• Marvin W. Barrash – The Mysterious Disappearance of the U.S.S. Cyclops.

• Dr. Frank A. Blazich Jr., PhD – Feathers of Honor: U.S. Army Signal Corps Pigeon Service, 1917-1918.

• Jari Villanueva, Executive Director of The Doughboy Foundation, will present: The Yanks are Coming – US Army Bands of World War I (1917 – 1919).

“Constructing the nation’s new WWI Memorial in 2024 was a proud accomplishment — but it was just the beginning of our commitment to sharing the stories of the brave Americans who won the Great War,”  said Denise Doring VanBuren, Chair, Board of Directors, The Doughboy Foundation. “Our inaugural World War I Symposium is designed to keep the effort going — that is, to build on the foundation of our beautiful new monument to further increased awareness of what the Doughboy generation experienced. We’re dedicated to staging educational resources and events that keep alive the stories of men and women who literally changed the world through their sacrifices — stories that were left untold for too many generations.”

The Symposium is presented by the Doughboy Foundation, and The MacArthur Memorial, which is a museum and research center dedicated to preserving and presenting the story of the life of General of the Army Douglas MacArthur.

The Doughboy Foundation and its generous sponsors are offering the Symposium registration fee for only $25. Learn more about the Symposium, and get your tickets here.

WWI Living History Day gives the public a chance to learn what it was like to be an American Doughboy during World War I. Through interactions with living historians, displays which feature original vehicles and equipment worn by soldiers, presentations, and musical concerts, attendees can get a glimpse into the era. The one-day Living History display is sponsored and presented by The Doughboy Foundation to benefit its work in support of America’s National World War I Memorial in Washington, D.C, and by The MacArthur Memorial. Living History Day is FREE and OPEN TO THE PUBLIC. Reserve Your Spot Here For Living History Day.

Coming to the Syracuse Stage theatre in Syracuse, NY September 9 – 28, The Hello Girls musical follows the members of U.S. Army Signal Corps Female Telephone Operators Unit as they enlist, see combat, and return home after World War I to inspire generations of women in the armed forces. This new production, with reworked staging, orchestrations, and material, premieres at Syracuse Stage on September 9 with a special free-of-charge performance for veterans, active military members and their families. Read more about the musical inspired by the heroic Americans who became the nation’s first female armed service members, and learn why it is “a unique opportunity to honor the personal battles the ‘Hello Girls’ faced after war’s end.”

Charlotte Bourgin jumped at the chance to skip her senior year’s final exams by participating in her high school’s internship program and gaining real-world experience before heading off to college. But where she ended up doing her internship wasn’t by chance: The Military Women’s Memorial at Arlington National Cemetery. Learn how Charlotte’s internship was informed by her own great grandmother’s service in the Great War, and how her time at the MWM gave her “a new appreciation and understanding for women who served in the U.S. military.”

On August 16-17, Taps For Veterans, in partnership with the Doughboy Foundation, will present a Bugler Summit. Buglers, trumpet players, and military musicians of all levels are invited to come together for a weekend of learning, music, and camaraderie dedicated to the art and tradition of sounding Taps. Gettysburg, PA provides a historic location for a powerful weekend celebrating the sacred sound of Taps and the musicians who keep this timeless tradition alive. Read more about the Bugler Summit, and find out how to participate in the sessions or attend the closing concert on Sunday, August 17.

The deal to permanently moor the historic battleship, the former USS Texas (BB-35), at the Port of Galveston was finalized this week. The announcement secures a plan to berth the World War I-era dreadnought at Pier 15 as a museum ship. The battleship is undergoing extensive restoration that involves “transforming the ship into a state-of-the-art visitor experience featuring interactive and technology-driven exhibits, augmented reality, holograms, guided tours, and integrations with cell phones.”  Learn more about Battleship Texas, America’s last surviving battleship to serve in both World War I and World War II, “a powerful symbol of our nation’s history.”

The Army post in Killeen, TX reverted to the name Fort Hood in a brief ceremony July 28, ending a two-year stint as Fort Cavazos. The base was officially redesignated to honor Colonel Robert B. Hood, a veteran of World War I and recipient of the Distinguished Service Cross. “In many ways, Col. Hood represents the ideal citizen soldier, a man who rose to the occasion when his nation needed him most and continued to give back long after the fighting had ceased,” Lt. Gen. Kevin Admiral, commander of III Corps and Fort Hood, said in a brief speech. Read more about Col. Hood, and how “his name will live on as generations of soldiers who’ve served and will serve here learn about his career and the impact he had on our Army.”

A piece of military history was honored on July 24 as members of the Rayson-Miller American Legion Post 899 in New York held a rededication ceremony at Pittsford Veterans Memorial Park. The focus of the event: a restored 1918 German 105mm Howitzer, originally brought to Pittsford in 1932 by World War I veterans who founded the Rayson-Miller Post. Over the decades, the Howitzer had been moved to several locations and eventually spent the last 15 years in storage in severe need of repair. Learn more about this restored WWI relic that is “a remembrance of the sacrifices made by the members of our armed forces for this great country — not only in World War I, but also in modern times.”

Jari Villanueva, the Executive Director of the Doughboy Foundation, will travel to Sherman, New York, and the Chautauqua Institution on August 18 and 19, 2025, for ceremonies and a lecture. On Monday, August 18, at the Minerva Free Library, there will be a presentation of the Oliver Willcox Norton painting to the library. Villanueva will give a presentation on Oliver Norton. On Tuesday, August 19, Villanueva will give a talk at Chautauqua Institution covering World War I, Chautauqua County, and the construction of the new National World War I Memorial in Washington, DC. Find out more about these two great events in Chautauqua, and learn how you can attend.

