Since 1992
Print and digital marketing
AUGUSTA — Veterans, military personnel, government officials and historians gathered at the Maine State Archives April 6 to commemorate the centennial of the United States entering World War I.
The Maine National Guard and the Maine State Museum co-hosted “The Eloquence of Deeds,” ‘and speakers included included State Historian Earle Shettleworth, Brig. Gen. Douglas Farnham, the Maine National Guard adjutant general; 1st Lt. Jonathan Bratten, the Maine National Guard command historian; and representatives from Maine’s congressional delegation.
In his war address to the Maine Legislature on April 3, 1917, Gov. Carl Milliken said, “Let us, by appropriate action, assure the president and Congress of our full and loyal support in this solemn hour of national crisis. No words need be added to his noble statement of the case. The eloquence of deeds can best be ours.”
After the U.S. entered the war on April 6, 2017, the entire National Guard of the state was called into service, according to a news release from organizers of the centennial event.
“Entry into the war was not a surprise and most of the men who signed up to serve knew exactly what they were getting in to,” said Farnham at the event. “The Maine National Guard was made up from community members and families serving side by side. Mainers of all backgrounds: mill workers, lawyers, politicians, farmers, immigrants, Native Americans, sailors, fisherman and lumbermen.”
The War Department granted authority in September 1917 for the establishment of an infantry regiment of National Guard. The unit was formed around the 2nd Maine Infantry and was designated the 103rd Infantry Regiment, assigned to the 26th Yankee Division.
“For the first time in our history we were entering a European conflict, sending our soldiers to European shores,” said Bratten.
“The coming two years would change the face of Maine and the nation, forever,” he said. “The echoes of World War I are still felt in our time, from as wide a spectrum as the events in the Middle East, down to the lopped off branches of family trees here at home.”
More than 32,000 Mainers served in uniform during the war and more than 1,000 died.
“As we commemorate the United States entry into World War I, we remember the service and actions of those who served; not just for what they did but for their legacy of service,” said Farnham.
Maine National Guard campaign credit in World War I includes Champagne-Marne, Aisne-Marne, St. Mihiel, Meuse-Argonne, Ile de France 1918 and Lorraine 1918.
