Episode #15 - April 12, 2017

2017-04-13

Highlights Note - WW1 Centennial News changes format to Audio Podcast - notes Interview - Kevin Fitzpatrick on NY Harbor seizures of German ships | @ 01:20 Song - "If He Can Fight Like He Can Love" | @ 07:00 Interview - Chris Christopher on April 6 Commemoration Ceremony in KC | @ 08:15 Interview - Jim Corridan, the Indiana WWI Centennial Committee Chair | @ 14:15 100C/100M - 9 weeks left to submit a matching grant application | @...

Highlights

Note - WW1 Centennial News changes format to Audio Podcast - notes
Interview - Kevin Fitzpatrick on NY Harbor seizures of German ships | @ 01:20
Song - "If He Can Fight Like He Can Love" | @ 07:00
Interview - Chris Christopher on April 6 Commemoration Ceremony in KC | @ 08:15
Interview - Jim Corridan, the Indiana WWI Centennial Committee Chair | @ 14:15
100C/100M - 9 weeks left to submit a matching grant application | @ 17:33
WWrite blog - Tsingtao - more than a tasty Chinese beer | @ 19:25
Media - PBS The Great War series now out | @ 20:00
Much more...

Get links below - Watch the podcast above WW1 Centennial News - Weekly Podcast World War One Centennial News:
April 12, 2017 Open

Welcome to World War One Centennial News. It’s about WW1 news 100 years ago this week - and it’s about WW1 NOW - news and updates about the centennial and the commemoration.
WW1 Centennial News is brought to you by the U.S. World War I Centennial Commission and the Pritzker Military Museum and Library.
Today is April 12th, 2017 and I’m Theo Mayer - Chief Technologist for the World War One Centennial Commission and your host today.
A couple of months after launch, and listening to our subscribers, WW1 Centennial News is changing format to an audio podcast rather than a video podcast. There are a number of reason, but the most compelling from our subscribers was that:

They listen to the show while driving, working out or doing other things
Many people resist subscribing to video podcasts because they use up too much precious space on their mobile device. So by going audio, we only take up 30-40Mb rather than 500-600Mb. Even if you are not technical it’s easy to compare the numbers.

If you have any thoughts on this please contact us at ww1cc.org/contact.

World War One THEN 100 Year Ago This Week

The U.S Seizes German Ship
As the US declares war, the government scrambles to raise funds and stockpile the necessary equipment needed to join the allied effort overseas.
On April 14th the headlines from the Sausalito News reads: German Ships in US Ports Seized.
America’s war against Germany started on the homefront with the seizure of twenty seven ships in New York and four in San Francisco harbor.
These ships will be used to transport our doughboys to Europe.
The seizures didn’t stop there.
Through a campaign aimed to fight against “enemy alien” civilians, the US would seize over half a billion dollars in private property from German immigrants. These funds made up most of the funds in the country’s prewar budget.
Links: https://cdnc.ucr.edu/cgi-bin/cdnc?a=d&d=SN19170414.2.72
http://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/us-confiscated-half-billion-dollars-private-property-during-wwi-180952144/

Some weeks ago, I spoke with Kevin Fitzpatrick about his memorial restoration project on New York’s Governors Island - and he mentions these actions. Here is what he has to say:

[Kevin Fitzpatrick]

Great War Project

Last week, Mike Shuster from the Great War Project brought us up April 5th - the day before the US entrance into the war. This week, we take a look to the turmoil brewing in Russia. Mike, we look forward to your post.

[Mike Shuster]
LINK:
www.greatwarproject.org/
Thank you Mike Shuster former NPR correspondent and the curator of Great War Project blog.

The Great War Channel

For weekly video on WW1 - there is The Great War channel on YouTube. The channel that shows you the history of the First World War, exactly 100 years ago - from a more european perspective.
If you don’t already subscribe to the channel - you should.
This week - the Great War Channel’s new episodes include:

Evolution of the British Infantry during World War 1
Meet Us in England - See WW1 Airplanes
The First American Shots Of WW1 - Guam And The Cormoran

