World War I: The American Legacy

the united states of america today is directly influenced by the actions of hundreds of thousands of americans who served in world war one from august of 1914 to november of 1918 world war one raged across the globe and became known as the great war others called it the war to end all wars it was so horrible that nobody imagined it could ever happen again it killed nearly a generation of young men in europe along with countless civilians historians figure that well over 14 million people died in the great war in recent years world war one has not received the national attention of other conflicts such as world war ii vietnam or the american civil war many people pass world war one monuments on their way to work and don't even realize it in countless ways the war to end all wars continues to have a profound impact on all americans and our very way of life every day while yankee doodle sails away to find the german [Music] must be buried by the allies now perhaps they're right we must have peace [Music] make him whistle yankee doodle shouting the battle fry a wheel tongue [Music] we'll chop them into frankfurters and dump them down his throat we'll chase him out of russia then we'll try another sun we'll punch him in the belgian and smash his western front let there breathe [Music] [Applause] from [Applause] [Music] so the carnage from world war one is staggering the military death count and casualty estimates are hard to believe as close as historians can agree nearly 2 million germans died in the conflict and 1.7 million russians austria-hungary lost around a million men with another three and a half million wounded more than 900 000 soldiers from great britain and the british empire died with another 2 million wounded 330 000 romanians were killed more than 400 000 italians and 325 000 turks 14 000 soldiers died defending belgium with 45 000 more women 87 000 bulgarians 45 000 serbians die and many many more in france out of a population of 40 million the great war killed at least one and a half million souls approximately 10 of the adult male population estimates are that for every dead man there could have been three or four more wounded maimed or driven mad in a time before accurate record keeping who knows how many people simply vanished records don't take into account the scorers who had their lives cut short after the war by the lingering effects of wounds exposure to gas and post-traumatic stress disorders it was stalin who once said one death is a tragedy a million deaths is a statistic the great war sucked up billions of dollars governments went massively into debt some estimates put the allied war costs at over 190 billion dollars in 1918 dollars on the western front france britain and germany fought a stalemate in muddy trenches dug from switzerland to the english channel in the east the russian austro-hungarian and ottoman empires crumbled into chaos the weapons born of the industrial era machine guns high explosives tanks airplanes and poison gas made combat more destructive and deadlier than ever before the war destroyed more than just human lives in 1919 a red cross official estimated that about 6 000 square miles of france had become for all practical purposes of wilderness or roughly the equivalent of a strip two miles wide stretching from new york to san francisco the french government tallied four hundred and ten thousand damaged or destroyed buildings the medieval masterpiece of stained glass windows in the french cathedral at greens was obliterated by artillery fire churches villages historic sites they were all shelled without mercy around battlefields like the sun and verdun no trees were left alive some hills were fought over so much that the tops had actually been blown off surveyors after the war measured hills that were 50 meters lower the land recovered quickly but to this day french farmers continue to plow up shells barbed wire and bones poison gas was a terrifying new way to die artillery shells filled with gas landed on the trenches and spread green clouds over the battlefield the gas collected in the trenches and drove soldiers out into exposed ground to be machine gunned or blown up [Music] movie cameras were new and cumbersome there is moving footage of the war but the overwhelming visual record is still photography still cameras were perfected and portable by 1914 and these graphic photographs combined with period newspaper sketches and drawings are disconcerting providing a unique up-close visual record of the war and its gruesome aftermath images like these forces to wonder how it all started and how it came to an end can modern people even fathom what it was really like how did america even get involved in what began as a european conflict [Music] the decades before the great war were some of the most prosperous and peaceful europe had ever known there hadn't been a full-scale war involving all the major powers in a hundred years across the atlantic the united states was just emerging as a global power to celebrate this peace and progress just 20 years before world war one all of europe came together as friends at the world's fair in chicago during the summer of 1893 pictures from the fair show a world of peace progress exploration and a future that could have been people in europe writing memoirs about the summer of 1914 remembered it as a beautiful summer for the upper classes it was one long holiday for young people it was a great time to be alive the world was modern enough to be exciting there were films cars records and modern sanitation but it was still comfortably slow paced and old-fashioned the romantic images of european life were real a bit of bad news hit the papers in the summer of 1914. on june 28th archduke franz ferdinand the heir to the austro-hungarian empire in europe and his wife sophie were killed in the city of sarajevo by a serbian nationalist by august europe's summer was over america is and was a melting pot of cultures and religions all under one flag europe was completely different it was a complex mosaic of many different cultures nursing grievances beneath the years of peace was a growing nationalism and a growing distrust after the murder of franz ferdinand austria demanded that austrian agents be allowed to investigate the crime in serbia itself serbia rejected the demand and austria declared war on serbia on july 28th then attacked belgrade on the 29th to make a long story short austria-hungary was allied with germany and serbia was allied with russia france was also allied with russia russia would not tolerate a mobilized austrian army on its border and in return mobilized its army against austria germany ordered russia to stop mobilizing and when they refused germany declared war on russia on august 1st germans took to the streets and cheered the insecure and unstable kaiser wilhelm ii felt that germany deserved a massive empire that germany was the most technologically advanced and mightiest country in europe many germans felt the same way he did historians have psychoanalyzed the kaiser for decades he was jealous of his cousin king george v of england he was related by marriage to zara nicholas ii of russia and they had appeared to be friends referring to each other as willie and nicky no matter what the reasons germany he thought did not have its rightful place in the sun with one great war they could end the threat from russia and france forever boys and men were called into service by the thousands to serve the fatherland they would destroy their foes and create a more powerful german empire for years they waited for germany's their tog they called it the day the day when germany would defeat all its enemies on august 1st 1914 their talk came germany declared war on russia and two days later declared war on france on august 4th germany invaded belgium with a massive army of men to take the war to the heart of france two days after that austria-hungary declared war on russia the german military general staff had developed a plan to win a war against france on one side and russia on the other they would invade france through belgium and make a huge arc around paris france would surrender then the german army would turn around and head east against russia germany would make their enemies pay for the war and annex huge chunks of russia and france prior to the war britain france and germany had all guaranteed belgium's neutrality britain could never accept a german army next door to them across the english channel once germany invaded belgium that was it the world was at war britain and its far-flung empire declared war on germany on august 4th then turkey came into the war on the german side then italy on the allied side then bulgaria on the german side then romania on the allied side the belligerents looked at the war as an opportunity to settle old scores take territory and make themselves secure forever this war would finally end grudges on all sides that went back centuries [Applause] [Music] meanwhile the united states was the great neutral with a population approaching 100 million people americans were busy enjoying a growing economy coca-cola motorcars and baseball at first america stayed out of the war but american industry provided a lot of the equipment and financing in a time before television and the internet americans read newspapers which made the war seem very far away in 1914 the war was very far away [Music] influential people like former president theodore roosevelt supported going to war especially after a german submarine sank the luxury liner lusitania on may 7 1915 killing roughly 1200 people including more than 120 americans but americans out in the heartland didn't know anybody who sailed on luxury ocean liners and weren't about to go to war for them [Applause] [Music] president woodrow wilson was re-elected in november 1916 with the slogan he kept us out of the war wilson offered to negotiate an end to the conflict however shortly after wilson's election the german government did two things that completely changed american attitudes in just three months in january 1917 germany declared unrestricted submarine