Over There, Over Here: World War 1 and Life in N.H.
Last of the Doughboys: The Forgotten Generation and Their
Forgotten World War Richard Rubin
In
2003, 85 years after the armistice, it took Richard Rubin months to find just
one living American veteran of World War One. But then he found
another. And another. Eventually he managed to find dozens, aged
101 to 113, and interview them. A decade long odyssey to recover the
story of a forgotten generation and their Great War led Rubin across the United
States and France, through archives, private collections, battlefields,
literature, propaganda, and even music. But at the center of it all were
the last of the last, the men and women he met: a new immigrant, drafted and
sent to France, whose life was saved by a horse; a Connecticut Yankee who
volunteered and fought in every major American battle; a Cajun artilleryman nearly
killed by a German aeroplane; an 18 year old Bronx girl "drafted" to
work for the War Department; the 16 year old who became America's last World
War One veteran; and many, many more.
Their stories will help create a public discussion about the effect of
World War 1.
Rubin will be
speaking Saturday, June 10th at 7:00 p.m. at the Warner Town Hall
located at 5 East Main street in Warner.
This
program is part of World War I and America, a two-year national
initiative of Library of America presented in partnership with The Gilder
Lehrman Institute of American History, the National World War I Museum and
Memorial, and other organizations, with generous support from The National
Endowment for the Humanities.
