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Selective Service
On May 18, 1917 after six week of entering the war the U.S. congress passed the Selective Service Act. At his time the U.S. had a small army of about 100,000 men. Because of this President Wilson pushed to government to adopt military conscription. The congress passed the Selective Service Act. This required all the men in the U.S. from age 21 to 30 to register for military service. After a few months the 10 million men had registered in the military. -
James Edwin Hoskins
Hoskins was drafted when he was 24 years old. He was a quaker but was willing to serve his country. Some people in the community disapproved of him going into the military. He left Fairfield, Iowa and went to Camp Pike,Arkansas for training. -
Lusitania Sinks
On May 7,1915 on the Celtic Sea a German submarine attacked the British ocean liner Lusitania without any warning. The ship hit a torpedo while travelling to Liverpool from New York. It started sinking within twenty minutes. There were 1,959 passengers including crew on board. 1,198 people died. It was carrying 173 tons of war munitions. The U.S sent three notes to Berlin to talk about the incident. Germany apologized and pledged to end unrestricted submarine warfare. -
Hoskins Gets The Flu
James encountered a flu epidemic where he was hospitalized. He had a fever of 104. He wrote home almost everyday. In one letter he said that the soldier next to him had died. He survived but had lung problems later in life. -
Sidney Lewis
Sidney Lewis is the youngest World Was One soldier. He enlisted in the British army in August 1915 just three months after his 12 birthday. He kept his age a secret while training is East Sussex. He fought in the Battle of Somme at age 13. He served for six weeks before being sent home. His mom found out that he was serving on the western front form comrade who was on leave. She wrote to the army to have him discharged. -
Battle of Verdun
The Battle of Verdun battles Verdun between February 21 to December 18, 1916. The French repulsed a major German offensive. It was one of the longest battles of the war. The French casualties were about 400,000 and the Germans were about 350,000 men. Around 300,00 were killed. -
First Plastic Surgery
Harold Gillies joined the Royal Army Medical Corps when he was 32 years old. He supervised Charles Valadier who was a dentist. Valadier was experimenting with skin and bone grafts to repair facial wounds. Gillies went to England to establish special plastic surgery units. His most difficult surgery was on William Vicarage who had lost most of his jaw in the battle of Jutland. His new jaw was made from skin from his shoulders. -
Messenger Dogs
Notes: During the war many countries used dogs to carry letters. Often times telegraph and phone lines were cut by the enemies so they trained dogs to carry letters. Dogs would have to run long distance, go through obstacles like barbed wire, or even cross rivers.The dogs had fitted collars with a metal tube and they had a ribbon attached that showed what unit they were apart of by the color of it. -
The Battle of the Somme
The French prosed a joint Franco-British army offensive astride the river of Somme in early 1916.On July 1st the British army attacked the north side of Somme with fourteen infantry divisions.The French attacked the astrie and the southside with five divisions.The German army deployed seven divisions in defense.It was one of the bloodiest battles in history. On the first day the British had more than 57,000 casualties.By the end of the battle both powers lost more than 1.5 million men. -
Zinnermann Telegram
Arthur Zimmermann a foreign secretary of Germany wrote a letter intended to go to Heinrich Von Eckardt the German ambassador to Mexico.British code breakers intercepted the letter.The letter said that if the U.S. entered the war on the allies side then Von Eckardt was to offer Mexico's president to forge a secret wartime alliance. Germany would provide military and financial support for Mexico to attack the U.S.In exchange Mexico would be free to annex territory in Texas, New Mexico, and Arizona -
First Blood Banks
U.S. army doctor Captain Oswald Johnson established the first blood bank on the Western Front. They would transfer blood directly from one person to another. He used sodium citrate to prevent the blood from coagulating and becoming unusable. They would keep the blood on ice for 28 days. Blood was only transported for life saving surgery on soldiers. -
Battle Of Cambrai
The Battle of Cambrai is known for using a large-scale of tanks. The battle was led by British General Julian Byng. There were none infantry divisions, five cavalry divisions, and three tanks brigades. This battle altered the way future warfare would be fought. -
Halifax Explosion
The Norwegian vessel left the Halifax Harbor heading to New York. At the same time the French freighter was going through the harbor's narrows. It was holding highly explosive munitions. The two ships collided setting the picric acid ablaze. More than 1,800 people died from the massive explosion. It also destroyed the north side of the Halifax. The sound of the explosion could be heard from miles away and shattered windows 50 miles away. -
Red Baron
Notes: Manfred Von Richthofen was the most successful fighter pilot in the war. In one month eh shot down two dozen allied planes. Over all he shot down 80 planes. He died on April 21, 1918 when he took his last flight in pursuit of an enemy fighter. He was shot in the torso by an Australian machine gunner. He died after crash landing in a field. -
Order of Introduction.
James Hoskins was given a formal order of introduction into the military. He was given this because the board thought that he would be a good soldier. In the document it says that he is selected for immediate military service. After this he he was named a soldier in the military. -
Transcript letter from New York
Hoskins wrote about his stay in New York. He said that he went to Battery Park and could see the Statue of Liberty. He also says that he went down Wall Street and saw J.P. Morgan’s building. He tells his family that he would like pictures of his house. He told them that he would send them shells and rocks from his stay. -
Transcript letter from Washington D.C.
In the beginning of the letter Hoskins talks about his farm and how accepts the fields to be soft. He says that he went to Washington for the weekend with one of his friends. He said that he visited the capital. He said the we went inside before they closed. He stayed at a YMCA for 35 cents. On Sunday he went the Washington Monument. He also talked about how they were building a Lincoln monument, navy and army building that was going to be the largest building in the world. -
Letter from V.H. Halperin to James Edwin Hoskins Mother
Halperin tells Mrs.Hoskinks that her son will receive an honorable discharged and will be coming home. Halperin says that Jamb has been thought to be strong, self reliant, and self controlled. He says that James will return a better man. He thanks Mrs.Hoskins for her encouragement and enthusiasm which helped James and others to become better soldiers.
