“Doughboy Foundation Annual Symposium: Unsung Heroes”
Doughboy Foundation Annual Symposium: “Unsung Heroes”
Friday, September 18, 2025; 9:00 a.m. – 5:00 p.m.
Fourth Estate Room, National Press Club, 529 14th St. NW Washington, DC
$74 Standard Registration
$50 Early Bird Registration (now through August 21 – limited tickets available)
$25 Military/Veteran/Student (must show military ID or student ID at symposium check-in – limited tickets available)
SYMPOSIUM AGENDA:
9:00 – 9:30 AM | Registration, Continental Breakfast, and Networking
9:30 – 9:35 AM | Welcome
Clair Sassin, President & CEO, Doughboy Foundation
9: 35 – 10:50 AM | Panel: Getting it Done, Supporting the Troops in WWI
A moderated deep-dive into the essential logistics and support networks of the Great War:
Jerri Bell, Golden 14 Yeomen, Navy’s First Enlisted Black Women
Susan Watson, The American Red Cross Motor Corps
10:50 – 11:00 AM | Break
11:00 – 11:50 AM | Panel: Music – History of the Bugle
Presentation and demonstration by:
Kevin Paul, U.S. Army Band, Doughboy Foundation
Chris Gekker, Professor, University of Maryland
11:50 – 12 noon | Break
12 – 1:15 PM | Catered Box Lunch and Book Signings
1:15 – 3:00 PM | Afternoon Panel: Impact of American Code Talkers in WWI Through Modern Time
Erin Fehr, American Indians in WWI
Sarah Elisabeth Sawyer, Choctaw Code Talkers
Timothy Hunts-In-Winter, WWI Sioux Code Talkers: Albert Grass and Richard Blue Earth
3:00 – 3:15 PM | Break
3:15 – 4:00 PM | Closing Speaker | How We Honor our Military Today
Guest speaker to be announced soon!
4:00 – 4:10 PM | Closing Remarks
4:10 – 4:30 PM | Free Time and Adjourn to National World War I Memorial
4:30 – 4:45 PM | Explore the National WWI Memorial, “A Soldier’s Journey”
5:00 PM – Taps
5:05 – 6 PM | Doughboy Foundation’s Final Concert of the Summer: ” From Ragtime to Swing, America Finds it’s Rhythm”
Jerri Bell, Author, Editor & writing instructor for the Veterans Writing Project, Navy Veteran, Wife & Mom
Jerri Bell retired from the US Navy after twenty years of service that included sea tours on HMS Sheffield and USS Mount Whitney,
and shore assignments in Norfolk, Virginia; Lajes, Azores; Washington, DC; and as Assistant Naval Attache at the US Embassy in
Moscow, Russia. She holds a Master of Fine Arts in Creative Writing from Fairfield University, a Master of Arts in Creative Writing
from the Johns Hopkins University, and a Bachelor of Arts in Russian and Soviet Studies from Vassar College.
Since 2013, she has served as the Managing Editor for O-Dark Thirty, the literary journal of the Veterans Writing Project.
Her short fiction and nonfiction have been nominated for a Pushcart Prize, and she and former Marine Tracy Crow are the authors of It’s My Country Too: Women’s Military Stories from the American Revolution to Afghanistan
(University of Nebraska Press/Potomac Books, 2017).
Her book on the “Golden Fourteen” – the first African American women to serve officially in the US armed forces, is forthcoming from the
Univeristy of Nebraska Press/Potomac Books. She lives with her husband in Maryland.
Susan Watson
National Archivist, American Red Cross
Susan Watson is the archivist for the American Red Cross and manages the organization’s
historical programs and collections. She responds to inquiries, administers public programming,
develops exhibits, and oversees the care and conservation of Red Cross historical materials.
She has been with American Red Cross for over 26 years and has over 30 years of experience in
the public history field working with museums and archives including the North Carolina
Department of Cultural Resources, the Smithsonian Institution, and the NASA History Office.
Susan has a bachelor’s degree in clothing and textiles from East Carolina University and
master’s degree in archival management from North Carolina State University.
Kevin Paul, U.S. Army Band, Doughboy Foundation
Kevin Paul is an active trumpeter and educator in the Washington Metropolitan area. He has performed with many notable ensembles including
the National Symphony, Baltimore Symphony, Richmond Symphony, Maryland Symphony, Baltimore Chamber Orchestra, Bach in Baltimore,
Washington Concert Opera, and Post Classical Ensemble. As a soloist, he has been featured with the National Concert Band of America, Maryland
Symphony, The United States Army Field Band, and the United States Army Band Brass Ensemble. He is currently the Adjunct Trumpet Professor
at Loyola University and the creator of Military Trumpet Jobs, the largest educational resource for military band auditions.
Kevin was one of six trumpeters to collaborate with the International Trumpet Guild, recording the first ever military band excerpt CD.
He is currently one of the resident buglers and bugle coordinator for the National WWI Memorial in Washington DC, where taps is performed
every day at 5 p.m. As a current and former member of two different premier military bands, he has toured and performed in every state in the
continental U.S. and abroad. He also regularly has the honor of performing for visiting dignitaries at The White House and participating in solemn
ceremonies at Arlington National Cemetery.