Link: https://www.youtube.com/user/TheGreatWar

World War One NOW Commission News

Last week, the U.S. World War One Centennial Commission held its national centennial commemoration event at the National World War One Museum and memorial in Kansas City.
The event was well attended live and we also provided a satellite feed and a web stream that was carried by various folks.
We want to congratulate the production team headed by Chris Christopher from the WW1 Centennial Commission, Ed Bilous the artistic director from the Juliard school - Ed was our guest last week - Susan Davis International who pulled together all the other logistics and resources, the National WWI Museum and Memorial in Kansas City, missouri and most of all to the great talent of actors, musicians, volunteers and speakers who come together for what has been recognized as a truly world class event - worthy of the solemn commemoration of America’s entry into World War 1.
But there were lighter moments as well. Here is one of the songs of the era that was performed live at the event called “If He can Fight, Like He Can Love” sung by Samantha gossard accompanied by Alla Wijnands on violin, and Bram Wijnands.
[song]
The American Doughboy - If he can fight, like he can love - what a soldier he will be!
With us today is Chris Christopher - the executive producer of the event for the Commission - Hi Chris.
So sum it up for us. What happened, how did it go and where do we go from here?
[Chris Christopher]
That was Chris Christopher the executive producer for In Sacrifice for Liberty and Peace: Centennial Commemoration of the U.S. Entry into World War I
Hosted by the U.S. World War I Centennial Commission
at the National WWI Museum and Memorial in Kansas City, Missouri.
Events coast to coast, overseas commemorate US WW1 centennial
There were commemoration events all over the country - some are still being held this coming week.
In New York, reenactors and active-duty Army soldiers gathered in Times Square to lay a wreath in honored of those who left to fight the war.
In California, a ceremony was held beneath the main arch of the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum.
In Montgomery Alabama, they unveiled a statue to recognize the early American aviators who flew with the French military during World War I in the Lafayette Escadrille.
Even our friends in Europe stopped to a moment to reflect such as in the UK where they commemorated the centennial at the Guildhall in London.
We invite you to ww1cc.org/ww1now all lower case where you can see the entire ceremony as well as additional clips from Kansas city. We will be posting many new things to that site over the coming weeks.
We have a bunch of links for you.
Links: www.ww1cc.org/now
http://www.worldwar1centennial.org/2170
http://dailytrojan.com/2017/04/06/veterans-speak-coliseum-wwi-event/
http://www.worldwar1centennial.org/index.php/communicate/press-media/wwi-centennial-news/2169-world-war-i-centennial-marked-at-maxwell-gunter-afb-on-april-6th-2017.html
http://www.worldwar1centennial.org/index.php/communicate/press-media/wwi-centennial-news/2171-pentagon-commemorates-100th-anniversary-of-us-entering-wwi-on-april-6th-2017.html
http://www.worldwar1centennial.org/index.php/communicate/press-media/wwi-centennial-news/2168-london-event-commemorating-centennial-of-us-entry-into-wwi-on-april-6th-2017.html

Activities and Events

Virginia International Tattoo
We want to highlight the Virginia International Tattoo. No.. it’s not about ink. The military tattoo comes from the early 17th century. It was originally a Dutch phrase doe den tap toe or "turn off the tap", a signal sounded by drummers or trumpeters to instruct innkeepers near military garrisons to stop serving beer and for soldiers to get their butts to their barracks.
Today the term is often used for military drum or musical events.
The Virginia International Tattoo was established in 1997, as an annual celebration of patriotism and international goodwill.
Every year, the Tattoo welcomes over 1,000 performers from all over the world in a display of military bands, drill teams, massed pipes and drums, Celtic (KELTIC) dancers, choirs, and more. The WW1 Centennial Commission is partnered with this event and we invite you to get more information by visiting going to ww1cc.org/events and filtering to Virginia Tattoo (with two t’s)
Link: http://www.worldwar1centennial.org/index.php/commemorate/event-map-system/eventdetail/11018/virginia-international-tattoo.html

Updates From The States

Last week, the commission site for Indiana went live at www.ww1cc.org/indiana.
With us this week is Jim Corridan, the Indiana WWI Centennial Committee Chair.
Mr. Corridan is also the director of the Indiana Archives and Records Administration and the State Archivist.
Welcome Jim -----
Jim - tell us about Indiana’s WW1 commemoration efforts and the site.
[Jim Corridan Interview. ]
That was Jim Corridan the chair of the Indiana WWI Centennial Commission.

