The 100th anniversary of the end of World War I is Sunday. The “War to End all Wars” was brought to an armistice on the 11th hour of the 11th day of the 11th month of 1918.
The history of the war during this centennial year was marked in Madison, Wisconsin, with the Wisconsin World War I Symposium, during the last weekend in October. The United States World War I Centennial Commission put together brief pieces of history on the participation of every state in World War I.
What follows is the commission’s essay explaining Wisconsin’s contributions to the United States Army Expeditionary Force that traveled to Europe during World War I and helped bring the conflict to an end:
“Wisconsin’s proud military heritage dates back to the Civil War, when men formed the core of the famed Iron Brigade. The tradition continued, with Wisconsin sending thousands of men to fight in Puerto Rico and the Philippines at the turn of the century, and to serve along the Mexican border in 1916.
Despite that solid history of service, two factors caused some to doubt Wisconsin’s willingness to give full support to the United States’ war effort in 1917. First, more than one-quarter of the state’s population was of German or Austrian decent, leading some to wonder how eager they would be to fight against relatives in their ancestral homelands. Second, one of the nation’s leading voices speaking out against American involvement in the World War was prominent Wisconsin Senator Robert M. La Follette.
The citizens of Wisconsin responded to these doubts by resolutely answering the nation’s call to arms. On June 5, 1917, the first day that American men were called to register for the draft under the Selective Service Act, the State proclaimed “Duty Day” and saw no problems or incidents of note. As Wisconsin men and women began joining the military, any lingering doubts quickly evaporated.
The Wisconsin National Guard, recently returned from federal service in Texas as part of the Mexican Expedition, gathered at Camp Douglas as new recruits arrived to bolster their ranks. Sent to Camp MacArthur in Waco, Texas, the Wisconsin National Guard combined with the Michigan National Guard to form the 32nd Division. This constituted the largest concentration of Wisconsin men in World War I, though smaller concentrations would appear in other units.
As American troops shipped overseas, a group of Wisconsin men suffered a tragedy. On February 5, 1918, the troop ship Tuscania, carrying over 2,000 US soldiers, was sunk by a German U-boat off the northern coast of Ireland, becoming the first US troop ship to be sunk during the war. The Tuscania carried several components of the 32nd Division, and thus Wisconsin men were found among the more than 200 dead.
Wisconsin men and women proved their valor on the front lines, as well as above and behind them. Rodney Williams, a pilot with the 17th Aero Squadron, became Wisconsin’s lone “ace” by recording five aerial victories. Mortimer Lawrence, an aerial observer with the 104th Aero Squadron, shot down the final German plane of the war while flying a mission on November 10, 1918. Base Hospital 22, made up predominantly of Milwaukee doctors and nurses, treated and cared for thousands of wounded soldiers. Sailor John Siegel earned a Medal of Honor for rescuing two men from a burning schooner while stationed stateside.
The 32nd Division as a whole proved itself to be one of the finest in the AEF, earning the nom de guerre Les Terribles from the French and eventually adopting a barred red arrow as their divisional insignia to represent the fact that they pierced every line that the enemy placed before them. On an individual level, many Badger men earned wound chevrons, Silver Stars, Distinguished Service Crosses, and even foreign awards like the French croix de guerre. Clayton Slack, a private in the 33rd Division, earned a Medal of Honor for single-handedly capturing a German machine gun nest in October 1918.
All told, more than 122,000 Wisconsinites served in the US armed forces during World War I. Almost 4,000 of them gave their lives for their country.”
World War I had an impact on my family as one of my paternal great-grandfathers, Hugo Hoppe, served as a member of the 32nd Division from Wisconsin. He was of direct Austrian descent and served on the front lines in the trenches during the division’s entire time in Europe. He returned to the United States a different man. He suffered the effects of post-traumatic stress disorder and other ailments that affect soldiers after they’ve served in combat.
When I was about five years old, I learned the man who was our immediate neighbor had been a World War I veteran, and he had been shot in the leg while in service. When sitting out in his lawn chair in the summer time, he wasn’t afraid to show the bullet scar, although I was too young to remember him talking about his service.
All the veterans of World War I are gone. Their stories and testimonials remain. World War I was particularly horrible, with illness killing more soldiers than war wounds. Battlefields such as Gallipoli, the Italian Alps, Somme, Marne and so many other places still bear the scars on the land.
Think of the lives influenced among all countries participating, with 20 million dead and 21 million wounded. Oppression must always be addressed, yet when we fail at statesmanship, the result is war. And war is the most horrible state of human affairs. Let’s never forget.
— Matt Johnson is publisher of the Monroe Times. His column is published Wednesdays.
