New Mexico State University Jazz Ensemble is made up of the university's finest musicians. Members of the auditioned group come to NMSU from across the country to study music and various other disciplines on campus. The ensemble has performed with numerous international artists including, Tia Fuller (Beyonce’s alto saxophonist, Professor Berklee School of Music), Bobby Shew (Capital Recording Artist), Pete McGuinness (Grammy Nominated Album) and Chris Vadala (Chuck Mangione Group).
The jazz ensembles have recently performed at the International Reno Jazz Festival, toured Germany, Czechoslovakia and Austria. They have produced two albums over the past few years, “Home Grown”, featuring Bobby Shew, and “Patience”, released spring of 2017. NMSU Jazz Ensemble will be traveling to Spain this summer where they will be performing at the Conservatori Superior Musica de Castello International Music Festival. They will be premiering two pieces at the festival, Palos Nuevos, composition by Dan Gaily and Pueblo de Taos, commissioned by NMSU and written by Fred Sturm.
The ensemble is under the direction of Dr. Frank “Pancho” Romero, Professor of Music at New Mexico State University.
Image copyrightGETTY IMAGESImage captionThe valour of the Marines of the 2nd Division is still remembered
As its 100th anniversary approaches, Patrick Gregory looks at what happened in the World War I battle of Belleau Wood and asks why it occupies such a special place in American military history.
In late April, a photo opportunity featuring Emmanuel Macron, Donald Trump and their respective wives planting a sapling on the White House lawn was beamed around the world.
After the cameras had left, and the picture and visit aside, what attracted more publicity was the subsequent "revelation" that the young tree in question had been removed soon after the slightly awkward ceremony, taken into temporary quarantine.
What achieved less attention at the time was where the sapling had come from and why - a small wood 50 miles from Paris, the Bois de Belleau in France's Aisne department.
Belleau Wood - a bloody encounter of WW1 - occupies a special place in the annals of American military history, an early and vital display of American capability on the battlefield.
As with most such scenes of slaughter of the First World War, it is the only the battle monuments and graveyard that give any clue as to what happened 100 years ago.
Set amidst small villages and farmland 50-odd miles north-east of Paris, Belleau Wood is as quiet now as it doubtless was before the fighting erupted there in June 1918. And that fighting was brutal.
Belleau Wood today. The battle of Belleau Wood took place in June 1918 as the German army pursued a spring offensive, pushing against US positions. Eventually the US Marines cleared the woods, though not without suffering the worst losses their unit had seen up until that time. photo byMICHAEL ST. MAUR SHEIL/MARY EVANS
I was in France recently, accompanying a party of American military history enthusiasts who were tracing sites of 1918's key battles in the run-up to this year's Armistice centenary.
Image copyrightGETTY IMAGESImage captionTrump and Macron plant a tree from Belleau Wood
I was struck, as I had been before, not only by how knowledgeable groups like these were about the whole range of World War I's battles, but also by how keen they were to visit all sites irrespective of the Allied nations involved.
American battlefields yes, but also ones associated with British, French, Canadian, Australian or New Zealand troops.
But for two of the party in particular, ex-Marines and Vietnam veterans, business was still business. All the stops on the way - including to American battlefields - were but a prelude to the site of Belleau Wood near the river Marne.
What happened there was an important moment in the development of the US Marine Corps and the Americans' contribution in the war.
By May 1918 the US had been a combatant in the war for over a year; yet its troops, still arriving in France, had thus far played only a supporting role. That was to change.
The American Expeditionary Force commander John Pershing had to date stubbornly resisted Allied efforts to co-opt his men - a regiment here, a regiment there - to add to their own ranks, remaining determined to train and assemble a fully-fledged army of his own.
The moment now arrived for the first US-led offensive of the war. On 28 May 1918, Pershing's trusted First Division, the "Big Red One", attacked at Cantigny in northern France, 20 miles south of Amiens.
The operation proved a success. Of limited strategic value, perhaps, but the three-day battle nonetheless demonstrated that the American troops could fight and acted as a psychological boost for the AEF.
Image copyrightGETTY IMAGESImage captionSome of the dead were laid to rest at the Aisne-Marne American Cemetery
However, of more immediate concern to the Allies was the new and deadly enemy offensive which had been unleashed 50 miles south-east of them, cutting easily through Allied lines and driving further south towards the river Marne, leaving German forces within striking distance of Paris.
On 30 May two other American divisions, the 2nd & 3rd, were ordered into the area, arriving from different directions east and west. A machine gun battalion of the latter secured the south bank of the Marne at the key bridgehead of Château-Thierry as other of their number began to arrive on the scene.
But the main action of the weeks ahead would lie north-west of the town, involving men of the 2nd Division; in particular, two of their regiments, a brigade of Marines led by Pershing's old chief of staff James Harbord. It would be their efforts to secure a woodland there that would capture headlines, helped in part by the purple prose of journalist Floyd Gibbons.
Belleau Wood was little more than a mile long and half a mile wide, yet it would cost many lives to capture and would be reported across the world.
