In 1922, the World War I memorial was dedicated.
A local paper, the Wilmington Dispatch declared there were speeches from a “flag draped speakers’ stand that had been erected in the intersection of Market and Thirteenth streets, just prior to the firing of a salute over the handsome monument that contains the names of the country’s [sic] world war heroes who fell in the line of duty…”
The Morning Star declared the monument was unveiled by “four little children, Paul Elliot Loughlin, Eleanor Loughlin, Helen Carroll, and Frank Williams, whose parents lost their lives during the war.”
This picture was taken after the unveiling.
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| detail from panoramic image, May 30, 1922 CFM 2007.041.0017 |
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| left side of panorama, 1922 |
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| right side of panorama, 1922 |
Although you can't see a flag-draped podium in the image, it's pretty easy to imagine someone giving a talk right in front of the monument. And, in fact, we know who spoke at the event from reports in the local newspapers.
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| Robert C. Cantwell, II on the far left, in 1922 CFM 2007.041.0015 |
American Legion Post Commander R. C. Cantwell, II
presided over the occasion. The picture to the left shows him dressed in colonial garb for a pageant performance from about the time the Memorial was dedicated.
At the ceremony, Mississippi's senior Senator Pat Harrison gave the oration.
Senator Harrison's oratory reminds us that the Civil War was still very much in the forefront of white southerners' thinking. Even though he was speaking at a memorial honoring the service of white and black Americans who fought in a war on European soil, his rhetoric evoked a vision of an occupied south. He declared “Your skies have been clouded with the smoke of battle, your land ravished by invading forces, and your streams have run red with the blood of your sons and fathers, but you have born yourselves as true sons of the south and Americans in every emergency.”
Local minister Reverend W. W. Morton gave an invocation and he read out the names of the dead who “fell in the conflict overseas or in the line of duty…”
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| poppies picked at Flanders field, 1921 CFM 1962.081.0001 |
Thirty seven men's names were on the memorial:
As you can see from the picture, the memorial segregated African Americans and whites even in death.
The list of the dead on the memorial includes men like Thomas J. Bullock, Arthur Bluethenthal, Warren Gregory Davis, and David Worth Loring who died in Europe. And it includes men like Simon Taft Shiver, Archie Melton, and Joseph F. Holland who died of disease in the United States.
Edward T. Taylor, chairman of the citizens committee officially presented the monument to Addison Hewlett, chairman of the board of county commissioners.
Thirty seven men's names were on the memorial:
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| Arthur Bluethenthal's grave in France CFM 1990.066.0054 |
The list of the dead on the memorial includes men like Thomas J. Bullock, Arthur Bluethenthal, Warren Gregory Davis, and David Worth Loring who died in Europe. And it includes men like Simon Taft Shiver, Archie Melton, and Joseph F. Holland who died of disease in the United States.
Edward T. Taylor, chairman of the citizens committee officially presented the monument to Addison Hewlett, chairman of the board of county commissioners.
When E. T. Taylor presented the memorial to the county he reportedly said “May 30th has been set aside by the American Legion as a day sacred to the memory of their deceased brothers in arms, who lost their lives in our behalf in the world war. It is fitting therefore, that on this day we gather to pay our respects to the memory of the dead and to inspire by our example veneration for these heroes in the lives of the children today and of future generations.”
Although 37 New Hanover County men are on the Memorial, many more local residents served in World War I.
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| Army Nurse Rachel Loman's medal CFM 2007.020.0007 |
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| Alfred Sternberger's North Carolina World War I service medal CFM 1975.041.0005 |
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| E. Fleet Williams' "Great War for Civilization" medal CFM 1966.031.0002 |
At the dedication. E.T. Taylor’s speech continued: “The citizens of Wilmington and New Hanover county, prompted by the desire to express their undying love and affection for those who gave their all for them, acting under the auspices of the chamber of commerce, rasied a fund by public subscription from all sources—merchants, manufacturers, bankers, farmers, laborers and school children—for the erection of a monument which would perpetuate the nawes of each of the boys who made the supreme sacrifice. This work of love has been accomplished; the monument bearing the names of our dead heroes now stands before you and is ready to be presented. It has been erected at this spot in the hope and belief that it will be a constant inspiration to the school children of the counry to make their lives worthy of these heroic dead…”
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| The then-segregated New Hanover High School was the only high school for white children in the city when the Memorial was dedicated. |
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