Erie,
Pennsylvania
July 25,
2018
Michael Hanlon, Our Guide in France and Belgium
Tim and I
truly value the experience of our tour leader, Michael Hanlon who is a former
U.S. Air Force Weather and Operations Officer and a manager of large projects
for both corporate and governmental clients. He is the author of About
the Great War: An Introduction to the Most Momentous Event of the 20th Century and
has appeared on the History Channel as a commentator on the First World War's
events and secrets. He is also the editor of the award winning “Doughboy
Center” website and produces a number of publications, including "Over the
Top" Magazine, the online newsletter, the "St. Mihiel
Trip-Wire," and the daily blog "Roads to the Great War. He is a
partner with the United States World War I Centennial Commemoration Commission.
If you are
interested in The Great War, or military history in general, I totally
recommend subscribing to his daily blog, “Roads to the Great War,” as well as
his other publications. I do not know how he and his wonderful team have time
to research and write the blogs on a daily basis.
The first
time I talked to Mike in 2015, he was so accessible and knowledgeable. When I briefly
told him of my great uncle’s story, he knew the division immediately and
continued to research until he could take us to locations the 90th Division saw
action. This year we have narrowed down the site of Archie’s particular heroic
action and if everything falls into place we will be there. But Mike did not
stop there. He has been working to make
certain that we see some of the places that my other three family members were
at-- 112th/28th Division (Uncle Roy Hall) ---313th Machine Gun Battalion/80th
Division (Cousin Lynn C. Parker) ---and 37th Engineers (Great Uncle Earl Beardsley),
all time permitting, of course. Mike is repeating this process for the other
participants in the tour who had family members in the war.
Mike sends
all participants a list of books to read before taking the tour. I already posted about American Armies and Battlefields
in Europe, prepared by the American Battle Commission in 1938. Today I
just finished The Doughboys, America and The First World War, written by Gary
Mead and published in 2000. The book is very concise and covers the American
involvement from beginning to end. Mead tackled the great scope of American
involvement and offered the history in such a way as not to be tedious. In his last
chapter, “Aftermath,” Mead asks, “Was
the AEF responsible for bringing Germany to its knees?” He answers, “In purely battlefield
terms its presence was necessary but not sufficient. It is in any case the wrong
question. The important question, in assessing the part the United States
played in the First World War, has a much broader focus: could the Allies have
defeated Germany without the financial, economic, military and psychological
backing of the United States” Unquestionably not. Yet the AEF has been ignored,
and overlooked, even by American historians. The Doughboys, p. 416.
Several
chapters were uncomfortable, like “The
Cost.” The cost of The Great War in terms of human life and injury was
unimaginable, but there were other costs that resonate around the world still
today.
The
Doughboys, America and The First World War. Mead, Gary.
Woodstock, New York: The Overlook Press, 2000.
When I
think of the costs of that war, I think of Archie and his letters. He omits any
information that would worry his mother, he references “Mothers day,” the weather,
“I have stood quite a bit of exposure but outside a few cootie bites no damage
was done me, “the Supreme Hand protected me,” “I have been taught a great
lesson,” and his desire to be home. Twenty-one letters from July 10, 1917 to October
16, 1921. There is an innocence in his letters that belies his experience.
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