million american men and women served in uniform. This is about an hour and 50 minutes. O say can you see by the dawns early light what so proudly we hailed