9 July 2022 - FORGOTTEN WAR MEMORIAL - WASHINGTON D.C.

 

FORGOTTEN WAR 

MEMORIAL 

- WASHINGTON D.C. -

G'day folks,

Welcome to an overlooked memorial honoring the local Washington residents who died in World War I.

The first letters started a month after the war ended. People were writing the government with the idea of building a monument honoring the more than 26,000 Washington, D.C. residents who had served in World War I. Thirteen years later in 1931, the D.C. War Memorial was dedicated by President Herbert Hoover. This little-known monument is the only memorial dedicated to District residents on the National Mall.

Frank and Janet Noyes, a prominent newspaper family at the time, agreed to fund the project. Janet also had a hand in the design, proposing that the monument replace an old wooden bandstand in West Potomac Park. The new memorial would even resemble a bandstand: She suggested a domed marble memorial that would honor the dead and be available for military bands to use to play tribute to these soldiers.

Six years after the war ended, the first planning committee for the memorial met, and building began another four years later. Since the memorial was to honor local veterans, the people of D.C. thought it was important to use a local construction company. “Construction of the war memorial by out-of-town agencies would violate the principle and do injustice of the people of our city,” noted the District’s Chamber of Commerce president Harry King. A local builder was chosen from the bids, and the 47-foot-tall monument, comprised of 12 columns supporting a domed roof, was finally erected.

 

Rather than the initial idea of honoring all of the D.C. residents who served, the monument pays tribute to the 499 Washington residents who died in the war. Besides being dedicated to D.C. residents, the monument has another distinction; in an unusual move for the time, the inscription includes the names of both men and women.

The first concert held in the monument was during its dedication on November 11, 1931.  It was lead by noted composer John Phillip Sousa, and the space became a popular gathering spot for visitors to listen to music. However, as musical tastes changed, the kind of music that filled the bandstand wasn’t bringing the crowds it used to, and concerts happened there much less often. The monument, because of its off the beaten path location, or changing entertainment tastes, or a little of both, went through a period of neglect. In 2003, the memorial was declared one of D.C.’s most endangered places by the DC Preservation League.

In 2010, $3.6 million was dedicated to restore and upgrade the space. This hidden treasure, tucked among the trees, honors the veterans of a war that is quickly fading from public memory.

 

 

22 November 2021 - THE RED BARON'S GRAVE

 

THE RED BARON'S 

GRAVE

G'day folks,

Baron Manfred von Richthofen—known simply as the ‘Red Baron’—was a famed fighter pilot in the German Air Force during World War I.

Credited with 80 air combat victories, the Red Baron met his demise when he was shot by a soldier in April 1918. It is surmised that Gunner W. J. “Snowy” Evans—a soldier with the Royal Australian Artillery— is likely the one to have killed the famed pilot. 

 Six pilots of a similar rank served as pallbearers at his first funeral. He was later moved to a cemetery in Berlin. There, a huge monument was placed on his grave by the Nazi government. After the war, it fell on the Soviet side of the line where the headstone and memorial were shot numerous times as people fled to West Berlin so in the early 1970s the family moved the Baron one last time to the family plot in Wiesbaden. Each year there is a memorial service around the anniversary of when he was shot down. 

Clancy's comment: He had some great victories, but all wars suck.

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17 August 2021 - WW1 SOLDIER'S ROOM REMAINS INTACT AFTER 100 YEARS

 

WW1 SOLDIER'S ROOM REMAINS

 INTACT AFTER 100 YEARS

 

G'day folks,

Daniel Fabre recently purchased a home in France with a very special stipulation that accompanied the deed. 

 Typically when you purchase a home, the previous owners will have completely cleaned out their belongings and given you a new space to fill. That’s not the case at all with Daniel’s new home and he plans to keep it that way. In fact, this room has been kept that way for over 100 years ago since the day they purchased the home. It’s quite a unique story.

 Hubert Rochereau was a Second Lieutenant for the French Army during World War 1. He left home for war and his parents left his room alone so it would be the way he left it upon his return. Hubert was killed from wounds inflicted in battle in Belgium on April 26, 1918. His parents were obviously devastated and sold the home in 1936 with a special clause in the deed.

The soldier’s bedroom must remain exactly the way it was for 500 years. So far, it’s been almost an entire century and the bedroom has been left exactly as it was the day Second Lieutenant Hubert left for war. The bedroom is still full of all of his possessions. His military jackets have holes from moths and have been tattered over the years. His desk is still covered with his military paperwork and personal pictures. There’s even an untouched gun collection.

 The current owner of the home has done some research and has found that there is no legal basis binding him to keeping the room that way. He does respect the history and memory of this veteran and plans to keep the room the same. There have been 2 previous owners who have felt the same way and have kept the room perfectly intact.

  The room is a part of history that has been perfectly preserved in its original state. It is an honorable tribute to Second Lieutenant Hubert Rochereau who also has his name listed on a monument in Libourne, France where his regiment was based. He was also awarded the Legion Of Honour for his bravery after he was killed in war.

 

Clancy's comment: Extraordinary.

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5 August 2016 - AMERICAN 'DOUGHBOYS'

AMERICAN 

'DOUGHBOYS'

G'day folks,

Ever heard of these? Doughboy was an informal term for a member of the United States Army or Marine Corps, especially used to refer to members of the American Expeditionary Forces in World War I, but initially used in the Mexican-American War of 1846-48.

It’s unknown exactly how U.S. service members in World War I (1914-18) came to be dubbed doughboys—the term most typically was used to refer to troops deployed to Europe as part of the American Expeditionary Forces—but there are a variety of theories about the origins of the nickname. According to one explanation, the term dates back to the Mexican War of 1846-48, when American infantrymen made long treks over dusty terrain, giving them the appearance of being covered in flour, or dough. 

As a variation of this account goes, the men were coated in the dust of adobe soil and as a result were called “adobes,” which morphed into “dobies” and, eventually, “doughboys.” Among other theories, according to “War Slang” by Paul Dickson the American journalist and lexicographer H.L. Mencken claimed the nickname could be traced to Continental Army soldiers who kept the piping on their uniforms white through the application of clay. When the troops got rained on the clay on their uniforms turned into “doughy blobs,” supposedly leading to the doughboy moniker.

However doughboy came into being, it was just one of the nicknames given to those who fought in the Great War. For example, “poilu” (“hairy one”) was a term for a French soldier, as a number of them had beards or mustaches, while a popular slang term for a British soldier was “Tommy,” an abbreviation of Tommy Atkins, a generic name (along the lines of John Doe) used on government forms. 

America’s last World War I doughboy, Frank Buckles, died in 2011 in West Virginia at age 110. Buckles enlisted in the Army at age 16 in August 1917, four months after the U.S. entered the conflict, and drove military vehicles in France. One of 4.7 million Americans who served in the war. Buckles was buried at Arlington National Cemetery.

 

 

Clancy's comment: There ya go. I'd never heard of them before. Frank Buckles died at 110. Wow!

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