THE PRINT EDITION
THURSDAY, MAY 4, 2017
“May your dreams be larger than mountains and may you have the courage to scale their summits.”
VOLUME XVIIII - ISSUE 13
Remembering South Boston’s World War I Heroes Last Saturday at 11 a.m., a solemn 100th Anniversary Commemoration of South Boston’s Heroes - those who made the ultimate sacrifice in World War 1 (1917-1919) - took place in South Boston’s (EXCEL) High School. by Rick Winterson Many historic, memorable threads came together last Saturday. One hundred years ago this April, U.S. participation in World War I began. After week-long deliberations, both Houses of Congress granted President Woodrow Wilson permission to declare war on Germany, which he did at mid-day on Friday, April 6, 1917. World War I ended on Armistice Day on Monday at 11 a.m., November 11, 1918 (the eleventh hour of the eleventh day of the eleventh month). It was a massive, all-out war, in
no small part due to the shattering power of its weapons – weaponry that had never been used, nor had even been seen before – poison gas, machine guns, airborne bombs, armored tanks, exploding artillery shales (not just cannonballs), and so on. World War I was dubbed “The Great War” and “The War to End All Wars”; casualties – both military and civilian – were close to 20 million (20,000,000) souls. Here in South Boston in 1932, a twenty-foot cabinet containing 103 Memorial Portrait photographs of South Boston’s dead – killed in action in World War I - was dedicated by General Edward Logan, a South Boston native himself. In his remarks, Logan spoke tellingly of South Boston’s allegiance to America and our willingness to serve her. It is now 100 years after “The Great War”; April, 2017, was its Centennial month. Through the efforts of the South Boston World War I Commemoration Com-
Thanks are due to the World War I Re-enactors and the Brotherhood of Tankers.
mittee, led by Chairperson Mary Ryan, a solemn commemoration of South Boston’s role in World War I took place last Saturday, April 29. It was a truly moving event.
attended by a contingent from the Brotherhood of Tankers, Abrams Company. A second contingent from the U.S. Coast Guard kept order during the Commemoration.
At 10 a.m., World War I artifacts, including an early tank and several Re-enactors gathered in the High School yard. These Re-enactors, in authentic military garb and gear, have worked to preserve World War I history for years. The tank came from the Collings Institute; it was
Over 200 residents of South Boston visited the display. At 11 a.m., they were called into the High School auditorium for the solemn Commemoration ceremony. The High School JROTC presented and then posted the Colors. The “HarContinued on Page 8
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