Welcome again!

The World War One Historical Association blog went dark three years ago because of a shuffle, and now I have shuffled back. I am Susan Hall-Balduf, daughter, granddaughter, etc., of a citizen soldier family going back to the American Revolutionary War. My brother received a Bronze Star for Valor for his actions in Vietnam, and my nephew — his son — fought in Fallujah, Iraq, as a Marine. (Our only Marine. None of us knew what to make of that.)

My Great-Uncle Elmer fought in France with the 35th Division, which was organized at Camp Doniphan, Okla., in August 1917 from units of the Kansas and Missouri National Guards. The Division fought in the St. Mihiel Campaign and in the Meuse-Argonne Offensive, where on Sept. 29-30, 1918, it was virtually destroyed in the village of Exermont, northwest of Verdun. Great-Uncle Elmer was shot through the throat and gassed in that battle, one of 6,006 casualties. The 1st Division took the town on Oct. 1.

Here’s a link at Doughboy Center’s website to an excerpt from Robert H. Ferrell’s book Collapse at Meuse-Argonne: The Failure of the Missouri-Kansas Division that describes why the 35th had such a hard time. Here’s more on the Meuse-Argonne Offensive from the website of WW1HA President Randal Gaulke: https://meuse-argonne.com/

Here’s a link to images of Exermont then and now, from Andrew Pouncey’s website War Untold.

The WW1HA blog will wander through the First World War as I continue my own research. I hope I touch on subjects you are particularly interested in. Please share your thoughts in the comments.

• Air warfare
• Animals
• Australia
• Austria-Hungary
• Battles
• Belgians
• Books
• Britsh
• Canadians
• Centenary
• children
• Doughboys
• Eastern Front
• Film
• French
• Gallipoli
• Germans
• Homefront
• Italians
• Marines
• Marne
• Medical care
• Memorials
• Meuse-Argonne
• Music
• Naval warfare
• New Zealand
• Nurses
• Other
• Ottoman Empire
• People
• Poetry
• Post-war
• Prisoners of war
• Ruins
• Russians
• Somme
• Tanks
• Trenches
• Verdun
• Weapons
• Women
• WW1HA
• Ypres

Pack your little kit, show your grit!

Do your bit! It’s not too late to join up  — on the 2017 trip to the battlefields in France. From Meuse-Argonne.com:

Hello, readers!  Space is still available on the World War 1 Historical Association’s June 2017 Pilgrimage to the Western Front, but the deadline for reserving your seat is December 31, 2016!  So don’t put off your decision-making too long; and please share this post with your friends who might be interested in the tour!!  Details can be found at our website:  http://ww1ha.org/2017-ww1-battlefield-pilgrimage/.

Tour Guide’s Skill Set

This tour is being led by webmaster Randal Gaulke.  Many readers know that Randal has been traveling to the American battlefields of France almost annually since 1986.  In planning the 2017 tour he has been working with Paul Guthrie and John Snow, both directors of the WW1HA, to plan the tour.  Paul has organized / overseen seven tours for the WW1HA and its predecessor organization, and John Snow has traveled to the area frequently, too.  Randal has outlined his experience in an October 8, 2016, blog post that can be accessed here:  http://meuse-argonne.com/?p=1603.)

Randal Gaulke gives a talk in 2007 on the map in the Mont Sec Memorial to U.S. troops in the St. Mihiel Salient. (Blogger’s note: That is Susan in the center of the photo with the suspiciously red hair.)

Endorsement From a 2017 Participant

Through this website, Randal also has the opportunity to help planning trips, including Valerie Young; who is booked on the 2017 tour.  She has written this endorsement:

Randy has been an invaluable resource to me this year in the planning of my personal journey to the Meuse-Argonne to bring to life the grandfather I never knew. His website was my initial introduction to his vast knowledge of the history and geography of the area. His recommendations for books, maps, other websites, and travel insights were tremendously helpful. We then had a lunch meeting where I shared my ideas about an individual journey; his great awareness and input validated my confidence and respect for him, his commitment to the Meuse-Argonne, and his desire to enable others to experience it as he has for so many years.

