The American Veteran’s Traveling Tribute will be at the National; WW1 Museum in Kansas City, MO from May 19th through May 30th. The 80% scale replica of the Vietnam Wall is a part of this exhibition, and there are tribute panels recognizing some of the fallen in all 20th and 21st century conflicts as well.
Coming up are Churchill in WW1 on May 2nd at 6:30 PM CDT and African American Service in WW1 on May 12th at 6:30 PM CDT. Both are on You Tube.
Winston Churchill’s Soldiers Part 3
Winston Churchill took responsibility for the Gallipoli fiasco (click here to read more). After his resignation from the Admiralty, the Royal Naval Division (RND) was quickly shifted over to army command. Since at the time it had only one ‘naval’ brigade and the marine brigade, it was augmented by the addition of 190th Brigade, which included the 7th Royal Fusiliers, 4th Bedfords, 1/1st Honourable Artillery Co. (an infantry unit) and the 10th Royal Dublin Fusiliers. Three of these battalions were Territorials and one was New Army. The RND was re-titled as the 63rd Division, and although this was the highest-numbered division in the British Expeditionary Force, it was the senior division in the order of precedence, as the navy is senior to the army. Thereafter, as the numbers of the ‘Naval’ brigades declined, they were replaced by soldiers.
Still More WW1 HazMat in DC
This is a story that just doesn’t seem to end. After declaring the Spring Valley cleanup finished (click here to read about this), authorities in Washington, DC now have another WW1 chemical weapons dump site on their hands. You can read about this here. An in-depth explanation of how and why these sites came into existence and why there may be more still to be found can be read by clicking here.
The USS Olympia C-6 was built as a fast sail-capable commerce-raider. Launched in 1895, it was built by the Union Iron Works of San Francisco. No other ship of its class was ever completed. The Olympia served as the flagship of Dewey’s squadron at the Battle of Manila Bay in 1898. During WW1 the Olympia was re-designated as CA-15 and performed escort duty in the Atlantic. In 1921 it was again re-designated from CA-15 to CL-15 and carried the Unknown Soldier back to the U.S. Mothballed in 1922, in 1931 the Navy re-designated it again to Relic IX-40 in recognition of its historic value. Since 1957 Olympia has been berthed in Philadelphia. The present owner, The Independence Seaport Museum, now needs to raise $20 million to dry-dock the ship and properly repair the hull. You can read more about this here.
Coming up are on Tuesday, April 5th at 7:00 PM CDT “Gorlice & Tarnow: The Great Retreat” on Youtube and on Saturday April 9th at 10:30 AM CDT “Women & Espionage” on Zoom.
Both are free but registration is required. Click here.
Click here to read about these forgotten heroines.
Sunday March 6th 2:00 PM CST ‘Women and Remembrance’ on Zoom
Sunday March 20th 2:00 PM CST ‘Reframing War’ on Youtube
Both are free but registration is required. Click here for details.
https://my.theworldwar.org/events?view=list&span=month&k=public%20programs
Previously we have featured articles about all of the WW1 Medal of Honor recipients with a Kansas connection. However, we missed one.
Pfc. Charles Barger, 354th Infantry, 89th Division, was born in Galena, Kansas but grew up in Scott City, Missouri. Post-war he lived in and around Kansas City, except for a six-month re-enlistment in the army in 1921. He was then a Kansas City police officer for over 12 years, and was shot five times in the line of duty.
We’ve previously written about the first American officer to be killed in action, First Lieut. William Fitzsimons, MC from Burlington, Kansas (you can read about him by clicking here). Another first was claimed by Pvt. Clyde Grimsley of the 16th Infantry, from Stockton, Kansas, who was one of the first six American Doughboys to be captured by the Germans. You can read more about Grimsley and his comrades by clicking here.