Before coming to Washington DC, Kevin served as Acting Principal Trumpet of the China National Symphony in 2013. He attended the Manhattan
School of Music in New York City where he earned a master’s degree in orchestral performance. He also holds a Bachelor of Music from the Mannes
College of Music. Kevin has studied with many current and former members of the New York Philharmonic including Vincent Penzarella,
Tom Smith, Phil Smith, and former principal trumpet of the Metropolitan Opera, Mark Gould. When not performing, Kevin enjoys spending
time with his wife and two lovely daughters.
Chris Gekker, Professor of Trumpet, University of Maryland
Gekker is Professor of Trumpet at the University of Maryland School of Music. He has appeared as soloist at Carnegie Hall, Lincoln Center, and throughout the United States, Asia, and Europe, and can be heard as soloist on more than thirty recordings, and on more than one hundred chamber music, orchestral, jazz, and commercial recordings, as well as numerous movie and television soundtracks. Deutsche Grammophon selected him to be included on their 2005 CD compilation “Masters of the Trumpet.”
He moved to Maryland in 1998, from New York City, where he was a member of the American Brass Quintet for eighteen years, principal trumpet of the Orchestra of St. Luke’s, and on the faculties of the Juilliard School, the Manhattan School of Music, Columbia University and the Aspen Music Festival. He also frequently performed and recorded as principal of the Orpheus Chamber Orchestra and as a guest of the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center. He has been a guest principal trumpet with the New York Philharmonic, the San Francisco Symphony, the Baltimore Symphony, and the Santa Fe Opera.
Frequently invited to perform and record with contemporary popular artists, he is featured on Sting’s 2009 DVD A Winter’s Night filmed live in Durham Cathedral, England. Recent solo recordings include Larry Bell’s Unchanging Love (Fanfare Magazine: “Chris Gekker has made himself known over the years as a superb trumpeter who is able to produce meltingly flute-like tones at one extreme, and to bring down the house at the other.”) and Corollary III by Brian Fennelly, for trumpet and piano, of which American Record Guide writes “It is always a pleasure to hear Chris Gekker’s round, warm tone quality, virtuoso skills, and always thoughtful way of playing.”
His recent solo CDs Ghost Dialogues and Moon Marked were awarded second place in the Solo Artist Category by The American Prize. Chris’ most recent CD is a duo album with Greg Small called In a Quiet Place (2026).
Erin Fehr, Assistant Director & Archivist, Sequoyah National Research Center, University of Arkansas at Little Rock
Erin Fehr (Yup’ik) is the Assistant Director and Archivist at the Sequoyah National Research Center at the University of Arkansas at
Little Rock. She co-authored the “American Indians in World War I” webpage for the United States World War One Centennial Commission
(now the Doughboy Foundation) and continues to support the research conducted by the World War One Valor Medals Review Task Force, aimed
to award posthumous Medals of Honor to deserving minority servicemen who may have been overlooked due to race.
The Sequoyah National Research Center recently published a new website titled Modern Warriors of World War I that aims to identify all 12,000
American Indians and Alaska Natives who served in WWI, creating a central repository of their archival record.
She received an MM in Musicology and MLIS from the University of Oklahoma. She serves as Secretary of the Board of Directors for the American
Indian Center of Arkansas and co-chairs the Mentorship Committee for the Native Emerging Professionals Network.
Timothy Hunts-In-Winter, Teacher, Geneologist, & Standing Rock Sioux Tribe Citizen
Timothy Hunts-in-Winter is an enrolled citizen of the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe and genealogist living in Arizona, known for researching Native American military history, participating in the #NoDAPL protests, and his family’s indigenous heritage. An enrolled citizen of the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe with roots tied historically to Dakota and Lakota ancestors, including the historic woman warrior Ohítika Wiŋ (Brave Woman). Researched World War I Dakota and Lakota soldiers and Code Talkers, highlighting figures like Albert Grass.
Sarah Elisabeth Sawyer, Author, Speaker, and Chocktaw Story Teller
Sarah Elisabeth Sawyer is a story archaeologist. She digs up shards of past lives, hopes, and truths, and pieces them together for readers today.
The Smithsonian’s National Museum of the American Indian honored her as a literary artist through their Artist Leadership Program for her work in
preserving Choctaw Trail of Tears stories. She is the creator of the Fiction Writing: American Indians digital course. (fictioncourses.com/americanindians)
Sarah has written and published 17 historical fiction books, and over 275 non-fiction articles on Native artists and organizations with representatives
from dozens of North American tribes. Her narrative biography of a Native WWI hero, “Otis W. Leader: The Ideal American Doughboy,” was awarded the 2024 Oklahoma Book Award for nonfiction. It was also selected to represent the state of Oklahoma for the Library of Congress’s 2024 National Book Festival in Washington, DC.
A tribal member of the Choctaw Nation of Oklahoma, she writes from her hometown in Texas, partnering with her mother, Lynda Kay Sawyer,
in continued research for future works. Learn more at ChoctawSpirit.com, SarahElisabethWrites.com and Facebook.com/SarahElisabethSawyer.
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