| | | | December 2023 On December 15, 2023, the Doughboy Foundation welcomed a special guest bugler for Daily Taps at the National World War I Memorial in Washington, DC. Mary Bowden is the creator of Seraph Brass (an all-female brass quintet) and trumpet professor at Shenandoah University. Wearing a WWI U.S. Army Hello Girls uniform, Mary sounded Taps in honor of WWI Veteran Raymond A. Walling, Battery E., 56th Coast Artillery Corp. Walling was KIA in France on 8/31/1918 and is the namesake for CT VFW Post No. 149. Check next month's issue of DISPATCH for more about Mary Bowden, and find out why sounding Taps meant a lot to her. (Photo © Bruce Guthrie) | | Campaign To Win Congressional Gold Medal For The Hello Girls Featured In Podcasts  The ongoing campaign for passage of the current Hello Girls Congressional Gold Medal legislation in the 118th Congress continues through the holidays, and will ramp up even more in 2024 -- will you answer their call, and make a call to help? The Hello Girls made critical battlefield tactical communications work effectively for U.S. and French military forces on the front lines of World War I, saving many lives by helping bring the long war to a quicker end. However, when the Hello Girls returned home after WWI ended, they were denied veterans status and benefits until 1977. The Hello Girls earned and deserve the recognition of a Congressional Gold Medal, and the World War I Centennial Commission asks you to help make that happen in the 118th Congress! Click here for our toolbox that makes the process of reaching out to your Representative and Senators very straightforward. Congress is going home for the holidays shortly, so you can also reach out to the local and district offices of your Senators and Representative, and tell them that you want them to cosponsor the Hello Girls Congressional Gold Medal legislation in the 118th Congress. When their nation called in 1918, the Hello Girls answered --please answer their call for recognition in 2024! | During the week of December 24, 2023, Daily Taps at the National World War I Memorial in Washington, DC will sound in honor of World War I veterans Cpl. William and Pvt. George Gurtler of Saratoga Springs, NY. Both brothers were KIA on Oct. 20, 1918 during the Hindenburg Line Offensive. They are the namesakes for VFW Post No. 420 in Saratoga Springs, NY | William and George Gurtler served in the 105th Infantry Regiment of the 27th Division, a local National Guard unit once once based in part at the Lake Avenue Armory, now the state Military Museum and Veterans Research Center. The regiment shipped out to Europe in May 1918 with 2,720 officers and men. Both brothers were assigned to the regiment's headquarters company. The two brothers were part of a column of troops on October 20, 1918, when German artillery shells landed on the unit. The brothers ended up in the same foxhole; one shell killed both of them. The armistice that ended the fighting came on November 11, less than a month after their deaths. Daily Taps will Honor William and George Gurtler from December 24 to December 30, 2023. | | |  | The Daily Taps program of the Doughboy Foundation provides a unique opportunity to dedicate a livestreamed sounding of Taps in honor of a special person of your choice while supporting the important work of the Doughboy Foundation. Choose a day, or even establish this honor in perpetuity. Click here for more information on how to honor a loved veteran with the sounding of Taps. "Trench Talk, Trench Life":
Origins Of A Book About World War I  Just after noon on August 30, 1914, about a month into World War I, a biplane marked with the German iron cross under its wings flew 6,000 feet above France's capital city. Soon, to the surprise of Parisians below, four explosions rocked the city as Ferdinand von Hiddessen (in the aft cockpit at left) dropped four bombs, by hand, in the world's first aerial raid on a national capital. As an increasing number of attacks came from German planes (as well as the first wartime Zeppelins), Parisians decided to take drastic action. Click here to read how, in late 1917, engineers commissioned by the French government began creating a fake Paris just outside the capital in an effort to fool the German air force. |  Massachusetts Maritime Academy is the recent recipient of a $50,000 donation from the Provincetown VFW Post 3152 to establish an annual scholarship in tribute to Lewis Armstrong Young, a Provincetown native and World War I veteran who died in 1918. Young enlisted in the U.S. Naval Reserve Force as a machinist's mate in July of 1917, and died onboard the U.S.S. Marietta from the influenza pandemic in 1918. In the 1930s, charter members of the Provincetown Veterans of Foreign Wars named their post in honor of Young. Click here to read more, and learn how this donation is .intended to "keep the legacy of the Provincetown hometown hero alive." | How A Hospital Meeting Inspired
