The World Remembers

October 24, 2018

Several years ago, during the early planning stages for the centennial, the Alabama Department of Archives and History joined with almost one hundred global partner organizations in an effort to display the names of the nine million soldiers killed during the Great War. This collaborative international project, which launched in 2014, is entitled The World Remembers. The Archives provided the list of Alabamians who died during the war, based upon a research project overseen in the 1920s by Marie Bankhead Owen, the department’s second director.

The display of the honor roll of soldiers killed in 1918 began in mid-September and will conclude on Armistice Day, November 11. During this time, the names of more than one million fallen soldiers from sixteen countries will be displayed simultaneously for more than eleven hours each day at museums, interpretive sites, and memorials, as well as online. Before the project ends, The World Remembers will also list official war deaths which occurred through 1922, representing the many thousands who died of their war wounds or disease long after the conflict had ended.

As Alabama’s official memorial to the Great War, it is altogether fitting that the Archives display the names of these fallen soldiers as part of its centennial commemoration. The names of a number of Alabamians will be included in the display. The stories of some of these men will be featured on this blog in the coming weeks. 

To view The World Remembers, visit the “Alabamians in the Great War,” exhibit, located on the second floor of the Alabama Archives, or visit the project website at https://www.theworldremembers.org/.