Corporal Otis W. Leader and other WWI code talkers — service members who used Indigenous languages to create undecipherable communications — still haven’t received the recognition they deserve. But now a group of Indigenous veterans are currently being reviewed as potential recipients of the Medal of Honor — more than a century after they served. In all, roughly 12,000 Native Americans served during World War I. Learn more about how the Valor Medals Review is looking at actions by non-white veterans who served in World War I to determine whether select acts of valor warrant the nation’s highest military honor.

The Warrior Canine Connection (WCC) enlists recovering Warriors in a therapeutic mission of training service dogs for their fellow veterans. The WCC has announced that their new service dog puppy trainee has been named “Minnie” in honor of United States Army “Hello Girls” Signal Corps Operator Minnie Goldman Selig. Read more about Warrior Canine Connection, and how Minnie Selig and her fellow Hello Girls fought 60 years for recognition as soldiers after WWI ended.

World War I, often referred to as “The War to End All Wars,” profoundly shaped the American nation, not just in terms of global positioning but also in domestic social dynamics. Among the millions who served were nearly 400,000 African Americans, a fact often overlooked in traditional histories of the conflict. These soldiers’ experiences on and off the battlefield planted seeds for the Civil Rights Movement and exposed the contradictions of a nation fighting for freedom abroad while denying it to many at home. Sam Jacobs explores these pioneers of WWI who challenged the systemic racism of their time and laid the groundwork for future civil rights advancements.

A French treasure hunter found an abandoned U.S. dog tag in 2012 that had been buried for nearly 100 years in a farm pasture where American forces had camped during World War I, an area that was known as the “mud camp.” This unexpected discovery started a quest to reunite the dog tag with the descendants of the soldier in America. Read more about the “Wyoming tag-team effort” that would eventually “reunite seven World War I dog tags to their respective communities.”

After the United States entered the First World War, Congress passed the Naturalization Act of May 9, 1918, to expedite naturalization for alien members of the U.S. armed forces. Eventually, hundreds of thousands of soldiers, sailors, and marines took advantage of this opportunity to become U.S. citizens under this act. Among them was Francesco Capra, a young Sicilian immigrant who had arrived in the U.S. in 1903 at the age of 6. While his WWI military service was short, his contributions to his new nation thereafter were extraordinary.  Read more about how legendary Hollywood director Frank Capra, winner of three Academy Awards for Best Director, rejoined the military in World War II and received the Legion of Merit and the Distinguished Service Medal for his service.

Writing for The New Criterion, James Panero takes an in-depth look at the years-long efforts of sculptor Sabin Howard that produced the amazing sculptural centerpiece of the now-completed National World War I Memorial in Washington, DC. Calling on his decades-long familiarity with Howard’s work and career, Panero charts the tortuous path that eventually led to the installation of “a sculptural statement on the First World War that manages to make its century-old realities newly real.” Read the entire thoughtful article, and learn how Panero came to regard the work as an “unalloyed triumph.”

In the evening strike on August 23, 1918, aviator Rodney D. Williams presented yet another installment of what other pilots described as the ‘Williams Show’: a series of miraculous events that demonstrated the creativity of early aviators, especially Williams. As he swung down to lay a strike on a German convoy and machine gun nest, Williams got hit by machine gun fire. The bullets struck him in the hip, causing him to slowly lose consciousness, and in the gas tank of his plane, causing the gasoline to pour out of the side of his aircraft, all during an hour flight away from base. What came next can only be considered amazing… Learn how Williams’ experience illustrated that the introduction of airplanes and the innovative tactics of pilots during World War I fundamentally transformed military combat by breaking through the stalemate of trench warfare. 

World War I was a global conflict that left a lasting mark on nearly every corner of the globe, including the United States. While the war is often remembered for its devastating battles and profound political consequences, its impact on American society extended far beyond the battlefield. One of the most significant outcomes of the war was the population shifts that transformed the demographic landscape of the United States. Find out more about how World War I sparked population shifts in the United States that can be traced through a combination of economic, social, and political changes that emerged during and after the conflict.

Were you aware that Germany attacked Cape Cod during World War I? It happened on July 21, 1918, in Orleans, some 65.2 miles east of New Bedford. The attack, involving a German U-boat, was the first on the US mainland since the War of 1812 and the only attack on US soil during World War I. The German shelling was part of an  attempt to incite fear and anti-war sentiment along the Eastern Seaboard. Read more about how this lone German U-boat “attacked just off the coast of Orleans, raiding a tugboat and its four barges – and even incidentally shelling the beach where eyewitnesses gathered in awe.”

