Dispatch April 2024 | The Doughboy Foundation (2024)

Well-known American historians Dr. Elizabeth Cobbs of San Diego State University and Dr. David Kennedy of Stanford University have written a letter to Congress, cosigned by 55 academic and independent historians (including six winners of the Pulitzer Prize), calling for passage of legislation in the 118^th Congress to award a Congressional Gold Medal to the Hello Girls, America’s First Women Soldiers.The letter urges Senators and Representatives to cosponsor S.815and
HR 1572, respectively, and to pass the legislation as soon as Memorial Day 2024 if possible. Click here to read the historians' letter to Congress, and find out why these experts think that award of the Congressional Gold Medal would would "not only honor these pioneers, but every woman in uniform since."

When Marie Edmee LeRoux was laid to rest in 1945 at the Fort Lincoln Cemetery in Brentwood, MD, she was not provided with a VA grave marker--because the WWI U.S. Army Signal Corps telephone operators had not yet been recognized by the Army or Congress as being veterans. That changed in 1977 with Congressional action, but LeRoux's grave remained without the recognition of her Veteran status. That is going to change on May 3. Click here to learn how a coalition of organizations will gather for an event to finally place the appropriate marker for her, in an event that is open to the public.

Historian and Author Elizabeth Cobbs had picked a topic for a book that "was so obscure that a kind and experienced historian warned me that he doubted the story of the U.S. Army Signal Corps women in France from 1918 to 1920 could fill a whole book." So how did that work out? "Imagine my surprise when the pages I did manage to fill found a passionate, fiercely loyal audience far beyond the library." The book was The Hello Girls, and the story Cobbs wasn't sure had an audience has taken on a life of its own. Click here to read more, and find out how the Hello Girls story Cobbs told ignited a campaign for America's First Women Soldiers to receive a Congressional Gold Medal, and how Cobbs is helping answer that call.

https://ww1cc.org/hellogirlsThe U.S. Army Signal Corps telephone operators, respectfully called the "Hello Girls" by their fellow soldiers, made a big difference in WWI. Their ability to pass rapid tactical information calmly and seamlessly between two allied armies that spoke different languages was a fundamental breakthrough, and helped bring the fighting to an end in the Allies’ favor as much as a year earlier than it might have taken without them, according to General Pershing. But when the Hello Girls finally returned home in 1919 after WWI ended, the women who had served in U.S. Army uniforms received a shock. They were denied veterans status and benefits until 1977.The Hello Girls earned and deservethe recognition of a Congressional Gold Medal, andyoucan join Team Hello Girls in advocating for passage of theHello Girls Congressional Gold Medal legislationin 2024. You can make your voice heard on this issueright from your computer!Click here for our toolkit that makes the process of reaching out to your Representative and Senators by email very straightforward.

You can also reach out by phone to the local and district offices of your Senators and Representative, and tell them that YOU want them to cosponsor the Hello Girls Congressional Gold Medal legislation in the 118th Congress. Emails and calls from Americans like you have secured the commitments (as of April 22) of 55 Senatorsand97 Representatives to support legislation in their respective Houses . Please join the campaign to get the measure to 67 votes in the Senate by Memorial Day, and over the top in the House of Representatives soon after.

When their nation called in 1918, the Hello Girls answered – will YOU answer their call for recognition in 2024?

The Doughboy Foundation education outreach program has received a big salute from the EdTech Digest's "EDTECH AWARDS 2024: Future Focused For the Win" competition. The Foundation took home the EdTech Award for best Social Studies Solution in 2024 award, honoring its contribution to the educational sector by providing high-quality resources that are both effective and supportive for educators and students​ who want to teach and learn about how WWI changed America. Click here to read more about this prestigious award, and click here to see all the Foundation's WWI Resources For Teaching And Learning

In the heart of Washington, D.C., where history whispers its solemn tales, stands the National World War One Memorial, a tribute to the sacrifices made during one of the most pivotal moments of the 20th century. Amidst its grandeur and solemnity, there exists a musical embodiment of honor and remembrance: the American Expeditionary Forces (AEF) Headquarters Band, official ensemble of the National WWI Memorial. Sponsored by the Doughboy Foundation, and comprising ten talented musicians, this ensemble has become synonymous with honoring the legacy of the Great War, performing renditions of the national anthem and “God Bless America” at major sporting events and ceremonies of national significance. Click here to learn more about the AEF Headquarters Band, and watch and hear the sounding the National Anthem at the National World War I Memorial.

