from The World War One Centennial Commission Act, January 14, 2013
World War One was a watershed in American history. The United States' decision to join the battle in 1917 "to make the world safe for democracy" proved pivotal in securing allied victory — a victory that would usher in the American Century.
In the war's aftermath, individuals, towns, cities, counties, and states all felt compelled to mark the war, as did colleges, businesses, clubs, associations, veterans groups, and houses of worship. Thousands of memorials—from simple honor rolls, to Doughboy sculptures, to grandiose architectural ensembles—were erected throughout the US in the 1920s and 1930s, blanketing the American landscape.
Each of these memorials, regardless of size or expense, has a story. But sadly, as we enter the war's centennial period, these memorials and their very purpose—to honor in perpetuity the more than four million Americans who served in the war and the more than 116,000 who were killed—have largely been forgotten. And while many memorials are carefully tended, others have fallen into disrepair through neglect, vandalism, or theft. Some have been destroyed. Watch this CBS news video on the plight of these monuments.
The extant memorials are our most salient material links in the US to the war. They afford a vital window onto the conflict, its participants, and those determined to remember them. Rediscovering the memorials and the stories they tell will contribute to their physical and cultural rehabilitation—a fitting commemoration of the war and the sacrifices it entailed.
We are building a US WW1 Memorial register through a program called the Memorials Hunters Club. If you locate a memorial that is not on the map we invite you to upload your treasure to be permanently archived in the national register. You can include your choice of your real name, nickname or team name as the explorers who added that memorial to the register. We even have room for a selfie! Check the map, and if you don't see the your memorial CLICK THE LINK TO ADD IT.
The inscription on this memorial reads:
1917-1918
These men of the Swiftwater Valley put their country’s need above opportunity, ease and private gain and served with the armed forces in the World War.
These mountains and the folks who find peace among them shall ever hold them in grateful remembrance.
[A listing of 24 servicemen follows]
The inscription on this memorial reads:
THIS TABLET PERPETUATES THE MEMORY OF THE
SWISSVALE MEN AND WOMEN
WHO SERVED HONORABLY IN THE WORLD WAR
1917 -- 1919
LET AMERICANS OF THIS AND FUTURE GENERATIONS REMEMBER THAT AMERICA TAUGHT THEM HOW TO LIVE AND HOW TO DIE AND SHE WILL PRESERVE FOR HER CHILDREN THE PRICELESS MEMORY OF THEIR SACRIFICE, HEROISM AND DEATH
[listing of names]
ERECTED BY THE BOROUGH OF SWISSVALE, PENNSYLVANIA.
It was in 1918, at 7:40pm when the first of a series of explosions spanning two days went off in Building 6-1-1 of the TA Gillespie Shell Loading Plant in rural Morgan, NJ. The building contained equipment which melted and poured Amatol - a Trinitrotoluol (TNT)-based explosive - into 155mm artillery shells for shipment to France for use in WWI.
The remains of 14-18 unfortunate souls, who were so badly disintegrated by the blasts, were buried in a mass grave in nearby Ernst Memorial Cemetery (Parlin, NJ). The task of trying to identify the unidentifiable and to witness & certify each burial fell to South Amboy resident, Michael Nagel, who later became the Commander of American Legion Luke A. Lovely Post #62.
In 1929, 11 years after the blast, the South Amboy Lions Club erected this monument at the site of the 20' x 35' grave.
Narrative adapted from Morgan, NJ website.
Photos courtesy of:
Gillespie Explosion crater 1918 & Power House - Atlas Obscura
Locomotive - National Archives
Morgan residents fleeing - New York Times
Monument - NJ State Historic Preservation Office
EVANS ROAD
NAMED IN MEMORY OF
2D LIEUTENANT EDWIN V. EVANS, D.S.C.
F CO. 16TH INFANTRY
KILLED IN ACTION IN FRANCE
JULY 20, 1918
ERECTED BY
THE MILITARY ORDER OF THE WORLD WARS
NEW YORK CHAPTER
The Talerhoff Internment Camp Memorial was erected in 1964 by members of the Russian-American community to pay tribute to the memory of the men & women placed in the Austrian camp during World War I.