A “25-year obsession to define the First World War south of our borders” was the catalyst for author James Bisher’s book The Intelligence War in Latin America, 1914-1922, and his encyclopedic website World War I in Latin America. That obsession was fueled from his earliest childhood by his Uncle Harvey’s WWI artifacts, and his reading and research on WWI topics. But the particular focus on WWI in Latin America started when his research uncovered “a folder of secret communications about Japanese intelligence officers meeting with their German opponents in Argentina and Peru in 1918.” Read more about how his realization that “the Great War was much more complicated than the Snoopy versus Red Baron meme” spurred Bisher to create outstanding resources for others to exploit, helping to overcome “the legacy of misinterpretations and distortions of history still haunt us today” regarding World War I.

The Navy-Merchant Marine Memorial, featuring a large, evocative aluminum sculpture of a cresting wave and seagulls in flight, sits on Columbia Island on the Arlington side of the Potomac. The Memorial honors the Americans of the U.S. Navy and U.S. Merchant Marine who lost their lives at sea during World War I. Learn more about this unique memorial, cast in aluminum rather than the more customary bronze, and how it evokes both the serenity and the peril of the sea.

A self-described “angry staff officer, who made the odd jump from enlisted infantry to engineer officer,” the editor of the award-winning Angry Staff Officer blog visited the National World War I Memorial in Washington, DC recently, and had some thoughts: “I went and stood in front of the new section of the World War I memorial in Washington, DC and looked at it. Memorials are meant to make you feel something. I felt nothing.” But that “nothing” feeling didn’t last long. Read the Angry Staff Officer’s entire rumination on the “A Soldier’s Journey” sculpture, and why he thinks that “Were World War I veterans to come back and look at this monument, the doughboys would not see themselves there.”

“My Dear Mabel: A Grandson’s Lessons in Love, Faith, Patriotism and Courage in Letters from World War I,” by James M. Hawk, is the true story of a young couple — Roy Hawk of Cleveland, and Mabel Thornton of Knoxville — who were caught up in the events of WWI. Their story is told in a series of personal letters they wrote to one another from January 1917 to June 1919. The letters were discovered by their grandson, James M. Hawk, who “found them in my father’s house after he died in 2018.” Learn how, in the reading letters, James “realized that I was not just reading family history but American history,” and determined to publish them in a book because, as his grandfather wrote, “these letters have life.“

Throughout U.S. history, many presidents arrived at the nation’s highest office having served in the military, with 31 serving in the armed forces. That dedication to duty often ran in their families, as illustrated by the life of Quentin Roosevelt, the youngest son of President Theodore Roosevelt. Determined to follow in his father’s footsteps, Quentin enlisted in the U.S. Army Air Service during WWI. Tragically, on July 14, 1918 Quentin was killed in action when his plane was shot down. Read more about Quintin Roosevelt, and learn how his passing deeply affected the American public, and he soon became a powerful symbol of youthful courage and the heartbreaking toll of war.

When World War I began, few guessed how much it would change life for women in Washington, D.C. The war opened doors for women in D.C., bringing them into offices, government jobs, and new roles once off-limits. These shifts shaped votes, paychecks, and futures. Today, their impact still echoes in every workplace and street in the capital. Joe Hart explores how this change happened—and why it still matters for women everywhere. The story of how the war opened doors for women in D.C. is more than history—it’s a reminder of what’s possible. Learn how the women who filled desks and offices in D.C. during WWI changed what the city could be. Their courage laid a path for the rights fought for today, and their work still shapes D.C.’s offices, streets, and policies.

Charles Barger’s life began under difficult circumstances and never really got any easier. Born into a notorious Kansas crime family, Barger was put up for adoption when his father was imprisoned for murder, then was orphaned as a boy when his adoptive parents died. He quit school after the fourth grade and tried to support himself with farm jobs for a while before registering for the draft in 1917 — the year the United States entered World War I. Find out how taking the oath not only turned Barger’s life around (when he joined the Army, Barger didn’t have to worry about his next meal, where he would sleep at night, or whether he would have enough clothes to wear), but also led him to become a hero on the Western Front.

On November 29, 1918, shortly after World War I ended, President Woodrow Wilson proclaimed, “This nation has no more solemn obligation than healing the hurts of our wounded and restoring our disabled men to civil life and opportunity.” To fulfill the promise inherent in Wilson’s words, the government adopted a two-step approach to rehabilitating disabled Veterans. Step one entailed medical treatment along with physical and occupational therapy in a hospital setting. Step two occurred on discharge from the hospital and consisted of federally funded vocational training. Read more, and find out how, although it got off to a rocky start, the Vocational Rehabilitation Act was historic in its effects. For the first time, the government committed to retraining citizens disabled in wartime and returning them to work.

A man is only missing if he is forgotten.

Our Doughboy MIA this month is Private Winfield Carey, who was born on November 26, 1896, in Shippensburg, Pennsylvania. He enlisted in the Pennsylvania National Guard on July 9, 1917, and was assigned to Company C, 8^th Infantry Regiment. The Pennsylvania National Guard was reorganized for active service, and his unit became the 112^th Infantry Regiment, part of the 28^th Division. He arrived in France in May 1918, arriving early enough to take part in the Second Battle of the Marne in July.

He was killed in Action on August 9, 1918, during the battle for Fismes and Fismette. Following the war, American Red Cross searcher Alfred Anderson interviewed Private Erwin Berger of the 112^th Infantry and obtained the following information about Pvt. Carey’s death:

Read Pvt. Carey’s whole story here.

Would you like to be involved with solving the case of Private Winfield Carey, 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.

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