By Louise Sandberg
My name is Louise Sandberg. I work at the Lawrence Public Library across the river from here. It is that big block of concrete. I have the best view of the Campagnone Common. Better than City Hall.
In 1918, The Red Sox were World Champions. Straw hats were the height of fashion. Cigarettes were 6c a pack and businesses had started using the war as a selling point in the ads. The mills were active and the workers were employed.
Two regular infantry companies as well as the 102nd Field Artillery, a sanitary detachment for the 101st Field Artillery and the Fifth Massachusetts Infantry Drum Corps were raised in Lawrence. A number of other units were organized and sent overseas. Most Lawrence boys were trained at Fort Devins.
The local National Guard was replaced by 1,000 men emergency police force of the Massachusetts State Guard. Various individuals coordinated mechanics for necessary war work, food conservation, and distribution of fuel.
As the City mobilized, the home front was organized by a local Committee of Public Safety. One of their tasks was preparing land, free of cost, for the planting of crops. 720 garden plots were prepared on 98 acres throughout the City. Liberty Lunches were suggested for school children consisting of rye bread and lettuce sandwiches and a banana.
6,150 men and women from Lawrence served in the First World War. Lawrence men fought in these battles: Chemin des Dames; Toule Boucos sector; Pas Fini sector; Aisne Marne offensive; St. Mihiel offensive; Troyon sector; and Meuse Argonne offensive. The women served as nurses. 222 died, many buried in Europe. Many more died years later from wounds they got during action or from shell shock, what would later be called PTSD.
One hundred years ago yesterday this war to end all wars with the armistice 11:00 AM- 11th month – 11th day of 1918. That was the name of Veterans Day when I was a child. Everybody wore the poppy to honor the dead. There has been Veterans Day to include all the veterans before and after. We owe them so much.
When the boys came home, there was a big parade – Lawrence always likes a parade. Servicemen were welcomed home with dinners and other forms of celebration. There were growing signs of the Spanish Flu epidemic; the early stages of it had already arrived in Lawrence. As the century wore on many veterans were honored with memorials throughout the city.
Someone on staff in the old library building had saved a couple of hundred posters that I believe were hung in the library during both World Wars. The colors, the artistry, and the information in them are remarkable. Here are two of them. We put some of them up on the walls of the library though not the walls where they would have been displayed a hundred years ago. Some of the posters even have the gummed labels still on the corners which would have been used to hang them on the walls. Please come in to enjoy this display. It will be coming down in December.
There are many service men that have been honored in squares and bridges all over the city. Marc Laplante and I have collaborated in documenting their lives. I have one more comment to add to this commemoration – I wish it had been the war to end all wars. There would be more casualties from World War II, Korea, Vietnam, the Gulf War, Afghanistan, and Iraq. Let us revel in the knowledge there will always be servicemen standing up when the country needs them.
