Do you think interest in American Participation in WWI will increase?

[RustyCanteen]

The title pretty much says it all; do you think interest in America's role in WWI will increase in time for the centenary in 2017?

 

Looking at the commemorations in Europe (and around the world) last year and this year, I am somewhat surprised that it is seemingly ignored by many people; collectors and members of the general public alike. While it is true that the United States did not enter the war until April 1917, America was involved in many ways well before that date. From supplying the Allied Powers, to the events much closer to home; like the 1916 munitions explosion at a NJ pier, and of course the sinking of the Lusitania in May of 1915 which took the lives of 128 Americans.

 

Will interest grow in time for the centenary, and is there anything that can be done to educate the public on America's role (both on and off the battlefield) in WWI?

 

Let me know your thoughts.

 

RC

[Too Much WW1 Militaria]

1. There isn't the general interest in history like there was for the Civil War 100th.

2. Nobody is left alive from WW1, so the human interest angle isn't there. When Frank Buckles was alive, you'd see an occasional blurb about WW1.

3. There hasn't been a WW1 movie made to the quality of BoB, PVT Ryan. Figure the one's that have been made lately have been, well, meh.

4. WW1 in the US have never generated public interest like the Civil War did, or WW2 does.

 

Look at the numbers of us who collect WW1 and before, compared to the number of say, WW2 or even Vietnam collectors.

 

My .02,

 

John

[TheMariner]

i wanted to make a post even though i picked a category. For starters i think WW1 is a very under appreciated war, you never hear much about it. In history classes WW1 is cover in one class day, where as WW2 and the Civil War were at least given a few days. As for collectors i believe the 100th anniversary may cause prices of WW1 items to increase in value a bit, other then that i don't believe you will see any big change or excitement over the anniversary.

[Wharfmaster]

A few of us are old enough to remember WW1 vets in our communities. Purchased militaria directly from a few of them too.

 

While growing up, I often went fishing with my neighbor that was a Rainbow Division vet. Remember his war stories well.

 

You could say WW1 is more than just history to us.

 

 

Wharf

[Too Much WW1 Militaria]

Warf,

 

Don't remind me that I'm old! LOL Heck, the odd Spam Am vet was still around!

 

John

[Wharfmaster]

Warf,

 

Don't remind me that I'm old! LOL Heck, the odd Spam Am vet was still around!

 

John

Yes they were John, good point.

 

Feeling even older.

 

Wharf

[Sabrejet]

From a British perspective, memories of WW1 are currently very high profile here and have been since the 100th anniversary of its commencement in August 2014. It has been marked by many national and smaller, more local ceremonies...many of you will no doubt recall the spectacular poppy display at the Tower of London? It's also actively commemorated on a daily basis at the Menin Gate in Flanders and new memorials have been dedicated to the fallen such as the Welsh Memorial at Pilckem Ridge, Ypres (see pic). It will continue to be so, culminating in the centenary in 2017 which will be a State occasion. Next up will be the annual national Ceremony of Remembrance on Nov 11th. This is a very history-conscious nation which holds its fallen in great esteem. The poem below will be very familiar to all true Brits.

 

 

 

 

[Sabrejet]

[Garandomatic]

I sure hope it catches some notice, but it would take a movie, book, or video game, and I figure we'd have heard about it by now...

 

A real shame.

[Sabrejet]

Correction to my typo in post #7. Should have read "...the centenary in 2018", of course!

[solcarlus]

Bonjour RC

 

Indeed, the commemorations on the WWI are well structured. By 2016, it will be VERDUN with us. I live in the region of Thiaucourt and are cemetery US. And for managers, 1917 is the year of the beginning of your speech. They are not interested in what forward pass. But don't worry, as a collector, whenever I participate in an exhibition, there is material US.

 

Regards solcarlus.

[Sabrejet]

https://www.facebook.com/groups/83518512190/?fref=nf

[Salvage Sailor]

A few of us are old enough to remember WW1 vets in our communities. Purchased militaria directly from a few of them too.

 

While growing up, I often went fishing with my neighbor that was a Rainbow Division vet. Remember his war stories well.

 

You could say WW1 is more than just history to us.

 

 

Wharf

 

Yes, interest in the Great War will increase in America over the Centenary, but then again as a youth I commemorated Armistice Day and my Grandfather was a Doughboy. How the plugged in generations will notice depends upon what streams to their tablets in 2017.

[MAW]

The Europeans have done a far better job in remembering the Great War. The BBC has done some excellent stuff.....check out the "Our World War" clips on YouTube or Google it and go the the BBC website. Extremely well done stuff. I wish there was more of it.

