It's easy to make powerful connections to the past through primary sources, and I plan to use a few selected letters and journal entries to turn back the clock on my trip. However, it's a challenge to make truly personal connections to the events of 100 years ago without access to genealogical records of family history. I don't have any immediate links to the Great War, and I don't recall any accounts from either side of my family. So, to build a meaningful relationship with the past and bring it home to my students, I often use something that we have in common - our school. A trip to our amazing archives did just the trick for me. University School of Milwaukee has a long and impressive history, and our ties to World War I are many. Originating in 1851 as the German English Academy, the school changed names to Milwaukee University School in 1917 due to the anti-German sentiment that was pervasive throughout the country. The school had forty five graduates and former students serve in the war, most of whom never left the shores of the United States. Of those that served, two perished - one over there, and one over here. Howard E Gromley was a German English Academy student who moved on Culver Military Academy to finish his high school studies. He entered the military at the onset of the war and served in the infantry of the US Army, reaching the rank of Lieutenant. He arrived in France in April of 1918, served in the Chateau Thierry and St. Mihel Offensives, and contracted an illness that ultimately took his life. He was remembered by the school in the 1919-1920 edition of the Academy. I plan to visit his grave at the Meuse Argonne American Military Cemetery - it will be a special moment for me (and hopefully my students). More information on Gromley is available in an interesting chronicle of the The History and Achievements of the Fort Sheridan Officers' Training Camps, edited by Fred Girton in 1920. Walter Ludwig's story is much less detailed, but still indicative of the challenges our men and women faced in serving the US at the time of the war. A former student at the GEA, Ludwig was a private in the US Army and stationed in Camp Grant, Illinois. He died on October 7, 1918, a part of a massive influenza outbreak that ravaged the camp (and the rest of the world). His remains rest in Milwaukee - I plan on getting there soon. I found a few connections to the other schools in our triumvirate. Milwaukee Country Day School had just opened its doors and had no students that were of service age (although one teacher thought he may leave if the war moved on longer.) The women at Downer Seminary collected funds for the Liberty Loan drive - a perfect connection to our service learning projects for veterans. These connections will only make the war more relevant to my students and the USM community as a whole. The hour spent in the archives was certainly worth it!
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AuthorChuck Taft ArchivesCategories |