On the battlefield of memory : the First World War and American remembrance, 1919-1941

342 Pages·2010·7.175 MB·English

by  Trout, Steven

On the Battlefield of Memory

On the Battlefield
of Memory
The First World War and American
Remembrance, 1919–1941
Steven Trout
The UniveRSiTy OF AlABAMA PReSS
Tuscaloosa
Copyright © 2010
The University of Alabama Press
Tuscaloosa, Alabama 35487- 0380
All rights reserved
Manufactured in the United States of America
Typeface: Baskerville
∞
The paper on which this book is printed meets the minimum requirements of
American national Standard for information Sciences— Permanence of Paper
for Printed library Materials, AnSi Z39.48- 1984.
Cover photo: The Return of Private Davis from the Argonne (1928–1940) by John
Steuart Curry. Oil on canvas, 38 x 52 inc. Courtesy of the Westervelt-Warner
Museum of American Art.
library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Trout, Steven, 1963–
On the battlefield of memory : the First World War and American remem-
brance, 1919–1941 / Steven Trout.
p. cm.
includes bibliographical references and index.
iSBn 978-0-8173-1705-8 (cloth : alk. paper) — iSBn 978-0-8173-8349-7
(electronic) 1. World War, 1914–1918—Social aspects—United States. 2. Col-
lective memory—United States. 3. Memory—Social aspects—United States.
4. World War, 1914–1918—influence. i. Title.
D524.7.U6T78 2010
940.3'1—dc22
2010003555
To Conrad Trout,
teacher and bookman

Contents
list of illustrations ix
Acknowledgments xi
Prologue: “Guide-B ook ike” xv
introduction: Memory, history, and America’s
First World War 1
1. Custodians of Memory: The Ameri can legion and
interwar Culture 42
2. Soldiers Well-Known and Unknown: Monuments to
the Americ an Doughboy, 1920–1941 107
3. Painters of Memory: harvey Dunn, horace Pippin,
and John Steuart Curry 157
4. Memory’s end?: Quentin Roosevelt, World War ii,
and America’s last Doughboy 222
notes 253
Bibliography 277
index 291

illustrations
1. “never Again! But Wasn’t it Great, eh!” 11
2. “Objective Obtained” 59
3. The final page of Memoirs of a Vet 66
4. The front cover of Memoirs of a Vet 67
5. The front cover of the Ameri can Legion Monthly (April 1927) 76
6. The first page of “A Pass to Paris” 81
7. One of Wallace Morgan’s illustrations for “eggs” 83
8. Cyrus leroy Baldridge’s illustration for “Be it ever So humble” 95
9. Spirit of the Ameri can Doughboy 111
10. Advertisement for a Spirit of the Ameri can Doughboy statuette 118
11. The Machine Gunner 161
12. The Engineer 162
13. In the Front Line at Early Morning 163
14. Prisoners and Wounded 167
15. The front cover of the Ameri can Legion Monthly (April 1937) 171
16. The front cover of the Ameri can Legion Monthly (August 1938) 176
17. Outpost Raid: Champagne Sector 187
18. The End of War: Starting Home 189
19. Mr. Prejudice 195
20. The Return of Private Davis from the Argonne 200
21. Parade to War, Allegory 216
22. September 13, 1918, Saint Mihiel 220
23. Quentin Roosevelt’s grave near Chamery as it appeared in 1927 225
24. Down the Net—Tarawa 246