 

One of my favorite articles that I randomly came across while doing research at Carlisle Barracks year ago was titled "It's Time to Remember the Doughboys!"

 

I highly recommend you take a few minutes to read it.

 

At the tiime it was written, the last of the Doughboys were in their 90s....slowly fading from the earth.

 

http://www.history.army.mil/armyhistory/AH22newOCR.pdf

 

 

The gist of the article is that during the 25th anniversary of WW1, we were in WW2....so nobody cared.

 

During the 50th anniversary....we were in Vietnam....and the country wasn't in the mood to commemorate too much.

 

By the 75th anniversary....they were mostly gone.

 

The 37th Div. vet that lived down the street from me was waiting for his 75th Anniversary of WW1 medal to come...he had told me about it, and we were both curious to see it.

 

The first time I ever saw one was at his funeral...sitting on his casket. It came a few days after he passed away.

 

Unfortunately, a very fitting statement for my beloved doughboys.

 

I am glad to say that I shook hands with a wounded 4th Div. doughboy, who shook hands with Pershing.

 

I am glad to say that I knew several members of the 166th Infantry, Rainbow Division, that I was able to track down.

 

I am glad to say that I knew two 37th Division lieutenants......a 6th Marine vet.....and met a 372nd infantry vet.

 

I wish I had known them sooner.....but I was in high school and college at the time.....and I'm thankful for the memories.

[cutiger83]

I believe the lower interest in WWI is caused by several factors.

 

1) In WWI, we basically went “over there” to help. In WWII, the US was attacked. The interest is different when your country is the one being attacked.
2) In WWI, 4,355,000 soldiers served. In WWII, three times as many people served, 12,209,238. Fewer people in today’s time will have a relative who served in WWI. There will always be more interest if a family member was involved.
3) Along the same lines of family involvement, we have more and more first or second generation families in our country. This will result in a lower interest in the US involvement in WWI because their families were not living here at that time.

 

While the education of the general public will probably increase, the interest just won’t be there. Look at how little interest there is in the American Revolution and the Civil War. The farther we get from a personal connection to these wars, the less the interest.

 

...Kat

[Brig]

I think any increase in interest will be temporary. Once we hit year 101...America's short attention span will have turned elsewhere

[1SG_1st_Cav]

We own our tremendous participation in WWI. We cannot just ignore it!

[RustyCanteen]

Hello to all the replied (and voted!) to this topic,

 

 

Since this is truly a once in a lifetime commemoration of such a devastating war, let us hope it is not forgotten again. I am impressed with the number of commemorations in Europe, but at the same time it understandable why that is. From 1914 through 1918, a tremendous amount of soldiers (and civilians) were killed; somewhere in the range of 37 million people. WWII impacted more Americans than WWI did, so it is no wonder that Europe should have more cause to remember the impact that both wars had on their citizens. For example, the figures I found indicated that more US casualties occurred during the Vietnam War (58,307) than in WWI (53,402).

 

While the active combat by US divisions was relatively short compared to the other Allied Powers (In four years of hard fighting, France lost over 1 million soldiers; and the UK approximately 750,000), the loss of America's soldiers was certainly felt at the time. Memorials were erected all across the US (many of them since 'forgotten' and overshadowed by the Second World War), many of which still stand to this day. Sadly it seems that many people simply pass by the memorials without pausing to reflect on those lost.

 

We will have to wait until 2017 to see if that changes any, but at least we will not forget them.

 

RC

[Salvage Sailor]

Sitting with my grandfather in 1970, talking about his time in France while watching the network news coverage of Vietnam......

 

He mused, "The Great War, the war to end all wars......"

 

He always called it the Great War and referred to WWII as "the Great War, part deux"

[2ndInf.Div.]

As I'm from the Facebook generation, I'll throw my two cents in.

I would consider myself and the few others from my generation that like military history to be in a very small margin. Obviously we take an interest in the subject, and some of us (such as myself) do a great deal to remember the military events (and those who partook in them) that have shaped not only the world's history, but our country's history. With that being said, I can say that most of the general public doesn't know squat, or care very much for the First World War. I volunteer at a museum and educate school groups that come through, and it doesn't take very long for the kids to show me that they're not really interested in what I have to say, WWI or otherwise.

I'm a WWII guy myself, but I do find WWI to be a very fascinating subject. The trenches, the new technology, and the constant attempt to break the deadlock are all of much interest to me. However (and this is where cutiger83's comment comes into play), I didn't have, that I know of, any family that served in WWI. I had 6+ in WWII, and that is where I get my interest for that conflict, especially the 37th Division. Whereas many Americans have a WWII connection, there isn't much of a WWI connection.