Sculptor Sabin Howard continues to spend time at Pangolin Foundry in Chalford, UK as work goes on to cast his monumental bronze sculpture that will complete the National World War One Memorial in Washington D.C. The sculpture, which will be the largest freestanding high-relief bronze in the Western hemisphere, will be shipped back to the U.S. in June, installed at the Memorial in July-August, and presented to the nation in September. In recent weeks, Sabin has done a number of online interviews to talk about the vision and creation of the magnificent bronze sculpture. Click here to watch two interviews, one with a British reporter for the GB News network, and another with the Southern Sense podcast in the U.S.

Westmoreland County’s five community bands regularly take an annual summer trip together, assembling a group that performs somewhere at their destination. This year, however, it will be delayed a month, so the bands can help dedicate the centerpiece of theNational World War I memorial in Washington, D.C Members of the Penn-Trafford, Scottdale, Kiski Valley, Delmont and Jeannette community bands will travel to the nation’s capital to take part in the dedication and illumination of “A Soldier’s Journey,” the massive bronze sculpture by New York City native Sabin Howard that will complete the Memorial when installed. Click here to read more about the collection of community musicians, who see the upcoming visit and performances as "a pretty big deal,"

Dr. Monique Seefried, Commissioner, U.S. World War I Centennial Commission, was on hand February 24 at the Chateau-Thierry American Memorial in France for a very special event: the donation to the American Battle Monuments Commission of a handwritten copy of the speech French Ambassador to the U.S. Paul Claudel (left) gave to a group of Gold Star Mothers in 1930. There was obvious historical importance to the event, but Commissioner Seefried had a personal as well as professional reason for being there. Click here to learn why the event was especially meaningful, read a copy of the speech, and find out why "the words of Claudel speak for themselves."

"Books, like wars, start in a variety of strange places and for a variety of odd reasons. This one started on stage and was affirmed in a bar. That latter not so strange, perhaps." So begins the story of how two academics, who were mainly focused on two different wars that had enormous effect on America in the last 200 years, got to talking about what the wars had in common. The outcome of that discussion is a fascinating new book that seeks to answer the questions "What had the Civil War taught Americans and what lessons did the Great War generation take from those who had preserved the republic in 1865?" Click here to discover how the two editors "found the depth of connections deeper than anticipated" and made them reconsider how scholars may want to think about "the narrative arc of American history."

The Preservation Society of Newport County in Rhode Island recently acquired two Gertrude Vanderbilt Whitney World War I bronzes:America at War(a chaotic battle scene) andBlinded(depicting a soldier blinded by poison gas). Whitney, who summered at The Breakers in her youth and later founded the Whitney Museum of American Art, created the bronzes as a study for a long-gone World War I monument in New York City. The story of the creation of the bronze casts is pretty remarkable in itself, but the wonder doesn't stop there. Click here to read more, and learn about the amazing bucolic existence of these historic sculptures, just hanging in a garden for most of a century.

Washington, DC-based artist Inez M. Demonet specialized in etchings and watercolors of District landmarks and people on her own time back in the 1920's and 30's. But her day job was much more impactful: she spent most of her time in an office at the National Institute of Health, where she worked as a medical illustrator. When the United States entered WWI in 1917, Demonet contributed to the war effort in a unique way: at Walter Reed Medical Center in Bethesda, she assisted doctors with facial reconstruction surgeries. Click here to learn how her exquisite drawings enabled surgeons to copy techniques that would help heal the "horrific injuries" of American soldiers returning from the European trenches.

During World War I, South Dakota joined other U.S. states by enacting measures that banned speaking the German language in public spaces. Istvan Gombocz, Ph.D., professor emeritus of German at the University of South Dakota, documented the reactions from German speaking residents of the state in a research article that won a prestigious award from the South Dakota Historical Society. Gombocz’s article, “‘A Menace to Peace and Progress’ Unexplored Newspaper Reports and Testimonials Pertaining to the Ban of the German Language in 1918,” won this year’s Herbert S. Schell Award for the best article in South Dakota History, the State Historical Society’s quarterly journal. Click here to read more, and find out how Gombocz’s work focuses on the response from German speakers in the state during WWI.