warfare any ship bringing supplies to britain or france would be torpedoed american merchant ships were now targets german submarine attacks were a frightening new way of fighting they attacked silently with no warning breaking the rules that had restricted naval warfare for 100 years in a few weeks four american ships were sunk with 15 dead another german move brought the war to america's front steps they secretly offered to let mexico take back texas and u.s territory in the southwest if mexico entered the war on the german side the germans sent the offer in a telegram to mexico city but british intelligence intercepted the message and gave it to the americans in late february now the conflict had gotten much closer on april 6 1917 the united states officially declared war on germany england and france cheered tired from three years of battle they were running out of men out of food out of everything the yanks were coming and they would change the tide of the war the united states slowly started building a million-man american expeditionary force and moving it to europe eventually two million u.s troops would serve overseas america had never before fielded an army of this size the newspaper's nicknamed the aef soldiers doughboys where the name comes from nobody knows for sure some different theories say their uniform buttons look like dough or that the soldiers ate fried doughnuts or that cavalry soldiers use the name to describe the dust-covered infantrymen there are dozens of other theories regardless the name stuck and the doughboys shipped off to france many historians downplay the u.s role in world war one because america didn't fight in the war for very long by the end of 1917 elements of the us marines and the first infantry division were fighting alongside the allies but the aef's full strength would not be tested in large-scale combat operations until the following spring however in 1918 neither side was winning they were literally stuck in the mud and it looked like the stalemate could go on for [Music] [Applause] some men years getting married so they won't be called to war but if they want to dodge it what do they get married for it takes about a year or more to train a soldier right a year of married life will make them all know america entered and the allies won decisively by november of that year the cost was high in about a year of fighting roughly 50 000 troops were killed in action with more than two hundred thousand wounded taking diseases like the influenza epidemic into account over 120 000 american soldiers died in the great war by comparison in over four years of combat nearly 300 000 american men died in world war ii in world war one american soldiers died at an even faster rate than in the civil war if the united states had been in the war for four full years a million troops [Music] world war one is the conflict that shaped the world we live in today communism fascism and much of the turmoil we live with in the 21st century all trace their roots back to the great war world war one destroyed the ottoman empire and created iraq syria lebanon jordan and saudi arabia it created a jewish homeland in palestine the revolutionary vladimir lenin watched the tsar fall and plotted the bolshevik takeover of russia in the german trenches in belgium corporal adolf hitler won decorations for bravery and dreamed of a thousand-year german reich the great war hurt germany destabilized its society and wounded its pride directly leading to world war ii the great war affected america we live with its impact on art literature music race relations and women's rights today even in language expressions we use every day trace their roots to the war like over the top and shell shock [Music] great changes in history are made by the actions of individual men and women these are a few stories of those who fought the great war and changed america [Music] as early as 1914 and 1915 long before the united states officially entered the war some americans were already volunteering in france driving ambulances and even fighting in the french army it was said that there were thousands of americans volunteering before the declaration of war many of these volunteers were children of privilege from america's ivy league universities not all of them were from harvard but they became famous as the harvard volunteers their letters and newspaper articles published throughout the u.s publicized the suffering of the french british and belgians america belonged at their side they believed and idealistic young people would shame the us into the war alan seger was one of those harvard volunteers he was an unlikely soldier he was a poet out of harvard along with his cultured new york family of musicians and writers he had traveled the world as a young man after graduating from harvard in 1910 he wound up in paris like so many hopeful artists looking for fun among the bohemians of the left bank he lived a romantic life of wine women and song finding himself we might say today something snapped in seeger in 1914 when the germans invaded france and advanced within a few miles of paris he wrote to his mother paris to whom they owed the happiest moments of their lives paris was in peril without renouncing their nationality they had yet chosen to make their homes here beyond any other city in the world did not the benefits and blessings they had received point them a duty that heart and conscience could not deny seeger had found his purpose he joined the french foreign legion within a month of the invasion among the americans who volunteered seeger was unique many of his american compatriots soon grew sick of life in the trenches and left for the more comfortable but still dangerous life as airplane pilots yet seeger stayed in the trenches a brilliant writer his letters to the new york papers were the closest look that americans got of the war one reads the poor common soldier's role is simply to dig himself a hole in the ground and to keep hidden in it as tightly as possible [Music] continually under the fire of the opposing batteries he is never allowed to get a glimpse of the enemy he is condemned to sit like an animal in his burrow hearing the shells whistle over his head and taking their daily toll from his comrades seeger felt a spiritual bond with the common french soldiers and the suffering french people he described for american readers the fatalistic almost suicidal reaction of the french people to the thousands of lives lost to defend friends come to love france he wrote to his mother and understand the almost unexampled nobility of the effort this admirable people is making for that will be the surest way of your finding comfort for anything i am ready to suffer in their cause some unnameable feeling kept seeger in the trenches he seemed to enjoy the war combat stripped away the veneer of a cultured man and left an ancient warrior in all its horror the war allowed modern men to feel a power they had never known seeger described hearing a scream at night on the battlefield he wrote in that cry all the evolution of the centuries was leveled i seemed to hear the yell of the warrior of the stone age over his fallen enemy it was one of those antidotes to civilization this war can offer so many seekers after extraordinary sensations an attack of bronchitis in march 1916 gave seeger a month leave in his beloved paris i lived seeger wrote of that month as though i were saying goodbye to life on july 4th 1916 he was back in the muddy trenches in northern france seeger wasn't even supposed to be in the trenches that day a group of american volunteers were having a fourth of july celebration in paris and seeger had been granted leave to go but the paperwork never made it to his unit instead he was awaiting an order for his unit to go over the top and attack the german trenches in front of them the fighting was the french part of the battle of the song west of where seeger was the british army had attacked the germans three days before and 20 000 british soldiers died in a single day now it was france's turn french artillery pounded the german trenches for days seeger was excited he wrote before the battle that i am glad to be going in the first wave if you are in this thing at all it is best to be in it to the limit and this is the supreme experience the artillery gun stopped and seeger heard machine guns firing to the left the order came to attack seeger climbed the ladder out of the trench and started running toward the german lines over there most of the germans had survived the bombardment they climbed out of bunkers and manned machine guns french soldiers ran at them with rifles and bayonets and the german machine guns cut them down like wheat at harvest time seeger was hit in the chest with a machine gun around he spun and hit the ground but he didn't die right away french soldiers who survived told the story of how he cheered on the soldiers coming up behind him they found his body on the battlefield the next day along with hundreds of others he was buried where he fell the french government posthumously awarded seeger the quad daguerre france's decoration for acts of heroism seeger's first book of poems was published the year he died his best known poem rendezvous was an eerie prediction the first verse reads i have a rendezvous with death at some disputed barricade when spring comes back with rustling shade and apple blossoms fill the air i have a rendezvous with death when spring brings back blue days and fair [Music] in 1903 the wright brothers flew the first motorized airplane at kitty hawk north carolina airplane development continued and flying was considered new exciting and romantic at the beginning of the great war planes were first used for observation along with balloons and hydrogen-filled zeppelins no one had thought of observation planes attacking each other there was a legend that the first observer pilots who encountered each other in midair saluted the next time they met they shook their fists then they threw rocks the next time they shot with pistols and quickly moved on to rifles and machine guns in 1914 both sides were ready to use any