Commemorating the First World War Centennial in Kansas
Click here to go to a fascinating annotated collection of photographs of German war memorials that were taken between February 2014 and December 2017 by Russian documentary photographer Vova Pomortzeff, who has searched throughout the country. To date he has photographed 114 monuments to fallen German soldiers, mostly from WW1 (some are for both wars), 75 of which are shown herein, and the project is continuing. The final version will be published in 2020.
My German isn’t very good but here’s my translation.
In the upper left hand corner: “Christmas Eve in the trenches”.
Below the picture: “To our brave soldiers in enemy territory heartfelt Christmas greetings and God’s protection and blessing in the New Year”.
Due to the holidays we’re trying to give you a heads up on WWI themed movies scheduled on TCM the first six days of January. Turns out there’s only one that we can take note of.
That would be The Spy in Black, also known as U-Boat 29. This is a British film directed by Michael Powell and stars Conrad Veidt and Valerie Hobson. It airs at 11:00 a.m. Central on Saturday, January 5th.
Due to the holidays we’re giving you an early heads up on C-SPAN’s World War I programming. Everything appears to be talks that have aired before, but this coming weekend includes all talks from the symposium held at the National World War I Museum and Memorial in early November.
Harold A. Furlong(1895 – 1987) was a native of Pontiac, Michigan. He completed the mandatory officer training course while a student at the Michigan Agricultural College (now Michigan State University) and was commissioned as a 2nd Lieutenant in 1917. He was then assigned to the 353rd ‘All Kansas’Infantry regiment, which was forming at Camp Funston, KS. Like his fellow 353rd officer and Congressional Medal of Honor recipient J. Hunter Wickersham, Harold Furlong should qualify as an honorary Kansan.
There is a tradition of a ceremonial wreath laying at the tombs of deceased presidents on their birthday, a tribute from the current occupant of the White House. The wreath is usually presented by military personnel.
Woodrow Wilson was born December 28, 1856, so this will be the 162nd anniversary of his birth. His second wife, Edith, passed away on his birthday in 1961, so there will be an added tribute to her.
The centennial of this holiday passed by nearly two weeks back. In recognition and celebration of the friendship and cooperation between the British and the American peoples, in the U.S. and in Canada December 7th, 1918 was variously proclaimed by governors and mayors as “Britain’s Day”, “Great Britain’s Day” or “British Day”, with keynote ceremonies in New York, Washington and Montreal. King George V, French Prime Minister Clemenceau, President Wilson (who was in France) and many other leaders and personages sent messages of support.
100 years ago in Kansas, January, 1919:
January 3, 1919.
-The federal employment bureau in Topeka urged employers to give returning servicemen their former jobs.
January 6, 1919.
-K.S.A.C. opened courses in mechanics and agriculture for soldiers at Fort Riley.
January 8, 1919.
The folks at C-SPAN are giving the World War I folks a nice present the weekend before Christmas. As usual, all times are Central and we aren’t responsible for schedule changes.
C-SPAN2
–Douglas Mastriano: Thunder in the Argonne. Airs at 1:30 p.m. Sunday, December 23rd.
Perhaps you were in the audiences yesterday for the first U.S. showings of They Shall Not Grow Old. If not, this writer will humbly recommend it to you, if for no other reason than to see it for the rarely seen film footage of World War I, the voices of British soldiers looking back on their experiences in the war, and for the technical work that went into the film.
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