With Randy’s help, I was able to “follow in the footsteps” that my grandfather took nearly 100 years ago. Randy helped me find a guide/driver and accommodations, and provided important information on specific battlefield monuments and sites related to my grandfather’s infantry unit. His detailed knowledge of the area is essential to anyone planning a trip there. I am now writing about my grandfather’s military journey, and look forward to joining the tour in June 2017.

Making It Personal to the Participant

All of the organizing and presentation of history aside, there comes a time on a tour when a person is just struck by something that resonates with his / her soul–and that is why reading history or exploring Google Earth does NOT provide the same experience as a pilgrimage!

For the webmaster, one such occasion was listening to a Volksbund (German War Graves Association) employee talk about the last (annual) visit of an aging spouse to her husband’s grave at the cemetery.  She knew she would be meeting him again soon.

For two members of the 8th Kuerassier Regiment on the 2005 tour, it was touring Helly Ravine near Fort Douaumont.  Following their visit, they questioned whether reenacting was just playing cowboys and Indians; and they had a new-found understanding of the terrible conditions for the soldiers during the Verdun battle and during the Great War in general.

Additional Information on the Guide

In addition to presenting the events and their significance, the battlefield tour guide must become quite proficient in logistics:  One has to schedule visits, hotels, bus timing, etc.  To do this, one has to know the region and its people and be able to speak the language.  One also needs to be organized, to be financially savvy and to understand how to model / consider risks.

Randal has all of these qualifications.  He has arranged many details  for the second half of the 2007 Western Front Association USA Branch’s tour and other tours.  Randal was the coordinator for the WW1HA’s 2015 Symposium in Lisle, Illinois; which featured eight speakers and almost 100 participants over two days.  Randal’s profession as a high-yield bond analyst and his work as Treasurer of the Great War Association, Chairman of the Finance Committee at his previous church and Treasurer of Troop 56 BSA Millington, NJ has also helped him develop the skills necessary.

Again, it needs to be emphasized that Randal worked with the WW1HA and its directors to plan the trip.

Take Action Today!

Please reserve your space today;  Please tell your friends about this opportunity;  and please contact Randal with any questions:  lavarennes@meuse-argonne.com or 908-451-0252.

 

“And We Were Young” update

Here’s the news from “And We Were Young” film animator/director Andy Smetanka:

After two and a half years, I am 93% finished with the animation: just four more Super 8 cartridges to get through (that’s about 12 minutes). Compared to the three hours of footage I’ve already filmed, it hardly seems like anything at all. Three hours of Super 8 animation equals approximately 216,000 individual frames. The film will be between 80 and 90 minutes long.

Mustard gas. Monkey meat. Nerve-shattering bombardments, scything machine gun fire, furious hand-to-hand combat. Urban fighting, woodland fighting, headlong plunges through golden grain fields. If it was in the experience of the average American Doughboy in WWI, it’s in my movie, made entirely out of paper and filmed one frame at a time.

The battles — Cantigny, Belleau Wood, the Meuse-Argonne — are thoroughly filmed at this point. What remains is a good detail of detail work (adding more horses and airplanes, basically) and fleshing out the Transatlantic voyages to and from France. Almost everything I need is already designed and cut out. I just need another month or so to to film it all. It was a good idea (though completely accidental) that I decided not to shoot the film in chronological order; I’ve gotten better as I’ve gone along, and the opening scenes should be much stronger for that.

Next (meaning hopefully by September) comes the “sound phase” of the project begins. I don’t know how long it will take composer Jason Staczek to complete his work, but for me things should start going a whole lot faster with the animation out of the way. Christmas? Not out of the question. My solemn vow is to have some version ready to show at our local (Missoula, Montana) documentary film festival in February.