technological development as a weapon and the great war is famous for its many innovations like flame throwers hand grenades and tanks industrial age weapons perfected to kill people airplanes were no exception as they quickly turned from an instrument of romance and excitement to an instrument of death and destruction by the end of world war one in 1918 airplanes had developed to the point of escorting ship convoys performing strategic reconnaissance landing on aircraft carriers bombing cities and dogfighting german zeppelins bombed london in may 1915 and paris in january 1916 people were terrified and newspapers ran drawings depicting an apocalyptic german invasion with balloons and airplanes the slow-moving zeppelins and balloons were primarily giant observation platforms used to aid the artillery and airplanes were quickly being employed to attack them on june 17th 1915 a french plane brought down a hydrogen-filled zeppelin with a bomb dropped from above now planes with weapons went up to escort the observer balloons by the autumn of 1915 the escort planes were patrolling and attacking each other airplane development moved rapidly for the rest of the war each month brought faster more maneuverable fighters and bombers carrying heavier bombs state-of-the-art planes would be obsolete within months assuming they even lasted that long by the end of the war planes coordinated with ground attacks they could fly low to strafe trenches with machine gun fire and accurately drop bombs into them before 1914 airplanes took awestruck passengers into a beautiful new world far above the squabbles of the earth four years later there were just one more weapon used to kill people on the ground in no man's land soldiers crawled through trenches machine gun and bombed faceless enemies it was described as a living hell anonymous dead were buried in common graves the generals looked like butchers the men cattle in contrast the pilots were knights in shining armor flying was so popular that german kids collected trading cards with german flying aces on them like the red baron [Music] but we'll get there in the spring of 1916 the most famous americans fighting in france were the pilots of the lafayette escadrille the american squadron in the french army a group of american ivy league volunteers had joined the french foreign legion early in the war but unlike seeger they quickly grew tired of life in the squalid trenches using their connections to pull strings in the french and american governments seven men got permission to form an all-american squadron of flyers under french command loved the lafayette escodril newspapers in america glamorized their adventures as its fame grew many new men joined they even had a pet lion named whiskey who was later joined by another pet lion appropriately named soda pilots were but a minuscule part of the fighting men but they were indispensable for observation and as the war dragged on they became invaluable for propaganda the public was fed stories about the exploits of the dashing young men in the skies rather than the bad news from the trenches of course in 1916 it was also a fun time to be in the lafayette escadrille they had their own base where unlike other soldiers they enjoyed hot baths beds good food and pretty french girls but they were no safer than anyone else before a mission officers lined up small boxes containing quad aguero medals all ready to be sent to the families of pilots who didn't return by the time regular american army pilots began flying in france in the spring of 1918 four of the original seven american lafayette escadrille pilots were dead the survivors became the nucleus for training famous flying ace eddie rickenbacker and the rest of america's new air force chapman was one of the biggest celebrities in the lafayette escadrille he was another young harvard man studying architecture at the academy de bozarts in paris he spent nearly a year in the french foreign legion before becoming one of the original seven men in the squadron chapman didn't fit the image of a harvard man or an artist he was a big powerful man who barely fit into the cockpit of the french-made newport fighter planes his father wrote of him he could eat anything sleep on anything lift anything endure anything chapman lived to fly his father said if you could place him in a position of danger and let him watch scenery he was in heaven i don't think he was ever completely happy until the day he got his flying papers flying as the co-pilot on bombing and reconnaissance missions over german lines gave chapman plenty of opportunity for danger and scenery like seeger he thrived on fighting chapman won a dog fight over the tremendous battle of redund his letters about the engagement read like an action novel on the way back i saw another fat bosh i swooped i swerved to the right almost lost but came up under his leaked heel by the stern the one position they can't shoot from i seen a dory alongside a schooner i pulled my nose up to let him have it a cartridge jammed in the barrel he jumped like a frog and fled down to his grounds behind german lines chapman's flying skill and bravery were remarkable after a fight with four german planes he made an emergency landing in a bullet-riddled plane with a broken stabilizing rod grazed by a bullet in the scalp he held the broken rod together with one hand and steered the plane with the other after bandaging his head he went straight back into combat on june 23 1916 a few days after that landing chapman tagged along with a combat patrol on an errand to deliver oranges to a wounded comrade on another base when they crossed german lines the patrol went on its mission and chapman waved to his friends and continued on his errand the patrol became engaged with two german planes suddenly three other german planes closed in behind them it was an ambush the americans had no hope from out of the sunlight a new poor appeared and dove straight into the german formation it was chapman two german planes went down immediately the three other german planes went after chapman and disappeared over enemy lines the rest of the patrol made it safely back to base victor chapman's plane went down somewhere behind german lines riddled with machine gun fire from three german fighters the germans who found him probably wondered about the basket of oranges in the cockpit he was the first american pilot to die in the lafayette escadrille the french army sent his family the quad aguer that had been waiting for him in its little box no one beat the drum for america to go to war harder than theodore roosevelt from august 1914 he thundered in speeches and articles around the country that the united states belonged in the war on the side of france and britain roosevelt was the republican vice president in 1901 and became president when william mckinley was assassinated he was 42 the youngest president ever and one of the most energetic a spanish-american war hero he was famous for the rough riders and established the national park system the country was infatuated with him and his four precocious sons ted kermit archie and quentin after two terms he left the white house in 1909. in 1912 teddy roosevelt ran for president again as the candidate of his own bull moose party and split the republican vote democrat woodrow wilson won the white house in 1917 roosevelt was still the most popular politician in america and one of the best known americans in the world he despised woodrow wilson for keeping the country mutual and called him a coward he claimed that america's honor and interests were at stake in fact it could be said roosevelt cared so much that he put his dynasty on the line the great war era was a different time in many ways in world war one the sons of the politicians fought and their daughters and wives volunteered behind the lines men like ulysses grant's grandson j.e.p morgan the son of j.p morgan charles taft the son of president taft and george pickett the grandson of confederate general george pickett among others served the wives of senators met to sew for soldiers abroad all four of teddy roosevelt's sons volunteered to fight archie was wounded three times and won francis quadaguerre quentin roosevelt was teddy's youngest son of quentin roosevelt it was said that he's an awfully nice fellow and a beautiful flyer quentin didn't receive special treatment like all the airmen he went through a year of flying maneuvering and gunnery lessons before he went into combat in june 1918. the july 19th issue of stars and stripes under the headline american flyers get first chance in real big show told quentin's story our shaw squadrons which heretofore had confined themselves to air fighting were instructed to fly low and harass enemy troops with machine gun fire lieutenant roosevelt was flying with a patrol of five from which he became separated he saw two machines and believing them to be part of his group flew to join them as he neared them he discovered they were germans and attacked immediately they separated and he pursued one to a point 25 kilometers behind the german lines where he saw it going down in smoke and flames but the stars and stripes article continued with the blunt truth early sunday morning july 14th lieutenant roosevelt went out with his squadron and did not return when the germans found his plane and realized from the newspapers that this was the son of a president they buried him with full military honors when the americans pushed the germans out of the area they found the grave the germans had made a cross over the grave out of wood from the airplane father duffy blessed the grave in his story of the war duffy wrote we erected our own little monument without molesting the one that had been left by the germans it is fitting that enemy and friend alike should pay tribute to heroism stars and stripes said of quentin's death that his loss was quickly avenged but for theodore roosevelt no vengeance could heal the hole in his heart teddy roosevelt died the following january [Music] most american volunteers in france worked on the ground far beneath the glamour of the lafayette escadrille they were not