Featured Articles
A records search, a Doughboy’s journey home
You might remember my blogs last year about an Army officer from Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, who was killed in the First World War. There’s more to tell about 2nd Lieutenant Howard Lee Strohl. I had pieced together [...]
“I … yearn once more for the strenuous life”: Mary Helen Fee, teacher, writer, WWI canteen worker.
Mary Helen Fee was born in October 1864 in Quincy, IL, to John Fee—city physician for Kansas City and an army surgeon in the Civil War—and his wife, Louisa Wilcox Fee. Fee was an English [...]
How lessons from the First World War could help Ukraine in the war
As Russia’s invasion of Ukraine enters its third year, the war’s tactics increasingly seem to match scenes from the First World War: soldiers huddle in trenches along stagnant front lines and navigate intense barrages. Beyond trench warfare, [...]
The mystery on the Western Front
One of the main reasons for working with my research is the connection to the individuals I discover through my intense work trying to find as much facts as possible to be able to tell [...]
The Harlem Hellfighters: A Legacy of Lasting Impact
NEW YORK - In the past few years, the name Harlem Hellfighters evoked confusion for some, intrigue for others and great pride for those who know the stories of valor and triumph. Lesser known are [...]
How American Intelligence Was Born in the Trenches of World War I
The Great War forced the US to create a modern spying and analysis apparatus In 1920, a perceptive British correspondent titled a book he’d just written about the conflict that had so recently laid waste [...]
Portraits of War: Two Mississippi Doughboys in France, 1918
Finding vintage photography to post to the site that has meaningful background history has been a tough mission the last few years. I was recently inspired to start posting to the blog more often from [...]
Iowa, USA, and the Great War
In the early 20th century, Iowa was an even more distinctly rural state that it is today. In the 1910 census out of a population of 2.2 million over 70 percent of Iowans lived on [...]
America’s First Women Soldiers of WWI Deserve the Congressional Gold Medal
Over 100 years ago, Gen. John J. Pershing, commander of the American Expeditionary Forces (AEF), issued the call for women telephone operators to serve overseas in France. Prioritizing military necessity over the Army's prohibition against [...]
