World War One

Find old World War 1 articles here. Find information on uniforms, women, gas warfare, prisoners of war and more.

A Starbucks Cure for the 1918 Influenza (The Stars and Stripes, 1919)

Coffee has the ability to remedy some physical ailments, however this small article told the story of one U.S. Army Colonel who felt so helpless upon seeing so many sick army men come ashore in France suffering from such a terrible illness as influenzastyle=border:none, and was moved to do the only thing that he could in his power to offer comfort: unlimited cups of hot coffee. How real was coffee as a preventative measure in the face of influenza? The good colonel was on to something – it wasn’t the java bean that made an impact, it was the heat: viruses die when exposed to high temperatures.


A more thorough article about Influenza can be read here.


Click here to read about the earliest use of face masks to combat airborne disease.

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A Woman in the Salvation Army (American Legion Monthly, 1928)

This article tells the World War One story of Irene McIntyre, a Salvation Army volunteer who served at the front during the most bloody period of the war:

In her two-hundred and fifty-six days under enemy fire, Irene McIntyre was twice gassed and twice received the unusual distinction of a personal citation in Army orders. She saw more of the war at close quarters than any other American woman. One of her citations read:

‘Under fire of high explosives and gas, she established and conducted huts that were noted for their good cheer and hospitality. Her courage and devotion to her voluntary work were a splendid inspiration to the troops.’


1920s Prohibition created a criminal climate
that appealed to more women than you ever might have suspected…


Read about the Women Marines of W.W. II HERE.

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A Wartime Footing for the USMC (Sea Power Magazine, 1918)

The ranks of the United States Marine Corps began to swell in the early March of 1917, shortly after the Kaiser launched his campaign of unrestricted submarine warfare. When Congress declared war the following April, the expansion began is earnest:

The Act of Congress making naval appropriations for the present fiscal year carries a proviso increasing the Marine Corps from its permanent legal enlisted strength of seventeen thousand and four hundred to a temporary war strength of seventy-five thousand and five hundred with a proportional increase in commissioned and warrant officers and the addition of two major generals and six brigadier generals.


This article is illustrated with 12 photographs.

Click here to read about the African-American soldiers who served in France.

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The Woman with the First Division (American Legion Monthly, 1930)

Twelve years after the end of the war, former Y.M.C.A. volunteer Francis Grulick wrote this moving account of her days as a canteen worker in France. She had vivid and colorful memories of her days in the forward positions bringing some measure of comfort to the men of the U.S. Army First Division, to whom she was devoted. She was with them at Gondrecourt, Bonnvillers, Boucq, Cantigny and Soissons. She filled their canteens, served them lemonade, poured their coffee, cooked their meals and also saw to it that cigarettes were plentiful. By the time the First Division arrived in Coblenz for occupation duty, she recognized that the unit was composed almost entirely of replacements and that she was the only witness to the First Divisions earliest days in France.



Is your name Anderson?

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Letter from Belleau Wood (With the Help of God and A Few Marines, 1919)

The following letter was written by a Belleau Wood veteran of the U.S. Marine Corp’s Sixth Regiment, Private Hiram B. Pottinger. It was included the World War One memoir, With the Help of God and a Few Marinesstyle=border:none (1919) by Brigadier General A.W. Catlin, U.S.M.C. (1868-1933), who believed it rendered accurately the enlisted man’s view of the battle.

The letter is accompanied by a black and white photograph depicting what is clearly a re-staging of the Marines mad dash across the wheat fields that sit just outside the Bois de Belleau.

Click here to read about the U.S. Navy railroad artillery of W.W. I.

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Remembrance Day at the Cenotaph (American Legion Monthly, 1936)

This chill November morning the Cenotaph is surrounded by serried masses of men. Up and down Whitehall as far as one can see are thousands and thousands packed in so tightly they cannot move…Suddenly from St. James Park comes the sound of a gun. They used to say it was impossible for a British crowd to be quiet. That was before Armistice Day. For the hum of London dies at the sound of the gun…Somewhere in the distance a horse paws the ground and neighs. A flag flaps in the breeze. Never such a silence as this. A King and his people pause sixty seconds in solemn celebration for the dead. It is the Great Hush.

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The German Atrocities that Never Were (The Nation, 1923)

The post war period was the time when the press had to start figuring out what was true and what was false in all matters involving the reports that their assorted papers and magazines had printed during the conflict. Admiral Sims of the U.S. Navy caused a stir when he went on record announcing that a particularly odious policy observed by the Germans, widely believed to have been true, was in fact, a falsehood:

I stated…that barring the case of the hospital ship Llandovery Castle I did not know of any case where a German submarine commander had fired upon the boats of a torpedoed vessel…

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George Creel and His Posters (How We Advertised America, 1920)

This essay was written by President Wilson’s Director of the Committee on Public Information, George Creel (1876-1953). It first appeared in Creel’s post-war memoir, How we advertised Americastyle=border:none
and gives a thorough rundown of the planning and the creativity that went into the mass-production of what is today a highly-prized collectible; the American World War I poster.


Twenty years later Creel wrote an article in which he explained his belief that America cannot be censored. Click here to read it.


Click here to read about how the mass-marketing techniques of the W.W. I era was used to promote KKK membership…

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Over There’ by Albert Sterner (Sea Power Magazine, 1918)

An American sailor in white uniform stands in the center bearing the Stars and Stripes, and at his side stands Columbia, in shining armor and with a drawn sword, pointing across the sea to direct the gaze of the sailor Over There to the battlefield of the nations, where he must carry his flag to victory for the sake of the free country whose uniform he wears. In the background beneath the flag is shown the battle fleet steaming out to sea.


– so wrote the editors of Sea Power Magazine who were so moved by the W.W. I U.S. Navy recruiting poster Over There by Albert Sterner (1863 – 1946) that all they could do was describe it’s powerful lines and overall design.

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