soldiers but helped wounded allied troops as ambulance drivers the best-known group was the american ambulance field service like the volunteer soldiers many of the ambulance drivers were idealistic young men from america's elite universities seeking adventure one of the most popular drivers was richard hall fresh out of dartmouth in june 1915 he headed immediately for france and was driving an ambulance within a month in el sauce in the mountains where the borders of france germany and switzerland meet every day hall drove through the surreal mystic landscape along winding roads filled with french wounded german prisoners and broken down artillery wagons reaching the front lines in the dark hall filled his truck with bleeding french soldiers bundled in blankets and drove back down the hills to the hospital after he dropped off the man he turned around and went back to pick up more late at night on christmas eve 1915 he headed up the mountain again for hall christmas meant two lonely hours bumping along tire ruts through a nightmare landscape no one knows if hull lived long enough to see christmas morning the next driver up the mountain found him still holding the wheel looking like he was asleep a splinter from a german shell had pierced his skull hall was awarded the quad daguerre and buried in a french military cemetery his citation read barely graduated from dartmouth college and the noble enthusiasms of his youth he brought to france the invaluable cooperation of his charitable heart national guard units were among the first troops to fight in france state national guards went into action towns counties and neighborhoods volunteered together the most famous national guard unit and probably the most famous regiment of the war was the 69th new york infantry regiment new york city's fighting irish the regiment had fought at antietam and other bloody battles of the civil war and never let anyone forget their history the fighting irish were colorful proud and boastful nobody could out fight out sing out talk or out drink the fighting 69th few units could outright them the unit and its followers boasted a number of talented writers who made sure that their exploits were never out of the new york city newspapers the fighting irish weren't all irish one writer called them irish by adoption irish by association or irish by conviction the men came from across the spectrum of new york life italians slavs germans there was a choctaw indian named mccoy but no african americans the 69th was segregated like the rest of the us army though the men of the 69th were great boasters the exploits of the regiment were not all boasting the regiment was fighting with heavy losses in the argonne forest right up to the armistice of the 3 000 some men who had left new york all but 600 were dead or wounded at the end of the war one reminder of the fighting irish still stands in manhattan's times square in the middle of the giant television screens high-tech advertising displays and never-ending bustle sits a statue that doesn't quite fit the modern scene in front of a massive stone celtic cross stands a massive stone celtic man in his hands he grips a bible the way a man might grip a gun it takes a while to realize that he's a catholic priest father francis p duffy was the chaplain of the fighting irish duffy believed that jesus was a peacemaker but a tough one carrying only his bible and sacraments duffy came unscathed through front-line fighting tending the wounded and giving the last rights to men dying all around him duffy never touched a gun but the french government awarded him the quad de guerre and the legion of honor he was the heart of the fighting 69th he was the historian and chronicler of the regiment and wrote some of the best descriptions of combat to come out of the war [Music] murderous and futile infantry charges against machine guns mortars and barbed wire were an unfortunate part of the common experience of british french german russian american and all other soldiers in the war father duffy described the brutal surreal experience that pointlessly killed so many on all sides he wrote there is no tougher experience than that of advancing over a considerable distance under fire the trouble is that the men are being shot down by an enemy whom they cannot see they reply with their rifles and machine guns but they have only the vagus hope they are accomplishing anything more than disconcerting their opponents when a soldier gets where he can see the foe he develops a sort of hunter's acceleration his blood warms up and he actually forgets the other fellow is shooting at him advancing in the open against trenches he has only the sensations of the hunted heavy fire begins to rain down around them men are hit the line drops each man in whatever shelter he can find then the order is given to rise and go forward again spurts of dust are kicked up the first three or four men to advance walk into the line of bullets and go down before they have gone 10 feet and the others who have seen them fall must go straight ahead and take that same deadly chance never knowing when they themselves will stop a german missile one of the creepiest feelings in war is that of being boxed in by artillery fire a shell lands to the right of a group of men no harm in that all safe then one lands to the left to the front or rear and the next is closer in between them then everybody knows what is happening that square is in for a shelling until nothing inside it will escape except by a miracle [Music] one officer in the 69th came through so many fights that he seemed almost superhuman his name was william j donovan he was known as wild bill donovan grew up working class in buffalo new york and played quarterback for columbia university's football team he joined the new york national guard served on the mexican border and rose fast in the ranks he was a major in command of the first battalion of the fighting 69th by the time they reached france men were in awe of donovan in combat he displayed no fear most majors directed the battalion from a safe distance behind but donovan stayed at the front line german snipers a mile away could see he was an officer donovan drove his men hard but whatever they faced he faced father duffy wrote that donovan is one of the few men i know who really enjoys a battle father duffy in the 69th were in the middle of some of the bloodiest combat that the american army fought in france only a few weeks before the armistice was announced the 69th was thrown against a strong german position in the argonne forest on the border between france and belgium the regiment gained three kilometers of ground at a terrible cost they attacked against dug-in germans and barbed wire without any artillery preparation father duffy described the slaughter the battalion fought its way right up to the enemy's wire only to find it an impassable barrier our artillery fire had not made a break in it anywhere groups of our lads dashed up to the wire only to be shot down to the last man some ran through a passage made for the roadway but this of course was absolutely covered by the german guns and every man that went through was shot and if not killed outright taken prisoner soldiers of ours and of the engineers with wire cutting tools lay on their faces working madly to cut through the strands while riflemen and grenadiers alongside of them tried to beat down the resistance but they were in a perfect hail of bullets from front and flank and every last man was killed or wounded further back was a concentration of artillery fire of bursting shells and groans and death that made the advance of the support platoons of veritable hell while bill's amazing luck held up almost to the end of the war in the argonne he took a bullet that shattered his knee he refused to be evacuated while his battalion was still fighting he spent five hours directing the battle from a shell hole while german artillery rained down all around him when donovan was finally being carried to an aid station he came across father duffy duffy recorded in his memoir that while bill smiled from the stretcher and said father you're a disappointed man you expected to have the pleasure of burying me over here father duffy was a fervent admirer of heroism but the experience of the argonne changed him he wrote nobody wants to talk very much about the recent battle it was a nightmare that one does not care to recall individual acts of heroism do not stand out in actions of this kind it is a case of everybody going ahead and taking the punishment father duffy broke down crying at the announcement of the armistice all day i had a lonely and an aching heart he wrote i could think of nothing but the fine lads who were not alive to enjoy the triumph his feelings he said lay in the past back at home the 69th was cheered on as they marched through the victory arch on fifth avenue duffy became the center of catholic and democratic new york fought for social programs for the poor and helped deliver the vote that elected new york governor franklin delano roosevelt to the white house donovan became president roosevelt's personal spy after pearl harbor he helped to organize the office of strategic services that helped the us win world war ii donovan's spy network stayed in place when the cold war began and the cia was born [Music] i think that i shall never see a poem lovely as a tree the quote is so familiar that it is often used as a joke next to hamlet's to be or not to be it might be the best known line in the english language some people know that the poet's name was joyce kilmer some of those people know that joyce was a man not a woman not many know that joyce kilmer was a war hero in the fighting 69th in 1917 joyce kilmer was probably the best known journalist in new york and was the great book reviewer of his time his book of poems trees was published in 1914 to glowing reviews and publicity he was in demand as a speaker all over the country but something was missing for joyce kilmer his busy social life hundreds of friends growing family and loving wife aileen didn't quite satisfy a yearning for adventure a yearning to