Tuesday, May 1, 2018

World War I and Ethnic Chicago-- Part 1: Doughboys To the Trenches


From the April 8, 2018, Chicago Tribune by Ron Grossman.

It is spring 1918 and now American troops were fully deployed in France, just in time to help the exhausted British and French forces as Germany was preparing a last ditch offensive.

The United States had entered the Great War, as it was then called, the previous year on April 6, 1917.

There was no commercial radio at the time so people turned to newspapers to keep up with what was going on.  On March 24, 1918, the Chicago Tribune was besieged with callers who wanted to know if the "Doughboys" (as our soldiers were often called, were gong to be tested in battle.

The answer was that American troops were now in the trenches on the Front Lines.

--DaCoot

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