Commemorating the First World War Centennial in Kansas
By clicking here, you can sign up for a LIVE virtual tour of the project site on Friday April 3rd. Architect Joseph Weishaar, sculptor Sabin Howard and the project managers will be the guides.
Even though they’re are observing the distancing protocols in place in DC, construction hasn’t stopped.
History doesn’t repeat itself, but it often rhymes.
attributed to Mark Twain
We now find ourselves in a quandary similar to that of 1918. Of course, there is no one left who went through the Great Influenza Pandemic, but there are still some of us who knew someone who did. One such person was my mother-in-law, Priscilla Hicks (1908-2004). Her stories as told to her daughter resonate today.
One hundred three years ago in France, the German Army performed Operation Alberich, a withdrawal to their newly constructed defenses known as the Siegfried Stellung or, to the British, the Hindenburg Line. This new fortress work was a masterpiece of military engineering that made the British positions in the Loos sector that were discussed in the previous article look rather ordinary. Read the Wikipedia entry on The Hindenburg Line by clicking here.
The Durand Group was founded by two Royal Engineers, Lt Col Philip Robinson and Lt Col Mike Watkins, following their experience removing several undetonated mines at Vimy Ridge. The group continues to be the premier engineering firm regarding for this kind of work, and with its charitable foundation has also undertaken extensive underground archeological exploration. You can visit their website by clicking here.
U.S. Army Signal Corps photographers and cameramen were very active on the Western Front. We’ve all seen many examples of their works – the photographs all have the ‘crossed flags’ logo and a file number in the lower left hand corner. Now the National Archives and Records Administration has completed the digitization of ALL of the U.S. Army Signal Corps films from World War One that they’ve got. You can read more about this by clicking here.
I’m already a little slow in posting WWI-themed movies on Turner Classics for this month–if you missed it, Paths of Glory was on last night as part of TCM’s tribute to the late Kirk Douglas.
That doesn’t mean there aren’t a few movies to be seen later on this month, although they might not reach the same stature of Paths of Glory. As usual, all times are Central.
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