prove himself he was obsessed by a vision of romantic righteous combat when the germans sunk the ocean liner lusitania in 1915 a slow burn started inside gilmer kilmer delighted in seeing himself as an irish warrior the truth is he was hardly irish he was one of the irish by conviction the fighting 69th turned the great war into an irish war and kilmer was not going to miss an irish war i delight in hopes that her vain erode three weeks after the united states declared war kilmer joined the army as a private and finagled his way into the 165th infantry the new designation the army had given the fight in 69. the fighting was a religious act for kilmer a devout catholic this is a poem he wrote about the regiment romantic ireland is not old for years untold her youth will shine her heart is fed on heavenly bread the blood of martyrs is her wine arriving in france kilmer wrote on a postcard nice war nice people nice country nice everything after being stuck with clerical jobs he turned down a promotion to be a sergeant in the intelligence section of the regiment the front was his goal a fellow soldier told the new york times and no sooner had he reached france and he made every possible effort to be transferred intelligence was one of the most dangerous jobs in the field kilmer had a very simple task to find out how many germans are out there where their machine guns are where the barbed wire is and how far they are dug in the only way to find out was to crawl out under the barbed wire at night into the no man's land between the trenches and look and listen and sometimes to draw fire to locate a machine gun kilmer carried out missions with a zeal that was almost suicidal the supply sergeant from the regiment complained that kilmer was hard on uniforms he said that he would always be doing more than his orders called for that is getting much nearer to the enemy's positions than any officer would ever be inclined to send him night after night he would lay out in no man's land crawling through barbed wires in an effort to locate enemy positions and tearing his clothes to shreds on the following day he would come to me for a new uniform father duffy summed him up as he was absolutely the coolest and most indifferent man in the face of danger i have ever seen something else happened to kilmer in france the famous journalist stopped writing new york publishers approached him to write a war book newspapers approached him for sketches of life as a soldier kilmer wrote nothing but a few poems about the men he fought with he wasn't a correspondent kilmer said he was a soldier to tell the truth he wrote in a letter i am not at all interested in writing nowadays except insofar as writing is the expression of something beautiful and i see daily and nightly the expression of beauty and action instead of words and i find it more satisfactory during the american offensive at the end of july in 1918 his regiment was ordered to take out german machine gun nests across the work river the battalion making the attack was commanded by wild bill donovan donovan's adjutant had been killed the day before and kilmer volunteered to take his position early that morning kilmer and donovan crawled through the woods to locate the german machine gunners as he crawled alongside donovan kilmer raised his head slightly to look up the slope somewhere on the other side of the trees a german sniper put a bullet into his passionate and creative brain to be in a battle father duffy wrote about kilmer a battle for a cause that had his full devotion with the regiment he loved under a leader he admired that was living at the top of his being kilmer's death was a blow to the regiment correspondent alexander wolcott wrote that men pulled out scraps of paper with a memorial poem that kilmer wrote the men blubbered wolcott said death is too common to distinguish anyone so the glowing praise and admiration i heard for joyce was real every word of it so the next time you see a sappy card or a comic send up of trees bullwinkle moose did a good one think of the complicated and brave man who wrote it father duffy wrote kilmer's best epitaph joyce was one of those soldiers who had a romantic love of death in battle and it could not have missed him in time world war one produced a lot of great writers and killed a lot of great writers seeger and kilmer were only a few ernest hemingway drove an ambulance for the italian army on the front along the alps in italy's war against austria hemingway was badly wounded in the legs by an artillery shell and witnessed the collapse of the italian army after the battle of caporetto that story became the center of his novel of farewell to arms another ambulance driver was hard-boiled crime writer daschle hammett who created the sam spade character humphrey bogart played in the maltese falcon poet and harvard graduate e.e cummings was an ambulance driver in 1917 cummings and his friend slater brown spoke fluent french and spent most of their time with french soldiers where they heard about the slaughter in the trenches and mutinies in the french army the french troops said germany was going to win the war and at this point they didn't care who won when they put this news into letters home the american military sensors showed the letters to french security officers they asked why these young americans spoke such good french and were interested in learning about the poor morale in the french army french security was sure they were spies they were arrested and cummings was suspected to be an irish revolutionary helping the germans during interrogation cummings was asked do you hate the germans his answer sealed his fate no i love the french a lot the interrogator replied that it is impossible to love frenchmen and not to hate the germans and so cummings was shipped to an internment camp he e cummings got his first book out of the situation the enormous room a memoir of his time in the camp was published in 1922 and made him famous to this day he is still one of the best read 20th century american poets in 1917 the fighting 69th and other new york units marched in a parade through manhattan on their way to training camps the new york units were part of the 42nd division that the press dubbed the rainbow division all of america's many people from national guard units united to fight for the country but one new york unit wasn't invited to the parade black the army said wasn't a color in a rainbow the all-black new york 15th infantry regiment left without fanfare the 15th which would later be known as the 369th didn't get press coverage like the fighting 69th but they spent more time in combat than any other american soldiers they were nicknamed the harlem hell fighters by the end of the war the entire regiment was awarded the quad daguerre the hell fighters were just one of the many black regiments from the united states who served in world war one approximately four hundred thousand african-american men served in the war of which about ten percent saw combat decades after the civil war racism still ruled in america black communities were intimidated by racial attacks all over the country given the way african americans were treated it's hard now to understand why any black man would fight for america in 1917 the 15th new york started out as a volunteer national guard unit like the fighting 69th from the beginning like other black regiments they had to fight for even the most basic resources they were given no ammunition a cigar store was their recruiting office the national press laughed at them the unit was organized by white manhattan attorney william hayward a colonel in the national guard who raised money for the unit from wealthy new yorkers like black soldiers in the civil war the regiment stayed under the command of mostly white officers many of them sons of new york's elite when war was declared the 15th new york was brought into the u.s army as the 15th heavy foot they were first sent to south carolina for training local whites declared they would not stand for black soldiers expecting to be treated as equals avoiding a riot the army moved them back to camp mills on long island where the other new york units were training discrimination continued when the unit reached france the commander of the american expeditionary force general pershing made it clear that these negroes were going to be laborers and not combat troops they could be chefs or dock workers but black combat units were out of the question even though pershing had commanded black troops before the war politically he was urged not to anger white soldiers and press the army also insisted on strict orders that black troops were not to mix with french civilians not even a handshake the orders read and to especially stay away from french women most of the soldiers in the 15th infantry toiled for months as dock workers the us army didn't know what to do with them but the french did by 1917 the french army had practically bled to death they had suffered nearly a million casualties and there had been mutinies among soldiers refusing to be sent into the slaughter france already had non-white colonial troops from all over its exotic empire from algeria morocco senegal and vietnam french soldiers accepted them as comrades in arms even if they weren't considered equals in french society they needed soldiers and did not care what color they were the 15th heavy foot became the 369th regiment the 369th were among the first american soldiers to fight in the trenches they were in combat months before most of the us army the french were impressed with their fighting maybe it was because the men were from the rough streets of new york but observers saw something special about the health fighters in close combat with bayonets and knives they were unstoppable the american press started changing its tune one of the first combat heroes in the u.s papers was henry johnson of the hell fighters reportedly shot in an attack by a german platoon johnson was credited with killing at least four germans with a knife and driving back the enemy he was the first american soldier of any race to be awarded francis cua de guerre