The USS Texas, a storied battleship that served in both World Wars, is undergoing a $35 million restoration at the Gulf Cooper Shipyard in Galveston, Texas. Known for its roles in the North Sea during WWI and at D-Day during WWII, the USS Texas is being outfitted with restored guns, a new camouflage paint scheme, and refurbished steel decks. While the restoration nears completion, debates continue over its permanent mooring location in Galveston. Learn more about how, despite logistical challenges, the Battleship Texas Foundation is determined to see the ship become a major tourist attraction, showcasing a vital piece of naval history.

A Filipino reportedly unearthed the tombstone of a soldier who served in the U.S. Army  during the First World War. The Facebook group “Philippine Old Photos Collection” shared photos of the tombstone on Tuesday, January 21. The post stated that the discovery was made by someone’s father on their property. Read more about the remarkable discovery, which intrigued members of the Facebook group where it was posted, amassing 3,700 likes and wow reactions, 249 shares, and over 640 comments so far.

YouTuber Grauben Lara asks: “Did you know that the humble Kleenex owes its origins to World War I? In this video, we dive into the fascinating story of how a product originally designed for soldiers became a household staple. But there’s more to this story than you might think.” Watch the video yourself, and learn the surprising history behind Kleenex, how World War I innovation led to a global product, and the role of emergent order in everyday life.

“In 2015, the World War I Centennial Commission launched a design competition to support the creation of a National WWI Memorial in our nation’s capital. When artist and Master Sculptor Sabin Howard was selected to craft the monument that would be the focal point of the Memorial, he brought a worldview that through art, we can return to the values system that has driven Western Civilization for over 2,000 years.” Writing on the Philanthropy Roundtable website, Candice Greaux does a deep dive into Howard’s design and execution of the monumental sculpture. Read the whole article, and learn how “the focus of his story is the Everyman – who answered the call to serve, toiled and triumphed for the flag, and returned home a different version of himself.” 

106 years ago, American troops were in a pitched battle for control of villages in northern Russia, fighting on a mission tied to a war that had ended a month prior. It was Dec. 30, 1918, and American soldiers from the Midwest were outside the village of Kadish, preparing to launch an offensive that would move from town to town, regaining territory ceded to Bolsheviks a month prior. It was part of one of the biggest fights between Americans and Russian communists, but it was years before the outbreak of the Cold War. Learn more about  this mostly-forgotten expedition, and how “when the last battalion set sail from Archangel, not a soldier knew, no, not even vaguely, why he had fought or why he was going now, and why his comrades were left behind — so many of them beneath the wooden crosses.”

A man is only missing if he is forgotten.

Our Doughboy MIA this month is Private Eugene Sharpe, born on May 31st, 1896 in Winnfield, Tennessee. Before the war, he worked on the family farm and later as a brakeman for the Southern Railroad, operating the line from Oakdale, TN, to Chattanooga. He enlisted in the U.S. Army in 1916 and served along the Mexican Border with the Tennessee National Guard. After his discharge, Eugene later enlisted in the U.S. Marine Corps in Chattanooga on February 13th, 1918. He soon sailed to France and was assigned to the 17th Company, 5th Marines, 2nd Division.

On July 18, 1918, during the Aisne-Marne offensive, Private Sharpe was reportedly wounded near the village of Chaudun. Despite efforts by the Graves Registration Service and the Marine Corps to locate witnesses to his wounding or possible burial, no further information could be obtained. PVT Sharpe was reported missing, and his family clung to the hope that he would be found alive in a hospital or Prisoner of War camp.

That hope shattered in late August when his sister, Ms. Jennie Sharpe, received a letter from a French soldier.

Read Eugene Sharpe’s whole story.

Would you like to be involved with solving the case of PVT Eugene Sharpe, and all the other Americans still in MIA status from World War I? You can! Click here to make a tax-deductible donation to our non-profit organization today, and help us bring them home! Help us do the best job possible and give today, with our thanks.  Remember: A man is only missing if he is forgotten.

Poppy Lapel Pin

• Exclusive Commemorative WW1 Poppy Lapel Pin
• Soft enamel color design
• Approx. 1.5 inch in dia.
• Standard military clasp

Proceeds from the sale of these items will help us keep watch on the National World War I Memorial in Washington, DC.

This and many other items are available as Official Merchandise of the Doughboy Foundation.

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