Over There

Johnnie, get your gun, get your gun, get your gun,Take it on the run, on the run, on the run.Hear them calling, you and me, every son of liberty.Hurry right away, no delay, go today,Make your daddy glad, to have had such a lad.Tell your sweetheart not to pine, to be proud her boy's in line.

Chorus:Over there, over there, send the word, send the word over there -That the Yanks are coming, the Yanks are coming,The drums rum-tumming ev'rywhere.

So prepare, say a pray'r, send the word, send the word to beware.We'll be over, we're coming over,and we won't come back till it's over over there.

Johnnie, get your gun, get your gun, get your gun,Johnnie show the Hun, who's a son of a gun.Hoist the flag and let her fly, Yankee Doodle do or die.Pack your little kit, show your grit, do your bit.Yankee to the ranks, from the towns and the tanks.Make your mother proud of you, and the old Red, White and Blue.

Chorus:

Over there, over there, send the word, send the word over there -That the Yanks are coming, the Yanks are coming,The drums rum-tumming ev'rywhere.

So prepare, say a pray'r, send the word, send the word to beware.We'll be over, we're coming over,and we won't come back till it's over over there.

America Here’s My Boy

There’s a million mothers knocking at the nations door,A million mothers, yes and there’ll be millions more,And while within each mother heart they pray,Just hark what one brave mother has to say.

Chorus:America, I raised a boy for you. America, You’ll find him staunch and true, Place a gun upon his shoulder, He is ready to die or do.

America, he is my only one; My hope, my pride and joy, But if I had another, he would march beside his brother; America, here’s my boy.

There’s a million mothers waiting by the fireside bright, A million mothers, waiting for the call tonight. And while within each heart there’ll be a tear,She’ll watch her boy go marching with a cheer.

Chorus:America, I raised a boy for you. America, You’ll find him staunch and true, Place a gun upon his shoulder, He is ready to die or do. America, he is my only one; My hope, my pride and joy, But if I had another, he would march beside his brother; America, here’s my boy.

I Didn’t Raise My Boy to Be a Soldier

Ten million soldiers to the war have gone, who may never return again. Ten million mothers' hearts must break, for the ones who died in vain. Head bowed down in sorrowin her lonely years, I heard a mother murmur thro' her tears: Chorus:I didn’t raise my boy to be a soldier,I brought him up to be my pride and joy,Who dares to put a musket on his shoulder,To shoot some other mother’s darling boy?Let nations arbitrate their future troubles,It’s time to lay the sword and gun away,There’d be no war today,If mothers all would say,I didn’t raise my boy to be a soldier.

What victory can cheer a mother’s heart,When she looks at her blighted home?What victory can bring her back,All she cared to call her own?Let each mother answer in the year to be,Remember that my boy belongs to me! Chorus:I didn’t raise my boy to be a soldier,I brought him up to be my pride and joy,Who dares to put a musket on his shoulder,To shoot some other mother’s darling boy?Let nations arbitrate their future troubles,It’s time to lay the sword and gun away,There’d be no war today,If mothers all would say,I didn’t raise my boy to be a soldier.

America’s War Aims

• “Peace without victory”

• “The world must be made safe for democracy”

America’s War Aims

“It is a fearful thing to lead this nation into war…But the right is more precious than the peace, and we shall fight for the things which we have always carried nearest our hearts — for democracy…for the rights and liberties of small nations, for a universal dominion of right by such a concert of free peoples as shall bring peace and safety to all nations and make the world itself free at last.”

- Woodrow Wilson, April 2, 1917

America at War

Mobilization for World War I

Recruitment

• America’s peacetime army rather small– 27,000 in 1917

American Expeditionary Force (AEF)

• Standing army

• National Guard Units

• Draft

• By war’s end over 2 million soldiers

• Gen. John Pershing, Commander– “Black Jack”

American Expeditionary Force (AEF)

• “Doughboys” - origin disputed

• Casualties– 116,000 dead

• 50,000 of wounds, rest of disease

– 234,000 wounded

American Expeditionary Force (AEF)

Economic Mobilization

• War Industries Board– Bernard Baruch

• Goal: To get American industries producing for the war effort

• Set production quotas

• Allocated resources

• Labor peace with AFL/Gompers

Do Your Bit!

• US citizens were asked to help by conserving resources– Food– Fuel– Materials

Do Your Bit!

• Americans were also asked to support the war financially– Treasury Secretary William G. McAdoo– Liberty Bonds

Do Your Bit!

• Women were also asked to take on a more active role– Red Cross– Industry– Farmers– Support occupations in military

In Flanders Fields By: Lieutenant Colonel John McCrae, MD (1872-1918) Canadian Army

In Flanders Fields the poppies blow Between the crosses row on row, That mark our place; and in the sky The larks, still bravely singing, fly Scarce heard amid the guns below.

We are the Dead. Short days ago We lived, felt dawn, saw sunset glow, Loved and were loved, and now we lie In Flanders fields.

Take up our quarrel with the foe: To you from failing hands we throw The torch; be yours to hold it high. If ye break faith with us who die We shall not sleep, though poppies grow In Flanders fields.