flattering pictures heralding bravery and charisma started to replace those negative images seen in print just a year earlier many of these newspaper reporters started noting that the african-american soldiers had the best spirits in the armed forces it was noted by the french that one of the traits the hell fighters brought was urban fighting in a war of charges in the open space between trenches dug through farm fields the harlemites specialized in fighting the germans street by street in the towns and villages that the german army had captured and been fortifying for years it was recorded that during combat when a french general gave an order to retire colonel hayward of the hell fighters said my men never retire they go forward or die and we are going through here or hell we don't go back at the end of the war the hell fighters were the first detachment of allied troops to reach the rhine after the armistice spent far more time in combat than any other single american unit they never had a man captured never lost a foot of ground and never lost a trench the black regiment the u.s army didn't want was the most decorated unit of the war nobody cheered when the hell fighters departed new york in 1917 but it was a completely different story when they returned home in february 1919. the hell fighters marched in a victory parade up fifth avenue the crowds went wild the whole population turned out to cheer and for once white new york turned out to acknowledge black new yorkers hundreds of thousands of people lined fifth avenue one writer penned that no band of heroes returning from the war ever were recorded such a welcome as that tendered to the homecoming 369 by the residents of new york manhattan and vicinity irrespective of race the new york newspaper the world said the town that's always ready to take off its hat and give a hoop for a man who's done something turned itself loose yesterday in welcoming home a regiment of its own fighting sons that not only did something but did a whole lot in winning democracy's war in official records and in the histories that youngsters will study in generations to come this regiment will probably always be known as the 369th infantry but in the hearts of a quarter million or more who lined the streets yesterday to greet it it was no such thing it was the old 15th new york the many other black regiments returning from the war received similar greetings from their hometowns the 370th regiment out of illinois were almost smothered by the enthusiastic crowds on the lakefront in chicago it wasn't just the combat troops who were welcomed by the screaming crowds many felt that the most indispensable cog in the army machine were the engineer labor and pioneer battalions and the butcher companies they were technically designated as the sos or the service of supply many of whom were black one writer said how seriously handicapped the expeditionary forces would have been without the great army of african americans numbering over 100 000 in france who unloaded the ships fell the trees built the railroad grades and laid the tracks erected the warehouses fed the fires and cared for the horses and mules many people remember the african-american soldiers who served in france for changing music history rather than their combat records it could be said that they left europe with the biggest legacy of any americans in the war they brought jazz black jazz musicians and french fans began a love affair that last to this day lieutenant james reese europe was at the center of that change he was a big man who commanded respect as a fighter but in american music europe was a giant he was at the center of the musical currents at the time when many strains of american music became something called jazz when colonel william hayward put together the 15th new york he wanted to make a name for himself by recruiting black musicians europe was already in the unit as a lieutenant training to command a machine gun company hayward summoned him and made an offer organized for me the best damn band in the united states army [Music] family with europe as the recruiter hayward got more than his wish the 15th new york recruited 65 performers a who's who african-american musicians singers and dancers along with bojangles robinson there was singer and songwriter noble sissel who later worked with ub blake to create the first all-black musical reviews and a score of other jazz pioneers when the 15th landed in france general pershing had strictly enforced his orders of no fraternization between african-american soldiers and french civilians but pershing was very interested in jim europe and the african-american bands he ordered them to be part of his headquarters staff to entertain visiting officers when the generals talked europe's band was sent out to give a six-week tour of goodwill concerts in 25 french cities the audiences went wild no one in france had heard music like this before after four years of unrelenting death the uplifting music was just what they needed the hell fighters were embarked on their legendary mission their combat record would be enough to make them remember but their music would make their fame immortal they fought for france's survival and helped heal her soul all at the same time james europe had continued writing music during breaks in combat he wrote one song on control in no man's land in the hospital a day after being wounded in a german gas attack noble sissel sang the lyrics when the band recorded it soon after returning to new york a war hero the king of jazz and one of america's most respected african-american men james europe's future looked bright the band played in their victory parade in new york city to the thousands of cheering fans but bad blood among musicians can be more dangerous than combat europe got into an argument with drummer herbert wright and wright plunged the knife into his neck james reese europe bled to death public memorial service for him in new york city was the first of its kind for an african-american man in the city's history he is buried in arlington national cemetery jim europe's legacy and influence in music continues to live on to this day how are you gonna keep him down [Music] that's the mystery [Music] after this team after the war there was a glimmer of hope for the african-american soldiers to achieve true equality but for the most part things remained the same it wasn't until after world war ii the walls of segregation really began to break down therefore it is not surprising that many of the black musicians and former soldiers returned to paris the freedom from discrimination in france and the exposure to the modern artistic movements in europe were irresistible lures for the creative men it could also be said that they never forgot their french comrades in arms a man of the 371st wrote the following to his mother these french people don't bother with no color line business they treat us so good that the only time i've ever known i'm colored is when i look in the glass [Music] a famous man set up late drinking rum and talking with passengers on the deck of the ss toloa a ship bound for havana a favorite destination for rich american playboys looking for gambling girls and booths the williams college graduate and harvard law school educated new york lawyer was no playboy the passengers were surprised to find such a man on board he was a war hero after all a man with a sterling reputation his name was charles white whittlesey along with sergeant alvin york and flying ace eddie rickenbacker he was one of the most famous war heroes from the recently ended conflict after all he was the commander of the lost battalion whittlesey was already a successful lawyer in new york when he was called to active duty with his national guard unit in august 1917 and became a major in the 77th division 308th infantry regiment 1st battalion headquarters company like many american troops whittlesey didn't see real combat until august 1918 when the allies began to take the offensive against the germans on october 2nd of that year the 77th was advancing against the germans near a town called charlevoix in the argonne forest on the morning of october 3rd whittlesea was in command of about 600 men in several companies as the germans pulled back whittlesea's men enthusiastically advanced thinking the germans were defeated the units on either side of them were encountering stiff resistance whittlesea's men had soon advanced into a pocket far in front of the rest of their division the experienced germans lured whittlesey into a trap the advancing americans thought they were winning when suddenly the germans had them surrounded what followed was one of the most horrific american experiences in the war germans on all sides of them could machine gun and mortar them almost at will on top of that the allied artillery started dropping shells onto their own battalion the americans kept fighting amid the slaughter the germans mounted a few attacks but mostly they were content to sit back and pick off whittlesea soldiers the battalion was running out of ammunition they were already out of food airplanes dropped supplies that the germans intercepted according to the official unit history the men in the pocket didn't eat for more than 100 hours after four days the germans offered surrender terms the newspaper legend was that whittlesey told them go to hell although he said that wasn't true eventually the germans on either side of the pocket were pressed back and a relief force reached whittlesey and his men the relief force was stunned at what they found out of about 600 men 107 were dead most of the survivors were badly wounded about 190 men were able to walk out under their own power counting the walking wounded nearly everyone in the battalion was wounded to some degree the unit was cited for uncommon valor whittlesey was promoted to lieutenant colonel and awarded the congressional medal of honor he came home a national hero newspapers all over the united states told the story of the lost battalion in blazing headlines whittlesey was in great demand as a speaker and used his fame to raise money for the red cross