September 15th, 2017 - 7:30 pm to 9:00 pm
From September 26 to November 11, 1918, a hard-fought battle pitting green, poorly equipped American doughboys against combat-hardened German troops saw the U.S. military come of age in just 47 days in the brutal, devastating clash known as the Battle of the Meuse-Argonne. In that short period, Americans pushed back the enemy and forced the Germans to surrender, bringing the First World War to an end—a feat the British and the French had not achieved after more than three years of fighting.
To commemorate the 100th anniversary of America’s entrance into the Great War, Historian Dr. Mitch Yockelson will tell the story of the cast of remarkable individuals who fought in the forty-seven day long Meuse-Argonne battle, including America’s original fighter ace, Eddie Rickenbacker; Corporal Alvin York, a pacifist who nevertheless single-handedly killed more than 20 Germans and captured 132; artillery officer and future president Harry S. Truman; innovative tank commander George S. Patton; Douglas MacArthur, the Great War’s most decorated soldier.
Mitch Yockelson is an investigative archivist with the National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) Archival Recovery Program (ARP). Additionally, he serves as the chief historian for the United States World War One Centennial Commission. He has authored articles and book reviews in various journals and magazines, and his written four books. His most recent, Forty-Seven Days: How Pershing’s Warriors Came of Age to Defeat the German Army in World War I, was published by New American Library Press in 2016. Mitch received a Bachelor’s Degree from Frostburg State University, a Masters from George Mason University and holds a Ph.D. from the Royal Military College of Science, Cranfield University, United Kingdom.
The program is free and open to the public. It will be held at the Community Room at the Margaret H. Rollins Community Center Lewes History Museum and begins at 7:30. For more information about the program or Society, please call 302-645-7670 or visit historiclewes.org.