Last week the US WW1 Centennial Commission published this article about the proposed sale of the Viquesney ‘Spirit of the Doughboy’ statue on the grounds of the former Wentworth Military Academy in Lexington, MO. The creditors of the academy have maintained that the statue was collateral on the academy’s debts, but the Alumni Association of the academy has counterclaimed that they own the statue because it was entirely paid for by alumni. A judge has ruled in the favor of the Alumni Association and the statue may end up at the National WW1 Museum in Kansas City, MO.
Kansas WW1
Commemorating the First World War Centennial in Kansas
The National World War I Museum and Memorial’s annual symposium will be held November 3-4 with the theme, “1917: America Joins the Fight.” While the war on the Western Front would change with the American addition, other forces were at work elsewhere–particularly in Russia.
“Remembering Muted Voices,” a symposium on resistance and conscientious objection in WWI, will be held at the National World War I Museum and Memorial October 19 – 22. Co-sponsored by several organizations, this symposium promises a look at the differing opinions in opposition to the war.
There is a Commonwealth War Graves Commission (CWGC) Memorial to the Missing located in the northeastern corner of a small forest called Polygon Wood, near Zonnebeke, Belgium.
The memorial is on the site of the CWGC Buttes New Cemetery, which is a post-war concentration of over 2,000 burials of remains recovered from the surrounding area, mostly 1917 casualties. It’s considered an extension of the older Polygon Wood CWGC cemetery nearby – there is a connecting walk – and so the Cross of Sacrifice is in Polygon Wood Cemetery and the Stone of Remembrance is in Buttes New Cemetery. 
Continuing their efforts to highlight something from World War I in their collections, we forward a link to the newsletter of the National Archives branch in Kansas City. This month’s feature is on the War Emergency Food Survey. Click on the link and scroll down: https://www.archives.gov/files/kansas-city/press/newsletter/2017-september.pdf
Beginning tomorrow, the Tivoli Cinemas in Westport, Kansas City, will show the documentary, Letters from Baghdad, which examines the life of Gertrude Bell, and her role in the Middle East during World War I.
From the Tivoli’s e-blast: Executive produced and voiced by Academy award winner Tilda Swinton, LETTERS FROM BAGHDAD is the remarkable story of a true original —Gertrude Bell — sometimes called the female “Lawrence of Arabia”. A British spy, explorer and political powerhouse, Bell helped shape the Middle East after WWI. Using never-seen-before century old footage of the region, the documentary chronicles Bell’s extraordinary journey into the Arabian Desert and the inner sanctum of British male colonial power offering a unique look at both a complex woman and a tangled history that is eerily current with stunning parallels to today.
In late August the Flint Hills Discovery Center in Manhattan opened an exhibit recognizing the 100th anniversary of the organization of the 1st Infantry Division, the Big Red One.
Titled Duty First: 100 Years of the Big Red One, the exhibit runs until January 14, 2018.
Not much on WWI in the C-SPAN world this week. One program on Saturday, and that’s it.
It’s a discussion about the relationship between Herbert Hoover and Woodrow Wilson during the Wilson administration. It airs Saturday at 12:30 p.m. Central.
If you’ve been following my posts here you’ve heard about the American Battle Monuments Commission (ABMC). Created by Congress in 1923 (36 U.S.C., Chapter 21), the ABMC is an independent agency within the Office of the President that has the following missions:
100 years ago in Kansas, September 2017:
September 15, 1917
- A.K. Longren, a pioneer airplane builder and aviator of Kansas, went to Denver to be associated with the Buck Aircraft and Munitions Co.
September 22, 1917
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