Lewelling Quaker Museum presents program on Salem in World War I

SALEM – Salem hosted its 136th Old Settlers Reunion Aug. 23-25, and volunteers from the Lewelling Quaker Museum took the opportunity to educate the public on some of those 136 years of history.

David Helman, president of the museum's board of directors, and his wife Cathy gave a presentation on Salem's involvement in World War I Aug. 24 at the Salem Community Center. David spoke about what life was like for the troops in Western Europe, the battles they fought in and the hardships they endured. Cathy spoke about life back home, how everyone pitched in to the war effort by sending supplies, and how parents anxiously awaited the return of their sons.

This year seemed especially appropriate to commemorate an event of such significance because it is also the 100th anniversary of American Legion Post 94.

War begins in Europe

David told the crowd gathered in the community center of how the assassination of a duke was the match that lit the whole continent of Europe on fire. On June 28, 1914, Austrian Archduke Franz Ferdinand was assassinated by a Serbian nationalist named Gavrilo Princip, part of a group trying to end Austro-Hungarian rule over Bosnia and Herzegovina. Austria-Hungary threatened war on Serbia if it did not meet a series of demands.

History.com says that rivalries between the continent's great powers had been bubbling for decades as they jockeyed for position, not just in Europe but as colonizers carving up Africa. By 1914, alliances had formed between certain nations seeking protection from their aggressive neighbors. Serbia had formed an alliance with Russia, which was allied with France. Austria-Hungary had formed one with Germany and later the Ottoman Empire. German leader Kaiser Wilhelm II gave his assurance that Germany would support Austria-Hungary in a war against Serbia, even if Russia and France came to Serbia's aid. Austria-Hungary declared war on Serbia, unleashing what would become one of the bloodiest conflicts in human history, one in which 17 million people would die.

Cathy remarked that Americans knew little of the power struggle transpiring in the Old World, but they did know that 'a far-off war was not a place we wanted to be.” The United States remained neutral at the start of the war, but pressure soon grew to join. In May of 1915, a German U-boat torpedoed the British-owned steamship Lusitania, killing 1,128 people including 128 Americans. History.com says Germany defended the attack, claiming Lusitania carried weapons and war supplies and was therefore fair game, but the incident chilled American-German relations and was the first of several incidents that propelled the United States to enter the war.

America enters

After a U-boat sank another British ocean liner in August of 1915, U.S. President Woodrow Wilson received assurances from Germany that it would no longer sink passenger ships without warning. However, a couple of events in early 1917 pushed American-German relations to the breaking point. That year, British intelligence intercepted a telegram indicating Germany had proposed an alliance with Mexico in the event the United States joined Britain, France and Russia. Later that spring when Germany announced its plan to resume unrestricted submarine warfare, it was the last straw. The United States declared war on Germany and its allies in April 1917.

News of the United States' entry into the war spread like wildfire. Four thousand men from Iowa were needed immediately. David said one of the most interesting facts he discovered in his research was that local postmasters could sign men up for the Marines. The military was taking any able-bodied man between the ages of 18 and 55. A newspaper report tells of 60 men from Henry County boarding a train for Camp Dodge for training.

Local response

The Boy Scouts sold war bonds. Children brought nickels and dimes to school to purchase bonds. Cathy said one of the things that most impressed her was the sense of shared sacrifice people felt toward the war effort, which she believes is lacking from more modern wars.

Locally, a delivery of 2,150 yards of gauze and 1,050 yards of muslin was sent to the hospitals in Europe to treat the millions of wounded soldiers. Cathy's great-uncle Wendell Garretson might have even received some of these supplies since he served in a French hospital performing reconstructive surgery on the faces of soldiers disfigured in battle.

War has never been pretty, but the Great War exposed soldiers to new horrors: rapid-fire machine guns, airplanes, tanks, and perhaps worst of all, poison gas. David and Cathy talked about the terrible pain inflicted by poison gas and how it affected soldiers physically and mentally long after the war ended. David said his great uncle George was among those exposed to poison gas.

In Salem and in many other cities across the country, the public was encouraged to collect fruit pits, nut pits and nut shells to be turned in to the military, which turned them into gas masks.

'By World War I, humans had built huge machines designed to kill as many people as possible,” David said. 'It's hard to grasp the magnitude of this tragedy. Trench warfare was lining up 1,000 men and charging each other.”

Technology changed rapidly even during the course of the war. David said the military was still recruiting men into its cavalry when his grandfather enlisted, at a time when horses were quickly replaced by tanks.

Families hung on every word in the letters they received from their loved ones on the battlefield. Censors prevented the troops from saying too much about their location or activities. The letters were mostly an opportunity to tell their families back home they were OK. The Salem Weekly News often published letters from the front lines.

Anti-German sentiment

While the era of the First World War is remembered as a time of national cohesion, German-Americans remember it differently. There was strong anti-German sentiment in the country, not just to the country of Germany but to anyone from there. In Iowa, German was a widely spoken language at the time owing to the large number of German immigrants to settle in the area. Iowa Wesleyan had a thriving German program. But David and Cathy noted that Iowa Gov. William Harding issued a proclamation banning the use of foreign languages in public, in religious ceremonies, and even over the telephone. The Des Moines Register reports that German-language newspapers were vandalized and shuttered. 'There were 46 German-language newspapers in Iowa before the war; by 1918, only 16 had survived,” it reported.