Jackson, NJ has a Russian community due to the employees at the Russian ordinance proving grounds in adjacent Lakehurst, NJ. These were "White Russians," originating from Minsk (today's Belarus) around the time of the Bolshevik Revolution in 1917. These citizens formed the Russian Consolidated Mutual Aid Society of America (ROVA), who helped create this memorial.
This monument consists of a granite tapered pillar atop a two-tiered rectangular stone base. It has two identical sides - one in English, the other in Russian - consisting of a relief of the Russian Orthodox cross encircled in a laurel wreath above an inscription dedicating the monument.
Photos courtesy of: Ocean County Cultural & Heritage Commission
Sculpted by Joseph R Pollia, this ten foot tall memorial features a WWI soldier standing at a gravesite, with his eyes gazing down at a grave. His left foot is on a small mound of dirt, and his left hand rests on his knee. He holds in his hands his rifle and helmet. It was dedicated on May 30, 1927, as a tribute to those who died in WWI and all from Tarrytown who served.
A tow-backed granite bench has a higher center section with a bronze plaque attached to it. On the plaque is an image of an eagle and inscription dedicating it to those from Tatnuck who served in WWI. It was dedicated on September 10,1927.
Beneath the main plaque is another placed there in memory of Pvt. Herbert O. Whitaker, who was killed in action at Belleau Wood, France, on July 18, 1916.
This is a gray limestone soldier, approximately 13 feet tall, wearing a World War I uniform and standing on a marble base. On the front of the base is an inscription honoring Taylor County Veterans. On the other sides are lists of names of war dead from WWI, WWII, and the Korean and Vietnam Wars.
Two stone figures approximately six feet tall stand next to each other atop a seven fool tall stone base. The bearded one is from the Civil War, holds a gun in front of him and has his hand on the other's shoulder. The other is from WWI is younger and has one hand on the barrel of the gun, with the other one raised. This was dedicated to the memory of "our country's defenders" in the Civil War, Spanish-American War and WWI and to "Fraternity, Charity, Loyalty."
Memorial contains the inscribed names of eighteen WW1 soldiers.
Also on the site is a stand-alone monument to James E. Livingston, USMC, Congressional Medal of Honor, awarded May 2, 1968.
This Temple of Victory Monument, located at Manalapan's Old Tennent Church Cemetery, is dedicated to Monmouth County residents who lost their lives in World War I.
It consists of an elaborate Barre granite canopy supported by four corner Doric columns, resting on two, tiered, square concrete slabs. The base is 10' square; the dome is 14' high. The canopy consists of a round ceiling slab with angled square corner blocks, decorated with stars & crossed weapons.
Standing under the canopy is a stone slab with slanted upper surface commemorating the monument.
The designers & builders were LL Manning & Son of Plainfield, NJ. The monument was dedicated on November 21, 1920 with an address by New York lawyer, Howard R. Cruse. The Camp Vail band performed.
Photo courtesy of: NJ State Historic Preservation Office
The Tennessee War Memorial Building is situated in downtown Nashville at the base of the state capitol, and was built as an enduring memorial to the Tennessee soldiers who died in World War I. Begun in 1923 and dedicated in 1925, the memorial initially included an auditorium, a park, and rooms for an archives and museum to preserve the state's heritage and encourage civic engagement. The Tennessee State Museum operated in the museum space until 1981 when it was transformed into the Military Branch of the State Museum. The War Memorial was designed in the Greek Doric order by architect Edward Dougherty, affiliated with the New York firm of McKim, Mead and White. The building has an atrium as its focal point with the names of the 3,400 Tennesseans who gave their lives in the Great War engraved into the west and north walls. A striking statue entitled "Victory" by Nashville sculptor Belle Kinney stands upon a granite pedestal, dominating the central atrium.