Wilfred Owen's World War I Poetry  | | | World War I was The War that Changed the World, and its impact on the United States continues to be felt over a century later, as people across the nation learn more about and remember those who served in the Great War. Here's a collection of news items from the last month related to World War I and America. | | | The Hello Girls Christmas Party At Camp Upton in 1918 Why Gary Sinise Is A National Treasure Father Duffy On The Wait Before The Big Fight The Secret Plot To Bring America Into World War I Discovering The Magnificent "Dixie Doughboy" American Look At New Map Of Europe After WWI, 1918 World War I Code Talkers Navy Department World War I Concrete Barges How A Vision For World Peace Failed Friends Of Fort Caswell Rifle Range Honor WWI Veterans Weathering The Front: How Nature's Fury Defined World War I  A man is only missing if he is forgotten. Our Doughboy MIA this month is Corporal Everett Hogoboom. He was born on November 13th, 1895, in Onetta, New York. He was a Firefighter for the Lehigh Valley Railroad in Buffalo, New York. He was inducted on September 20th, 1918, in Laporte, Pennsylvania, and sent to Camp Meade for basic training. Initially a member of HQ Co. 314th Infantry, 79th Division, he was transferred to Company "M" of the same regiment before sailing to France in July of 1918. On September 27th, 1918, Company "M" of the 314th Infantry led the attack towards Nantillois from Montfaucon when they came under intense bombardment and machine gun fire. CPL Hogoboom was declared Killed in Action and reportedly buried the following day by Chaplain H.L. Kearns. After the war, the graves registration service could not locate the grave of CPL Hogoboom, and a search of the reported burial site was completed in 1927 without results. Chaplain Kearns recalled burying the remains of a shell-torn body near the listed burial location of CPL Hogoboom but could not recall the man's identity. CPL Hogoboom is memorialized on the Tablets of the Missing at the Meuse-Argonne American Cemetery in Romagne-sous-Montfaucon, France. Would you like to be involved with solving the case of Corporal Everett Hogoboom, and all the other Americans still in MIA status from World War I? You can! Click here to make a tax-deductible donation to our non-profit organization today, and help us bring them home! Help us do the best job possible and give today, with our thanks. Remember: A man is only missing if he is forgotten. | Merchandise from the Official
Doughboy Foundation WWI Store  The 2023 Holiday Special continues through Dec. 24, 2023 with free standard shipping on orders over $100 and Bonus Surprises on orders over $50. Click here to visit the Doughboy Shop now! Proceeds from the sale of these items will help build the new National World War I Memorial in Washington, DC. This and many other items are available as Official Merchandise of the Doughboy Foundation. | | | |  Submitted by: Joey Funkhouser {1st Cousin 4x Removed} John Franklin Funkhouser was born around 1892. John Funkhouser served in World War 1 with the United States Army. The enlistment was in 1918 and the service was completed in 1918. Story of Service John Franklin Funkhouser was born June 17th, 1892 at Baker, West Virginia. He grew up on his family homestead, built by his grandfather. It is said that he was an excellent conversationalist and could liven-up any meeting with his outgoing personality. In 1916, John followed his older brother, William, to Dayton, Ohio where he found work. While in Ohio, John had an ear and mastoid operation probably due to an ear infection. In April 1917, America entered the war and the call to arms began. John was called to the services of his country in May 1918. In John's surviving letters, he described his six weeks of extensive training. Writing to his sister, Della, he states, "I just got back from the big rifle range. It is 8 miles out from here. We marched those 8 miles and carried about 50 lbs. I never was so tired in all my life as I was when I got here." Growing up in the backwoods, John learned to hunt and shoot. Those years of helping his family put food on the table paid off in training. He goes on, "We shot all day, Friday, Saturday, and Sunday. I made some good scores. We had slow and rapid fire, on the rapid fire I had to shoot and load ten times to a minute. I got every shot fired and hit 8 bulls eyes out of 10 at 300 yards. I made the points for sharpshooter." | | | | |
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