We must also remember that although the lines were clearly drawn, there was no clear good guy vs. bad guy. The war exploded for many reasons, and although Germany and Austria-Hungary can be seen as aggressors, I believe that all nations involved allowed it to expand into what it did. The Germans weren't aimed at world domination, exterminating a group of people, etc. They were the "bad guys," but they most certainly weren't the Nazis, and they most certainly didn't attack us like the Japanese did. I believe that this is a huge factor in the way in which the war is seen today, because a lot of what is taught in grade schools regarding WWII deals with the Holocaust, whereas with WWI it's "well, it lasted 4 years, there were trenches, and a lot of people died."

Finally, the events are simply not as well known. Everyone's heard of D-Day, but what's Cantigny or the Meuse-Argonne? With no WWI veterans left, a dying WWII generation, and a lack of general interest in the subject, I personally do not believe there will be much of a commemoration come April 2017. Surely there will be news reports and there will be commemorations, but they won't be anything near what Europe has done, sadly.

[ViewfinderGyrene]

As I'm from the Facebook generation, I'll throw my two cents in.

 

I would consider myself and the few others from my generation that like military history to be in a very small margin. Obviously we take an interest in the subject, and some of us (such as myself) do a great deal to remember the military events (and those who partook in them) that have shaped not only the world's history, but our country's history. With that being said, I can say that most of the general public doesn't know squat, or care very much for the First World War. I volunteer at a museum and educate school groups that come through, and it doesn't take very long for the kids to show me that they're not really interested in what I have to say, WWI or otherwise.

 

I'm a WWII guy myself, but I do find WWI to be a very fascinating subject. The trenches, the new technology, and the constant attempt to break the deadlock are all of much interest to me. However (and this is where cutiger83's comment comes into play), I didn't have, that I know of, any family that served in WWI. I had 6+ in WWII, and that is where I get my interest for that conflict, especially the 37th Division. Whereas many Americans have a WWII connection, there isn't much of a WWI connection.

 

We must also remember that although the lines were clearly drawn, there was no clear good guy vs. bad guy. The war exploded for many reasons, and although Germany and Austria-Hungary can be seen as aggressors, I believe that all nations involved allowed it to expand into what it did. The Germans weren't aimed at world domination, exterminating a group of people, etc. They were the "bad guys," but they most certainly weren't the Nazis, and they most certainly didn't attack us like the Japanese did. I believe that this is a huge factor in the way in which the war is seen today, because a lot of what is taught in grade schools regarding WWII deals with the Holocaust, whereas with WWI it's "well, it lasted 4 years, there were trenches, and a lot of people died."

 

Finally, the events are simply not as well known. Everyone's heard of D-Day, but what's Cantigny or the Meuse-Argonne? With no WWI veterans left, a dying WWII generation, and a lack of general interest in the subject, I personally do not believe there will be much of a commemoration come April 2017. Surely there will be news reports and there will be commemorations, but they won't be anything near what Europe has done, sadly.

 

You just said everything I would have... very well said.

[Sabrejet]

Despite America's involvement, rightly or wrongly I think it's probably widely perceived as being a "European" war...as encapsulated in the song "Over There!"

[m151mp]

i was going to post a pic of my late uncle's grave marker, but i lack the know how to shrink it. i guess the file is too big? anyway, those of us who lost relatives are more likely to note the date. uncle charlie was L/Cpl R.C. Hill, C company, 13th Battalion, The Black Watch of Canada. he rests today in Railway Dugouts Burial Grounds, not far from where he fell in Ypres, on May 24th, 1916. collectors and historians also, i'm sure, but for me, his painting made after his passing, in kilt and tunic, with horsehair sporran, has a prominent place in my front room. R.I.P., uncle charlie. you are not forgotten, by me, or my son and grandchildren.

[2ndInf.Div.]

M151mp, it's always nice to know that several generations down the line, people still remember those who sacrificed so much. Unfortunately, there are many families in Europe (I would guess mostly German) that are either gone or don't visit their relative's grave markers.

 

One of my professors told me that as a kid growing up in Britain, the question of "why?" always grappled his mind as he looked at endless rows of WWI graves. I dare say that this world as a whole has been able to answer that question. It is, to me, one of the things that makes the WWI generation so unique.

[Cobra 6 Actual]

Thanks, RC, for starting this thread. Although Armistice Day -- the "eleventh hour of the eleventh day of the eleventh month" of 1918 -- became America's Veterans Day, I'm afraid that pretty much the flavor of what most have written here will come to pass ... Essentially, the WWI centenary will be ignored in the USA.

 

Sadly, as Too Much noted, in the absence of a hit movie -- factual or not -- I don't think the vast majority will care, either.