Guess how I spent much of my afternoon yesterday? Yes, three hours at the @TheWWImuseum.

This placard is at the very beginning of the main exhibit. What a terrible start to it all, that some felt “their years of preparation would now bear fruit.”

I had a recent Foreign Affairs article in mind while standing there: https://www.foreignaffairs.com/articles/united-states/2020-08-03/beware-guns-august-asia

"The once unthinkable outcome—actual armed conflict between the United States and China—now appears possible for the first time since the end of the Korean War."

I mostly took pictures of the second half of the exhibit. I’ve somehow walked by this poster numerous times, never really stopping to look.

“America owes France the most unalterable gratitude.” How ironic that in fulfilling that debt we would fight alongside the English, too.

Onto my favorite section. Here’s a uniform of the 89th “Middle West” Division. The unit pic shows members of the 353rd Inf. Reg. or the “All Kansas Regiment”

The uniform of 1LT Robert Russell of the 26th “Yankee” Division, an organization now close to my heart.

I’ll pause here for a moment. If you haven’t had a chance, I would suggest taking a look at this thread I created a couple weeks ago on the identity of an unknown 26th Division soldier. It was a deep dive, an intimate search to put a name to a face. https://twitter.com/azmarayfury/status/1287864330310967299?s=21 https://twitter.com/azmarayfury/status/1287864330310967299

With Robert Russell’s name now in hand, I will likely open a search for a photo of him too. It’s important to know who we’re looking at. Those men and women who served are not faceless names, nor nameless faces. They have stories & experiences. We must strive to understand.

There’s a little something for everyone in the museum. I had @Heather_at_ACTS in mind here.

Here’s a Marine’s uniform from the 2nd Division (note the corporal chevrons). The organization of the 2nd Division is fascinating in its inclusion of a Marine brigade.

2LT Herbert Jones was there with the 2nd Division. https://twitter.com/azmarayfury/status/1285073478232813569?s=21

In a letter home, 2LT Jones discusses what he saw on the way to the front. He notes the long line of refugees and their wagons:

“Some great painter will some day paint a picture of the refugee and until you see this picture you will not be able to even imagine the expression that covered each and every face.” (P. 16)
https://img.kansasmemory.org/thumb500/00627966.jpg

This next line is for all you Marines out there. Jones continues, “On the other side of the road, headed in the opposite direction, was (please pardon my conceit) the cream of our great army.” (P.16)

But he tempers himself: “We knew we were to receive our first real test. Every one was serious, but full of confidence, there was no boisterous talk, very little laughter, and as we approached the front every one was content to think his own thoughts and keep them to himself.”

Note the Marines with the BAR a few tweets above. The @I_W_M has a couple great photos of a US soldier with a BAR.

This one speaks for itself. Women fulfilled innumerable roles during the war, from agricultural and industrial production, to service on the front with signals units and hospitals and aid stations, and service on navy ships.

Note the difference in service chevrons. I made note of that in the linked thread above. They came in all types of colors and sizes as they began to appear on the lower left sleeve.

Army clerk Henry Grady Barrett saved the original draft copy of Gen. Pershing’s farewell letter to Field Marshal Foch. He’s in some of the photos below.

Trench art for the 26th and 89th Divisions.

Here’s a uniform from the 310th Engineers deployed to North Russia. American units spent time guarding ports and railways in Archangel, Murmansk, and Vladivostok.

The American Expeditionary Force Siberia, of which the 310th Engineers was a part, consisted of elements of regiments of infantry. Alphia Schurter, from Hilltop, Kansas, was, according to this document, killed while on guard duty on 8 July 1919 in Vladivostok by a "Bolsheviki."

Note that it says Schurter was with Co. M, 62nd Infantry. A 1920 news article on the anniversary of his death noted that his wife received Schurter's DSC. I had no idea he'd won it, so I looked it up just now.

His citation notes that he was a PFC in Co. D, 31st Inf. The 31st conducted the Suchan Valley campaign to seize the region from Soviet control.

Schurter took part and according to his citation, "Although mortally wounded Private Schurter continued to advance with his platoon and assisted them by fire action until ordered to stop by his automatic rifle sergeant."

That's a bit different than just pulling guard duty. He was directly engaged in combat with Soviet forces.

I'll pick this thread up tomorrow. Stay tuned!

A banner for the 89th Division. Can’t tell if this maybe belonged to an individual soldier given the chevrons in the middle?

Here’s the amazing story of MOH winner and Missouri native John Lewis Barkley, along with his awards.

Apologies for the quality of some of the pictures. It was hard to get a good shot because of the lighting on the glass. Did the best I could.

Here’s a US full kit. Second image is, once again, from the Imperial War Museum.