Sam Lucas was a Black Civil War Veteran, and a popular star of stage and screen. Sam Lucas was born with family and ancestral ties to slavery. His funeral was a fascinating harbinger of World War I. The Library of Congress’ National Film Registry recognizes our nation’s most important films, including many important early films that have become largely forgotten. The 1914 silent filmUncle Tom’s Cabinfeatures Sam Lucas and is one such film listed on the National Film Registry. Click here to read the whole story, and discover how "Lucas’ funeral signaled a changing America as it prepared to enter World War I"

He was 26 years old, 5-foot-4, weighed 130 pounds and came from Albany, New York. And on the night of May 15, 1918, Army Pvt. Henry Johnson, a member of the all-black New York National Guard 369th Infantry Regiment, found himself fighting for his life against 20 German soldiers out in front of his unit’s trench line. Johnson said later. “There wasn’t anything so fine about it. … Just fought for my life. A rabbit would have done that.” Click here to read the whole story on the Lipstick Alley website, and learn how there was a LOT more to the action that eventually earned Johnson the Medal of Honor.

Researcher David Venditta was blogging last year about an Army officer from Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, who was killed in the First World War. In 2024, Venditta has discovered that "There’s more to tell about 2nd Lieutenant Howard Lee Strohl." His exploration of Strol's battlefield death, and the subsequent disposition of his remains, lead him to observe that "It’s clear the war dead of more than a hundred years ago were honored and their kin treated with respect just as they are today." Click here to the follow Venditta's search trail through multiple agencies and sources to fill in all the details of the death and disposition of a twenty-three year-old American soldier in World War I.

A "British Pattern 1902 Other Ranks Service Jacket was field-issued to a Sergeant in Company M of the 106th Infantry Regiment, 27th Division" may not, at first glance, seem to have much of a story to tell. But researcher Michael Santoro ravels all the narrative threads that the century-old uniform carries, and finds that it does have a lot to say. Click here to read more, and learn how an American soldier "fought at the Somme Offensive wearing this uniform," and get some hints about the men who might have worn it in action.

A man is only missing if he is forgotten.

Our Doughboy MIA this monthis Private Percy E. Southard. Born in March, 1897, the son of Henry and Minerva Southard of Reidsville, North Carolina, Private Percy Southard was already a member of the 3^rd Regiment of Infantry, North Carolina National Guard, when America entered WW1 in April, 1917. His unit – Company G of Reidsville – was federalized on August 6, 1917 and sent to Camp Sevier, South Carolina to prepare for overseas service. There the company became Company G, 120^thInfantry Regiment, 30^thDivision. Fighting strength for the units of the 30^th were then built up by drafts of men coming in from Camps Jackson and Taylor. Private Southard shipped ‘Over There’ on May 12, 1918 aboard the transport Bohemian, departing from Boston, Mass. Overseas, the division was brigaded with the British, first in the Ypres Sector up in Belgium. By August, however, they had been transferred to the British 4^thBrigade, in the Somme Sector, to take part in the coming ‘Final Offensive.’

At 5:50 am on September 29, 1918, the 120^thInfantry was sent over the top in the area of Bellicourt, near the St. Quentin Canal. It was a section of the line the Germans believed impossible to break and the fighting was intense. Nevertheless, by 11:45 am that day the 120^thhad taken Bellicourt. The price had been high though – of the 250 man Company G, some 120 of them had been killed or wounded. One of the killed was Private Percy Southard. Nothing further is known of his case at this time.

His death was announced in the papers back home on November 1, 1918, while his father did not receive official word until November 15, 1918. His mother had died (ostensibly of TB) in June, 1918, while Percy was overseas.

Wouldyou like to be involved with solving the case of Pvt. Southard, 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 andgive today, with our thanks. Remember:A man is only missing if he is forgotten.

• 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 complete the new National World War I Memorial in Washington, DC.

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