New Feature Article: Photo Essay: Western Front Association–USA Branch 2007 Tour

January 23, 2016 by Randy
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The webmaster added a new page under the Features / Articles section of the website.  It’s titled “Photo Essay:  Western Front Association–USA Branch 2007 Tour” and it includes a collection of twenty photographs taken by tour participant Kevin Drake.  Readers who travel to France regularly know that the country is both a place of great devastation (during the war) and great beauty.  Kevin has captured this wonderfully and artistically in the pictures included in the photo essay.  A link to the page is given below: Continue reading →

News & Events–Stateside: National WW1 Memorial at Pershing Park Design Competition Update

January 10, 2016 by Randy
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The WW1 Centennial Commission’s design competition for a National WW1 Memorial at Pershing Park is nearing completion.  The five second-round finalists have given their presentations and the winner will be announced on January 25; a date which coincides with the WW1CC’s tenth Commission Meeting.   Congress authorized this new national-level World War 1 Memorial in D.C.  However, it will be done through an update of Pershing Park, a one-block urban park on Pennsylvania Avenue.  It will not be on or connected to the Mall, as Continue reading →

Books and Movies–a New Years Resolution: Building a 2016 Reading List

January 1, 2016 by Randy
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First of all, Happy New Year, Bonne Année, and Frohes neues Jahr to all readers of this blog and the Meuse-Argonne Facebook Group!   Spending more time researching and reading up on the Meuse-Argonne is one of the webmaster’s 2016 New Years resolutions.  (Learning French is the other major one.)   Toward that end–and for the benefit of all readers–the webmaster is polling readers to find out their favorite Meuse-Argonne books in the following categories: Overall Battle / Discussion of Strategy / etc. Regimental / Divisional Continue reading →

We Forget Today: The Cost of the War–Lt. Col. Whittlesey, 77th Div., and John Nelson, 1st Div

November 25, 2015 by Randy
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We forget today just what an impact World War One had on the lives of its participants and their families.  During these Centennial years it is easy to get caught up in the excitement of commemorations and plans to visit the battlefields again.  (The Webmaster just marched in NYC’s Veteran’s Day Parade with a group of WW1 Reenactors.)  Yet every now and then–sometime between Veterans Day and Thanksgiving, perhaps–it’s a fitting time to reflect on the human cost of the war.  Consider the two well-documented cases below; and remember Continue reading → Continue reading →

Newsletter Verdun-Meuse, November 2015

November 14, 2015 by Randy
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The November 2015 issue of the Newsletter Verdun-Meuse is now available:  Http://verdun-meuse.fr/images/files/novembre2015.htm.  Each issue features a calendar of relevant events (Agenda section), book reviews and several well-researched articles. Readers travelling to France soon should pay special attention to the calendar of events, as it lists special events and expositions offered throughout the region in upcoming weeks and months. Although the newsletter is in French, English speakers can read a passable translation using Google’s translation tool.  

Courage

November 14, 2015 by Randy
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    In the words of the 151ème Régiment d’Infanterie de Ligne (WW1 French Reenacting): Courage Paris et France! Know that on this dark night and others to come, we Americans are with you!     My condolences to the victims and their families. Mes condoléances aux victimes et à leurs familles.  

Then and Now: American Cemetery & Camp Romagne, Part 2

October 31, 2015 by Randy
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Following publication of American Cemetery & Camp Romagne, Meuse-Argonne.com Facebook Group member Therry Schwartz provided these additional photos and details regarding the construction of the Meuse-Argonne American Cemetery.  Thanks very much Therry!     Here is the evolution of the cemetery at Romagne. It might be somewhat simplistic but only a full length book would do it the justice it deserves.  The first photo is a typical battlefield cemetery.  The men are buried where they fell.  In this Signal Corps photo members of the GRS are Continue reading →

Books and Movies: African American Doctors of World War I: The Lives of 104 Volunteers

October 11, 2015 by Randy
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This is not so much a book review as it is a pre-publication notice. Authors W. Douglas Fisher and Joann H. Buckley have spent the last five years researching and writing about the lives of the African American doctors of World War 1.  The project developed out of Mr. Fisher’s letters from his grandfather, who was a Captain commanding the Supply Train of the 92nd Division, AEF. Most of the doctors were part of the 92nd Division; whose 368th Infantry Regiment fought with the French units on the west Continue reading →

Survey: Where do you plan to be / want to be the morning of Sept. 26, 2018?

September 26, 2015 by Randy
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Today is September 26, 2015–the 100th anniversary of the Meuse-Argonne Offensive is just three years away.  Do you want to / plan to be there?  If so, where will you be at 0530 on Sept. 26, 2018?  Why that location?   Heute ist der 26. Sept. 2015.  Das 100-jährige Jubiläum der Maas-Argonnen Offensive liegt nur drei Jahre in der Zukunft.  Möchten Sie dabei sein?  Werden Sie dabei sein?  Wenn ja, wo werden Sie um 5.30 Uhr am 26.09.2018 sein?  Warum dort?   Aujourd’hui est le Continue reading →