and veterans on armistice day november 11 1921 whittlesea served as a pallbearer for the unknown soldier being laid in the new tomb in arlington national cemetery after the ceremony he booked passage on the taloah none of his friends or family knew he was going on the trip on the boat that night a warm breeze was blowing as the ship neared the caribbean with the holiday passengers in tropical white suits the conversation was light the other guests started calling it a night whittlesey lingered with a few hangers on he finished his drink he finished his cigarette without a word to anyone on deck whittlesey walked to the ship's railing and jumped into the black water his body was never found his soul you might say was back in the argonne forest with the ghosts of the dead men he had commanded charles whittlesey may have thought that was where he belonged [Music] one hero of the lost battalion was undisputed he wasn't a soldier he was a carrier pigeon named cher ami french for dear friend during the great war many commanders in the different armies carried these pigeons into battle in a chaotic environment without reliable telephones or radios and too dangerous for human messengers carrier pigeons were indispensable they were brought in cages from their home roosts at headquarters behind the lines an officer would write out a message roll it up into a pouch on the bird's leg and release it from the cage hopefully the pigeon would make its way back to its home to headquarters and the message would be red when the lost battalion was trapped and being heavily shelled by their own artillery they sent out carrier pigeons to alert headquarters to their position the first pigeons carried messages with the wrong coordinates shells continued to rain down on them at this rate the battalion would have been wiped out by its own side even faster than the germans could kill them the last pigeon was cher ami whittlesey tucked a note into the pouch on his leg and let it go with a prayer from every man there the message said only this we are along a road parallel to 276.4 our own artillery is dropping a barrage directly on us for heaven's sake stop it off cher ami flew through the artillery fire shrapnel and machine guns he made it back to headquarters and the americans finally stopped shelling their own men that exploit wasn't the end of cher ami's career on another mission he got a message through but was badly wounded and lost a leg medics patched him up and fitted him with a wooden leg the french army awarded cher ami a quad de guerre for bravery he was the only bird to be awarded the prestigious medal during world war one [Music] wasn't the only heroic animal in the great war all kinds of animals were used in military operations throughout the conflict [Music] dogs were especially valuable as messengers trained dogs could find their ways through the maze of the trenches faster and safer than any human could their intelligence courage and loyalty also made them vital as first aid dogs many wounded men were saved by a red cross dog who carried them a canteen of water and alerted the stretcher bearers dogs were also used to pull machine guns and wagons up to the front lines and a dog's love made life in the trenches just a bit more bearable many soldiers on all sides kept a dog it could be said that the most famous dog to come out of the war was a puppy found among a pack of abandoned german war dogs who would be later named rin tin tin pigeons and dogs were important but the vast majority of animals who were sacrificed for the war were horses and mules it is estimated that more than six million horses served in the war and the british recorded that about 800 000 of theirs were killed in action british army records state that roughly 530 000 horses and 230 000 mules were in service during the year 1917. early in the war there were still some good old-fashioned cavalry charges but the armies soon discovered that these mounted charges were obsolete in the face of machine guns and barbed wire however animals were more important than ever to move the huge amount of equipment on the battlefield in the early years of mechanization the tanks and trucks were hardly reliable and horses could cover rough terrain far more easily each army used hundreds of thousands of farm horses and mules to pull artillery pieces and supply wagons and to ride from place to place horses literally disappeared from the farms across europe as they were drafted into service and just like their fragile human comrades many horses needed gas masks to survive on the western front as in the american civil war the horses and those riding them were prime targets for enemy guns and hundreds of thousands died in the line of duty dead horses were buried on the battlefield or burned others were left scattered about the devastated landscape dead horses became so common that in one photograph a listening post can be seen disguised as a dead horse although the american cavalry did not see much action in europe by the time the u.s entered the war many european soldiers left moving accounts of their horses and mules the slaughter of the unknowing uncomplaining animals seemed even more cruel than the deaths of the men around them a british artillery lieutenant wrote heaving about in a filthy mud of the road was an unfortunate mule with both of his four legs shot away the poor brute suffering god knows what untold agonies and terror was trying desperately to get on its feet which weren't there another described the aftermath of an aerial bombing when the bombs had ceased falling we went over to see what damage had been done i saw my first dead man twisted up beneath the wagon but we had not sustained many human casualties the horses were another matter there were dead ones lying all over the place and scores of others were floundering and screaming with broken legs terrible neck wounds or their entrails hanging out we went back for our pistols and spent the next hour putting the poor seriously injured brutes out of their misery by shooting them through the head in a war where many soldiers were innocent of any idea of why they were fighting one could say that the horses and mules were the most innocent of all [Music] in 1917 american women in most of the country could not vote run for office or become engineers doctors or lawyers their roles were tightly restricted middle-class women were supposed to be subservient wives mothers and homemakers upper-class women were to be educated and charming hostesses to help their husbands careers they were also supposed to be subservient wives mothers and homemakers poor women had the very lowest paying jobs at garment factories taking in wash and caring for other people's children and like all the other women if they were married they were supposed to be subservient wives mothers and homemakers some women were exceptions but for most the opportunities were very limited when the us entered the war the country suddenly needed large numbers of women as much as it needed soldiers whereas men were needed to fight in the trenches women were needed as nurses as translators stenographers cooks and switchboard operators supplying the army with uniforms called for thousands of seamstresses women enrolled in the army navy and even the marines nurses volunteered in the red cross on ymca sources report that nearly 20 000 red cross nurses served with the army and navy nurse corps half of them overseas female salvation army volunteers worked as nurses and at front-line canteens serving hot meals donuts and coffee to soldiers ordinary girls in towns all over america suddenly had a chance at a different life in the prospect of traveling to europe to be an important part of the war effort among the thousands of women volunteering in france were many daughters of privilege the daughters of the wealthy society class girls in elite women's institutions like smith college often volunteered together newspapers like stars and stripes played up the society girls with bold headlines eris scrubs tubs to aid u.s a february 1918 headline read society girl wheels brush and soap as her war weapons the newspaper's stories about rich girl volunteers were propaganda for sure but also true they weren't allowed to fight like their brothers in the lafayette escadrille but the war gave them a chance for a bigger life an army head nurse wrote some of the most conscientious and hardest workers in my unit are girls who had done nothing all their lives but fritter away their time in society the war woke them up they were girls of good education but they had never thought much about the stern realities of life until america got into the war and they suddenly saw a chance to do something useful when the american expeditionary force sailed for france the u.s army signal corps planned a telephone system where commanders would always know what was going on around them and make sure that men food and supplies went where they were supposed to go the signal core was determined to build the most modern communications in the field the us military vowed that it would never have the kind of miscommunication that had caused so many blunders disasters and deaths on the allied side earlier in the war the aef needed to communicate with the french military railroad depots municipal governments and everyone else needed to coordinate the logistics of a huge modern army there was only one problem few men in the signal corps spoke french some american men tried to take french lessons there was only one big source of americans who spoke french and could be trained as telephone operators women from american colleges at the time french was often due rigor or required for the very few american girls who went to college of those ladies who did virtually all of them came from wealthy or upper middle class families general pershing appealed for volunteers in late 1917 and many daughters of the elite answered the call most operators were required to be over 25 bilingual and college educated along with the college ladies were french and french canadian women who were american citizens they were of humbler origins and some were under