International Report

From Europe the headlines read: Honouring The Fallen: The Royals And Trudeau Remember Soldiers Lost In World War One Battle Of Vimy Ridge. On Sunday, The British princes Charles, William, Harry and Canadian prime minister Justin Trudeau joined French President Francois Hollande to remember the armed forces who sacrificed their lives in the 1917 Battle of Vimy Ridge at the Vimy Memorial Park in northern France. The event marked the 100th anniversary of the battle that stole the lives of 3,598 Canadians and injured 7,000. Vimy was not the most strategically significant of Canada’s World War One battles but was the first time that military units from across the country fought together for the first time.
Link: https://z1035.com/honouring-fallen-royals-trudeau-remember-soldiers-lost-world-war-one-battle-vimy-ridge/

100 Cities 100 Memorials

9 weeks left to submit a matching grant application for restoring your local WW1 Memorial
For 100 Cities / 100 Memorial - there are just 9 weeks left to submit a matching grant application for restoring your local WW1 Memorial. There are $200,000 in matching grants available for 100 projects around the country.
It’s not too late to go for that matching grants.
To help, we posted a series of link in this week’s 100 cities / 100 memorials blog at ww1cc.org/100memorials.
The first link will take you to a downloadable PDF of the application submission form.
The second link will lead you to a resources page where you learn from other projects submitted.
Another link takes you to the submission instructions.
And finally a link where you can ask questions of the program managers.
The clock is ticking so head over to www.ww1cc.org/100cities today.
Link: www.ww1cc.org/100cities
Application submission form
http://www.worldwar1centennial.org/images/100c-100m/pdf/100c100m-application-form-reference.pdf
Information and resources
http://www.worldwar1centennial.org/index.php/resources.html
Submission process
https://www.worldwar1centennial.org/index.php/2016-07-06-00-52-42.html
Ask a question
http://www.worldwar1centennial.org/index.php/questions-answers/submit-your-questions.html

Posts and Articles

WWI centennial: Honoring U.S.’s sacrifice for world
This week, Commissioner Monique Seefried penned a piece for the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. Seefried a native of France talks about her feelings of the great war after she immigrated to the US. In a short span of time the American military ballooned from a force of thousands to millions. These men and women were from all walks of life and ethnic backgrounds. Together, this diverse coalition of Americans tipped the scales toward victory. In Monique’s own words “U.S. intervention in World War I is perhaps this country’s greatest contribution to world peace.” Follow the link to see the full article.
Link: http://www.worldwar1centennial.org/index.php/communicate/press-media/wwi-centennial-news/2176-honoring-u-s-s-sacrifice-for-world.html

WWrite Blog
You think Tsing Tao is just a (really good) chinese beer - It’s more and this week in the WWRITE blog Mark Facknitz talks about the Siege of Tsingtao.
Mark is an award winning short story author and a professor of English at James Madison University. In recent years he has divided his research interests between the Great War and Willa Cather. His post includes a beautiful series of photos that show life on a lesser known locations of the great war.. Check it out at ww1cc.org/wwrite
Link: www.ww1cc.org/wwrite

Spotlight in the Media

American Experience: The Great War
There American Experience WW1 documentary “The Great War” premiered on PBS on April 10th. If you missed it and the other episodes - you can find the full series on the PBS site. We have been looking forward to the release of this series for months and now it’s here. Follow the link in the chatroom to catch up on Monday’s episode.
Link: www.pbs.org/wgbh/americanexperience/films/great-war/

The Buzz - WW1 in Social Media Posts

As always, we’re rounding off today's program by taking a look at what was going in the world of social media and WW1 this week. Katherine Akey our social media director is with us, Katherine, welcome -
I heard the KC event actually led trending on Twitter for awhile on April 6 - Tell us about the big week in social media for WW1 this past week.
That’s the show for today. Thank you for listening!
We want to thank our guests
Kevin Fitzpatrick - historian and NY Governors island expert
Mike Shuster from the Great War Project blog,
Jim Corridan - the chair of the Indiana WW1 Centennial Commision
Chris Christopher from the US WW1 Centennial Commission
Katherine Akey the social Media director for the US Commission
I’m your host Theo Mayer.

The US World War One Centennial Commission was created by Congress to honor, commemorate and educate about WW. We rely entirely on your donations. No government appropriations or taxes are being used.
Our programs are to:
Inspire a national conversation and awareness about WW1;
We are bringing the lessons of the 100 years ago into today's classrooms;
We are helping to restore WW1 memorials in communities of all sizes across our country; and
We are building a National WW1 Memorial in Washington DC.

All of this work depends on your support, so please give what you can.
It's easy by texting: WW1Now to 41444. that's ww 1 now to 41444
WW1 Centennial News is brought to you as a part of that effort. We want to thank commission’s founding sponsor the Pritzker Military Museum and Library for their support.
The podcast can be found on our website at ww1cc.org/cn and in the iTunes store at ww1 Centennial News.
Our twitter and instagram handles are both @ww1cc and we are on facebook @ww1centennial.
Thanks for joining us. And don’t forget to talk to someone about the centennial of WW1.