JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. — With one of the Great War's most famous doughboys — Gen. John Pershing — being from Missouri, the state this week will commemorate the country's entrance into World War I.
More than 156,000 Missourians served in all four branches. After the war, many in the state Capitol took time to memorialize Missouri's contributions, and much of it is still on display a century later.
Works of art commissioned in the 1920s to honor Missouri soldiers who were part of the American Expeditionary Forces still adorn the state Capitol's walls today.
The largest and most prominent mural sits above the gallery in the Missouri House chamber. "The Glory of Missouri at War" was painted by Charles Hoffbauer, a French painter and soldier who fought in the trenches.
He had to negotiate with the French government to use an aerodrome for space to work on the painting, which is 49 feet by 21 feet, according to one account in "The Art of the Missouri Capitol" by Bob Priddy and Jeffrey Ball. Hoffbauer told the government the painting was for the Missouri House of Representatives.
"Then it will cost you nothing, for we remember the Missouri 35th who broke the Hindenburg line where we had spent four years and 40,000 men," a commandant told the artist. "You shall have it for nothing. Only you must put into the faces of those boys the courage that carried them through."
The painting shows Missourians heading to the front, past a devastated French countryside. It was installed in 1922 after much hype.
A replica of it will be featured three floors down in the Missouri State Museum for its newest exhibit, "Here at Home: Missouri in the Great War," which will open on the centennial. The ribbon-cutting ceremony will take place from 2 to 3 p.m. Thursday, followed by a reception. Thursday is the centennial of the formal declaration of war by Congress.
"The exhibit is about how the war affected servicemen, women and children here in Missouri, and it will also show some of the products made by Missourians during that time," said Tiffany Patterson, museum director.
Uniforms of soldiers and Red Cross nurses from Missouri will be on display, as well as Blue Star service banners from 91 counties. Missouri companies worked to supply munitions as well as mules to the Allies.
Visitors also can go to the second floor and see two lunettes painted onto the walls of battle scenes from World War I.
"Vauquois Heights" by Adolphe Blondheim depicts the 35th Division breaking through the German line after six days of fighting. About 1,500 soldiers in the division were killed.
Lt. Cmdr. Henry Reuterdahl's painting "The Navy Guarded the Road to France" shows the first American destroyer fleet arriving in Ireland to join the war. It is believed that Pershing helped Reuterdahl decide what would be in the painting.
The subtitle of the painting, "We Are Ready Now," was the response that U.S. Navy Capt. Joseph Taussig, of St. Louis, gave when asked by a British admiral when the American destroyer would be ready for action.
In Kansas City, the National WWI Museum and Memorial will host "In Sacrifice for Liberty and Peace: Centennial Commemoration of the U.S. Entry into World War I," sponsored by the United States WWI Centennial Commission. The event, which starts at 11 a.m. Thursday, will include a multimedia program about the U.S. decision to enter the war, according to the museum's website.
Relatives of Pershing and Gen. George Patton will attend, along with defense ministers from France and Belgium. The highest ranking officer who has committed to attending so far is the vice chairman of the joint chiefs of staff, Gen. Paul Selva, according to a museum spokesperson.
Missouri Gov. Eric Greitens and Kansas Gov. Sam Brownback also will be present.
Historic site
The boyhood home of Gen. John Pershing in Laclede is a state historic site that interprets his life and the small-town upbringing that supplied him with a work ethic that earned him the highest military rank his country had to offer — general of the armies of the United States.
The Pershing family moved into the house in 1866 and stayed there until 1885. A statue of "Black Jack," sculpted by Carl Mose in the 1950s, stands by the house and is surrounded by the Wall of Honor, a semicircle of granite tablets inscribed with names of war veterans.
———
©2017 The Joplin Globe (Joplin, Mo.)
Visit The Joplin Globe (Joplin, Mo.) at www.joplinglobe.com
Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.