the age limit but they were fluent 300 women were trained as switchboard operators and sailed to france in march 1918. stars and stripes breathlessly announced their arrival headlines read hello girls here in real army duds they presented a pleasing sight american girls always do [Music] maybe it was because they reminded the troops of their gals back home but for many surrounded by the dangerous squalid all-male world of the trenches a woman's voice on the line was a pleasure stars and stripes covered the doings of the hello girls like the society pages some big news at the end of the war was that hello girls danced at a ball with the prince of wales the hello girls brought a lot more to the war effort than the allure of a female voice they were soldiers and they were unflappable working long hours in chaotic cramped and dangerous bunkers and headquarters during the fighting at samniel six women stayed at their switchboards in a burning headquarters building being bombarded by german artillery they all received citations for bravery the decorated hello girls had a surprise waiting for them when they returned to the united states though proud of their war service they applied for the same honorable discharges as the men who fought in the war they found that they couldn't get discharges the regulations they were told were written for men only and because they weren't honorably discharged they didn't qualify for veterans benefits in 1930 some of the women began petitioning the us congress they would be petitioning for a long time in 1978 president jimmy carter signed a bill granting the hello girls honorable discharges veterans benefits and long-delayed recognition as the first women veterans of the modern us army a few hello girls were still alive in 1978 to get their honorable discharges for the rest it was all history [Music] thousands of women who volunteered as nurses worked long hard hours in wards pungent with the blood vomit and feces of wounded and sick men it was a dangerous place to be it was recorded that more than 230 nurses died of the flu while treating soldiers sick from the flu epidemic in 1918 as american women arrived in france the germans were desperate to win the war german guns and airplane bombs reached farther back from the front every day they brought up their biggest guns and indiscriminately shell paris nurse marion crandell was tending wounded men in a ymca hostel in paris she was a french teacher from iowa who spent her school days in france she volunteered to serve on march 27 1918 a german shell landed on the hostel and marianne was killed outright she was the first american woman to die in combat others followed one source recorded 22 of the army's 8 500 nurses killed in france the red cross estimates that there were 330 female red cross war casualties in world war one because they were women of course the nurses were also romantic fantasy objects for the doughboys especially in stars and stripes in one article called hospital manners etiquette hints for doughboys a columnist wrote pick the object of your hospital proposal everybody makes one very carefully wait until you are well out of ether before doing it or you are just apt to have a case of mistaken identity on your hands never propose to more than one nurse nurses exchange confidences just like all other women and you're apt to land in bad if your duplicity is discovered act as though you were going to propose to all of them and keep them dancing attendance on you not all the dough boys who rode in stars and stripes were so shallow many men left moving tributes to the nurses one sergeant sent in a poem called the army nurse there isn't a nurse for each hero all steeped in german gore but air the day's work is finished she has cared for a score or more she comes in with a cheery good morning then a word to the fellow who's blue and really now it's amazing what her pleasant smile will do american ladies tried to uplift soldiers spirits in many different ways dances with girls from the y were held and salvation army women routinely baked and handed out fresh donuts to the doughboys and hot chocolate to the cavalrymen many put on shows and sang songs for the men abroad one famous star in particular dedicated her time to the troops away from home elsie janus was the biggest music hall star of the time and traveled the front lines entertaining american soldiers on makeshift stages with an earshot of german artillery guns and she put on a hell of a show elsie danced sang and did great impersonations the soldiers loved her sometimes she played nine shows a day soldiers coming straight out of the mud and blood of the trenches found one of the biggest stars of the day singing dancing and telling jokes because of women like elsie janus and the ladies of the red cross and other relief organizations hardened men smiled sad men laughed and frightened men learned a tune to whistle on their way back to the front [Music] [Music] the war finally came to an end [Music] starving out of men and on the verge of revolution germany agreed to withdraw its army across the rhine river the armistice that ended the war went into effect on november 11 1918 at 11 am the 11th hour of the 11th day in the 11th month the time was known in advance yet some commanders insisted on attacking german lines right up to 11 am at least 300 american soldiers were killed in combat during the last morning of the war the last officially recorded american casualty was henry gunther killed charging a german machine gun at 10 59 a.m [Applause] when news reached the states of the armistice crowds erupted in celebrations that engulfed entire cities like new york and chicago november 11th was der tog the day for peace our boys and girls were coming home the history class take on the war is that it didn't mean much for america the u.s never accepted the versailles treaty that settled the war in 1919 the americans came home and left european problems to europeans momentous changes were happening back home in america women got the vote prohibition on alcohol kick-started bootlegging and organized crime hollywood and jazz music changed the ways that people have fun the image of american women changed from subservient housewives into short-skirted independent flappers who danced smoked and drank right along with the men industrial mobilization had brought thousands of rural people to the cities america didn't just look like farms surrounded by amber waves of grain anymore america looked like an industrial urban fun-loving culture and a world power parades were held for the returning troops who marched down the streets of america's major cities famous figures like father duffy james reese europe and wild bill donovan made a lasting impact on american history and culture but statues and monuments all over our country record the hundreds of thousands of anonymous neighborhood boys and girls who went off to fight in america's first world war the next time you see one give it a closer look we marked the end of the war each november 11th on veterans day it is commonly forgotten that the holiday was originally called armistice day and celebrated the end of the great war on veterans day stop to remember the century of modern era soldiers that began with the doughboys health fighters and hello girls the american men and women who fought all over the world to serve and defend the country that we live in today for those who died alan seeger left a lasting tribute i have a rendezvous with death at some disputed barricade when spring comes back with rustling shade and apple blossoms fill the air i have a rendezvous with death when spring brings back blue days and fair [Music] it may be he shall take my hand and lead me into his dark land and close my eyes and quench my breath it may be i shall pass him still i have a rendezvous with death on some scarred slope of battered ill when spring comes round again this year and the first metal flowers appear god knows to were better to be deep pillowed in silk and scented down where love throbs out in blissful sleep pulsed nigh to pulse and breath to breath where harsh awakenings are dear but i've around people with death at midnight in some flaming town when spring trips north again this year and i to my pledged word am true i shall not fail that rendezvous [Music] what's the time nine all in nine all right boys now take it slow are you ready eddie a very good heading over the top and let's go quiet life else before a riot keeps you papa [Music] [Music] [Music] for the bus garage down hug the ground close you can don't stand creep withdrawal or follow me that's all the boys [Applause] get the money boys [Music] [Music] [Music] land the boys and yankee regiments have stopped on every leg but they have no tobacco no tobacco can they beg the other ally soldiers are as cunning as the fox they've always got tobacco in their old tobacco box a soldier cannot smoke a pair of socks so we'll help to fill the old tobacco box if you are not a selector get a bag [Music] [Applause] it is [Applause] [Music] italian smokes are strong enough to cause a mule to sneeze and those they capture from the huns are like limburger cheese you have to wear a gas mask using smoke made by the french and english cigarettes will clean out any german trench a soldier cannot smoke a powder rang he'd rather have the makings in a bang if you are not the flexer get attacked from factor and send it to some yankees fold your right [Applause] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] is

Channel: Janson Media

Views: 1,032,560

Rating: 4.6782579 out of 5

Keywords: world war 1, world war 1 documentary, ww1 documentary, wwi, world war i, unknown, america in world war 1, world war 1 american legacy, world war i: american legacy, United States Of America (Country), History, Germany, america in ww1, ww1 america, american experience, america ww1, ww1 documentary america, the lost battalion, us in ww1, wwi documentary, world war, world war 1 documentary america, american history documentary, us history documentary, ww1 us, ww1 history

Id: Pxb3j6Ps44c

Length: 112min 31sec (6751 seconds)

Published: Wed Feb 27 2013