Preparations have begun for the observance of this historic event on November 11th, 2021. Read more about this by clicking here.
Commemorating the First World War Centennial in Kansas
Category: Monuments & Memorials (Page 1 of 16)
Michael Neiberg on How Armistice Day became Veteran’s Day
Since 1954 the U.S. has observed every November 11th as Veteran’s Day, while in the United Kingdom, Canada, Australia and New Zealand the day remains known as Remembrance Day. Why did Americans make this change? Read Dr. Neiberg’s article by clicking here.
Last Monday night politically-themed graffiti was painted on a wall by the entrance to the National WW1 Museum and Memorial in Kansas City, Missouri. You can read a local news story by clicking here.
This isn’t the first time the museum walls have been defaced. You can read about the 2019 incident by clicking here.
A DH-4 in Flying Condition will come to Wichita
The Bleckley Airport Memorial Foundation has acquired an authentic Airco DH-4 aircraft and plans to restore it for inclusion in the collections they will have at their proposed memorial to 2nd Lieut. Erwin Bleckley, a Wichita native who was awarded the Medal of Honor for his deeds on October 6th, 1918. Bleckley has been the subject of several previous posts here. You can read two of them by clicking here or here. You can also read more about the Lost Battalion here.
At the north end of ANZAC Cove on the Gallipoli peninsula is a large free-standing tablet which bears this text:
‘Those heroes that shed their blood and lost their lives! You are now lying in the soil of a friendly country. Therefore rest in peace. There is no difference between the Johnnies and Mehmets to us where they lie side by side here in this country of ours. You, the mothers, who sent their sons from far away countries wipe away your tears; your sons are now lying in our bosom and are in peace. After having lost their lives on this land they have become our sons as well.’
In October the National Capitol Planning Commission gave its approval to the design for the memorial at Pershing Park in Washington, DC. Subsequently the National Park Service issued a Building Permit and just over a week ago the site work began. You can read more about this in the DC press by clicking here or from The American Legion by clicking here.
A superb documentary film about the Lafayette Escadrille premiered on November 9th at the National Museum of the U.S. Air Force in Ohio. Read the whole story by clicking here.
Also well worth a read is the 2007 monograph entitled Like a Thunderbolt, produced by the Air Force Historical Studies Office. You can download it here, courtesy of The Doughboy Center.
Recently I was called into the Shawnee County District Court for jury duty. Initially there’s always a bit of waiting before you discover your fate as a juror or a free man. While waiting I took a look at the photos and other items that graced the hallway of the court house, telling something about the County’s legal history.
Regular readers may recall that I posted about Metcalfe’s project to find and properly mark all burials in the U.S. of persons who served in the British Imperial Forces in World War 1, and in August of 2017 I reported that his project had located two such burials in Kansas, You can read about this by clicking here.
Only the British and the Americans attempted to keep track of the number of their missing, and the official counts are still changing as the remains of fallen soldiers are regularly found in the areas of France and Belgium that were the battle grounds of the Western Front. Every now and then an American soldier is found, particularly in the Meuse Argonne.
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