A Year in the Life of a WWI Doughboy

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Whatever you may have seen in the movies or read in books, sometimes the real story can be more compelling than any fictional account. In the archive files, there is a log by a former faculty at U of D, Herman Mayrose, telling the story of his life as a doughboy during the final years of World War I. It’s twelve pages long, but I thought I would post some of the some of the sections here for people to read.

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It was all very fascinating, but one of the highlights is the day they learned that the war was OVER on November 11, 1918.

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The last two pages of the log is a poem “Whiz-Bang” Hill, by John Flynn-Medical Detachment-129th Infantry, describing the sights and sounds of a fierce battle in France.  The last stanza is a tribute to all those brave soldiers who made the ultimate sacrifice.

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