World War 1 - Photographs

The first post of the images of Military Photographers and their equipment. Many more to follow.    (This first post has a copy of an early portrait by Edward Steichen in his roll as an Army Photographer)

In  celebration of National Nurses week (May 6yh thru 12th) here are more photos of the Nurses who served with the AEF in the First World War.

Researching topics of personal interest at the National Archives is rewarding in finding unknown details and amazing discoveries. Additionally rewarding are the photographs and documents you come across the open a door to incidents and activities that have faded in memory.

In my search of the files I have found many photos of the American Red Cross nurses.  Photos of them at work, group photos of the staffs at various Hospitals and Clinics.   This series, was I believe taken to illustrate the uniforms the nurses wore on and off duty.

Researching topics of personal interest at the National Archives is rewarding in finding unknown details and amazing discoveries. Additionally rewarding are the photographs and documents you come across the open a door to incidents and activities that have faded in memory.

During WW1 the YMCA fulfilled a roll that is now more familiarly carried out by the USO.  These photographs are some of the images of the YMCA activities.

LInk to a History of the YMCA in World War 1:  http://www.worldwar1.com/dbc/ymca.htm

Researching topics of personal interest at the National Archives is rewarding in finding unknown details and amazing discoveries. Additionally rewarding are the photographs and documents you come across the open a door to incidents and activities that have faded in memory.

THE INVENTOR OF THE ORIGINAL ASSAULT RIFLE -

John Moses Browning (January 23, 1855 – November 26, 1926), born in Ogden, Utah, was an American firearms designer who developed many varieties of military and civilian firearms, cartridges, and gun mechanisms, many of which are still in use around the world. He is arguably the most important figure in the development of modern automatic and semi-automatic firearms and is credited with 128 gun patents.  He made his first firearm at age 13 in his father’s gun shop, and was awarded his first patent on October 7, 1879 at the age of 24.

Browning influenced nearly all categories of firearms design. He invented or made significant improvements to single-shot, lever-action, and slide-action, rifles and shotguns. His most significant contributions were arguably in the area of autoloading firearms. He developed the first autoloading pistols that were both reliable and compact by inventing the telescoping bolt, integrating the bolt and barrel shroud into what is known as the pistol slide. Browning’s telescoping bolt design is now found on nearly every modern semi-automatic pistol, as well as several modern fully automatic weapons. He also developed the first gas-operated machine gun, the Colt-Browning Model 1895—a system that surpassed mechanical recoil operation to become the standard for most high-power self-loading firearm designs worldwide. Browning would also make significant contributions to automatic cannon development.

Browning’s most successful designs include the M1911 pistol, the Browning Hi Power pistol, the Browning .50 caliber machine gun, the Browning Automatic Rifle, and the Browning Auto-5, a ground-breaking semi-automatic shotgun. These arms are nearly identical today to those assembled by Browning, with only minor changes in detail and cosmetics. Even today, John Browning’s guns are still some of the most copied guns in the world. (Source:  Wikipedia - The Free Encyclopedia)

Researching topics of personal interest at the National Archives is rewarding in finding unknown details and amazing discoveries. Additionally rewarding are the photographs and documents you come across the open a door to incidents and activities that have faded in memory.

APRIL 6th 1917 The United States declares war on on Germany.  Ninety Six years ago today.

Researching topics of personal interest at the National Archives is rewarding in finding unknown details and amazing discoveries. Additionally rewarding are the photographs and documents you come across the open a door to incidents and activities that have faded in memory.

Here are a collection of images of dignitaries from the WW1 era.  Future Presidents (Hoover and Roosevelt), A President (Wilson), General (Pershing & MacArthur), Kings, Princes and Premiers  (George V, Edward Prince of Wales, and Georges Clemenceau) 

Researching topics of personal interest at the National Archives is rewarding in finding unknown details and amazing discoveries. Additionally rewarding are the photographs and documents you come across the open a door to incidents and activities that have faded in memory.

Researching topics of personal interest at the National Archives is rewarding in finding unknown details and amazing discoveries. Additionally rewarding are the photographs and documents you come across the open a door to incidents and activities that have faded in memory.

Amazing set of photos of the shooting down of a French Observation Balloon.  Considering the equipment that photographers had to use, this series of shots is great.  The photo of SFC C. Jackson with his still camera is likely to be the type of camera that was used to capture the images in this post. 

Researching topics of personal interest at the National Archives is rewarding in finding unknown details and amazing discoveries. Additionally rewarding are the photographs and documents you come across the open a door to incidents and activities that have faded in memory.

Part 2:  The first image in this collection is of two sergeants from the 369th undergoing instructor training -so they can return to their unit and pass the knowledge on to their comrades.   The next sequence of pictures is of the 368th’s band playing for the patients of the 9th Base Hospital.   The other photos are of the 369th’s and 370th’s  return to the U.S. after the armistice.  They proudly display their medals and joy of returning.

Researching topics of personal interest at the National Archives is rewarding in finding unknown details and amazing discoveries. Additionally rewarding are the photographs and documents you come across the open a door to incidents and activities that have faded in memory.

Part 1:  February is Black history month - in recognition of that here is the first of two collections of Black Americans in the first World War.  These photos are of members of the 369th Infantry Regiment (formerly the 15th New York NG).  They fought in served in France while attached to French Infantry Divisions.  This first collection of photographs is from their trip over to France and a Field Day after they have arrived.  (PART 2 will be added later this week.)