What is this paper-puppet-and-tissue paper war movie actually going to look like? You can see some scenes here, nestled toward the end of my online demo reel. As you’ll notice, I’ve had some other things keeping me busy these past 2.5 years as well:

https://vimeo.com/86969052

I urge interested persons to get in touch with me at the address below to request a more extensive private peek into the work-in-progress. I would also encourage people interested in supporting this project (which has so far scraped by on a successful 2012 Kickstarter campaign and a small grant from the state film office) to contribute in the coolest way imaginable: by buying a custom-made silhouette cameo. There are two ways to do this: by purchasing the service in my And We Were Young-themed Esty shop linked here, or by contacting me directly at the e-mail address below.

https://www.etsy.com/listing/194201877/be-a-silhouette-character-in-my-animated?

What could be better than the combined satisfaction supporting the most amazing movie ever AND getting to make a personal silhouette appearance in it? But the offer won’t last: when I set down my X-acto knife at the end of August, the window is closed.

andwewereyoungfilm@gmail.com

On the Meuse-Argonne battlefield

The Allies, including the Americans, attacked on the Meuse-Argonne in France on Sept. 26, 1918, and fought on there till the end of the war.

One of the most famous incidents of the battle was the losing of the Lost Battalion (not a battalion and not lost, as Clive Harris, Battle Honours guide, likes to shout).

Here’s a good link about that aspect of the battle.

http://www.homeofheroes.com/wings/part1/3_lostbattalion.html

And here’s the memorial:

(OK, this is a serious story of perseverance, etc., but isn’t it amusing that there’s a memorial to the Lost Battalion marked with an arrow?)

Here is the monument to honor the American capture of the high ground at Montfaucon, about six miles from the Meuse-Argonne American Cemetery. The monument has 264 steps up to a 360-degree observation platform.

The memorial towers over the ruins of the church — all that is left of the village.

Memorial Day 2013

“More than any other modern war ’14-’18 lives in the memory as the ultimate example of a mismatch between what was at stake and the price that was paid. It is the war of the ‘lost generation’, sacrificed for a cause which, in hindsight, is difficult to pinpoint.”

Sophie De Schaepdrijver, Belgian historian and Associate Professor of History at Pennsylvania State University, quoted on http://messines1917.blogspot.be

“And We Were Young” news

Animator Andy Smetanka was victorious in the effort to raise money for the film “And We Were Young.”

http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1486916197/and-we-were-young

So, the paper Meuse-Argonne is coming to a movie screen near you — sometime in the future. I’m very excited to see it, as my many posts on the subject will attest, because it’s all done in silhouette.

Memorial Day in France

Here’s video from the 2011 Memorial Day ceremony at the Meuse-Argonne American Cemetery, just east of Romagne, France. I attended the 2009 ceremony at the cemetery where 14,246 American troops lie. It was very moving, especially to travel through the village of Romagne where the Stars and Stripes hung at every window.

This video begins with the French national anthem (much better sung than in “Casablanca”). Following is Taps. Tears are running down my face.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mXjIksn7Gjc&feature=relmfu

Doughboys on film: “And We Were Young”

I keep meaning to pass on this info and then forgetting. Andy Smetanka is an animator making a film, “And We Were Young,” about American soldiers in WWI, inspired by the Meuse-Argonne campaign. He makes his images by hand-cutting paper — did you ever have one of those silhouettes done of your profile at a fair or somewhere? And then you turned out like this?

Paper silhouette by Kathryn Flocken.
http://www.etsy.com/shop/paperportraits?ref=seller_info

Andy Smetanka’s paper cuts are not sweet little children. They’re soldiers, blasted trees, barbed wire, explosions, etc. His project needs money. Kickstarter.com is a website that lets small projects attract small (or big) donations, so you can become part of “And We Were Young” with just a few (or a lot of) bucks.

Here’s the link to his project:

http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1486916197/and-we-were-young?ref=live

Don’t miss the video.

American soldiers trudging through the Argonne Forest.