"It was perhaps a small battle in terms of World War I," says Professor Andrew Wiest of the University of Southern Mississippi. "But it was outsized in historic importance. It was the battle that meant that the US had arrived."
Yet as operations go, as brave and tenacious as the soldiers were, it was poorly planned and badly commanded, certainly in its opening phases.
After adjacent areas were captured, the decision was taken to advance on the wood on the afternoon of 6 June. But little reconnaissance had been carried out as to what to expect when they got there and only scant artillery fire was laid down beforehand.
Image copyrightGETTY IMAGESImage captionGlen Wede, 10, from Maryland, climbs on a cannon at Belleau Wood, 100 years on
Inside, German machine gunners had taken up positions in defensive holes, behind rocky outcrops and shielded by dense undergrowth. Worse, the Marines now advanced towards them in rank formation over the exposed ground outside. They were slaughtered. By nightfall, 222 were dead and over 850 wounded.
Bloodied but focused on the task, they went again the next day. And the one after that. But little headway was being made. An intense artillery barrage now directed followed by yet another assault.
The casualties mounted, but still the German troops dug in. The fighting laboured on for three weeks, and in its final stages, foot by foot, hand to hand, it intensified in savagery.
Guns and grenades gave way to bayonets and "toad-stickers", eight-inch triangular blades set on knuckle-handles, as the Marines slashed their way through the last of their enemy.
As the story goes, German officers, in their battle reports, referred to the Marines as Teufelshunde "Devil Dogs"; and journalist Gibbons also helped, singling out one gunnery sergeant in dispatches as "Devil Dog Dan". Either way, the name and image stuck and went on to become a Marine mascot.
"It was the day the US Marines went from being a small force few people knew about to personifying elite status in the US military," says Andrew Wiest. The corps had roots dating back to the American War of Independence but from Belleau, there developed much of its modern lore and myth.
More significantly, and of strategic importance, their intervention at Belleau and that of their 2nd and 3rd Division colleagues at the time in the surrounding area on the Marne put paid to the German advance, at what was a dangerous moment in the war for the Allies.
The commander of the US First Division Robert Lee Bullard declared after it: "The Marines didn't win the war here. But they saved the Allies from defeat. Had they arrived a few hours later I think that would have been the beginning of the end. France could not have stood the loss of Paris."
Patrick Gregory is co-author with Elizabeth Nurser of An American on the Western Front: The First World War Letters of Arthur Clifford Kimber 1917-18 (The History Press) American on the Western Front & on Twitter @AmericanOnTheWF
European diplomatic alignments shortly before the war. Note: Germany and the Ottoman Empire only formed an alliance shortly following the outbreak of the war.
Map of the world with the participants in World War I in 1917. Allies are in green, the Central Powers in orange and neutral countries in grey.
World War I began in 1914, after the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria and his wife that occurred on 28 June 1914 in Sarajevo. He was theheir presumptive to the Austro-Hungarianthrone. Historians feel that a number of factors beyond the assassination contributed to the rivalry between the Great powers that allowed war on such a wide-scale to break out. WWI began in the Balkans in late July 21914 and ended November 1918, leaving 17 million dead and 20 million wounded.
During the conflict, Germany, Austria-Hungary, Bulgaria and the Ottoman Empire (the Central Powers) fought against Great Britain, France, Russia, Italy, Romania, Japan and the United States (the Allied Powers).
On April 6, 1917, the U.S. joined its allies--Britain, France, and Russia--to fight in World War I. Under the command of Major General John J. Pershing, more than 2 million U.S. soldiers fought on battlefields in France. Many Americans were not in favor of the U.S. entering the war and wanted to remain neutral.
For WWI, the Selective Service Act of May 18, 1917, introduced a system of conscription. Uncle Sam created in 1917 for Army recruiting posters. Created by James Montgomery Flagg. He also created 46 other posters during WWI. Uncle Sam "I want You" posters also used in WWII. George M. Cohan's song "Over There" captured the patriotic mood of the time. June 6, when American entered the Battle of Belleau Woods in WWI, is ALSO D-Day for WWII
PBS has an excellent three-part series on WWI. If you can stream PBS, I recommend watching this series
Red Poppies commemorate WWI.The remembrance poppy is an artificial flower that has been used since 1921 to commemorate military personnel who have died in war, and represents a common or field poppy, Papaver rhoeas. Inspired by the World War I poem "In Flanders Fields", and promoted by Moina Michael, they were first adopted by the American Legion to commemorate American soldiers killed in that war (1914–1918). They were then adopted by military veterans' groups in parts of the British Empire. (from wikipedia) also SEE this year's Vietnam War Memorial poppy display at https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/how-poppy-came-symbolize-world-war-i-180960836/
Animals in the WWI
Sgt Stubby info from Wikipedia
Stubby is a real dog who was the official mascot of the 102 Infantry Regiment (US), assigned to the26th (Yankee) Division. Stubby served for 18 months and participated in seventeen battles on the Western Front. He saved his regiment from surprise mustard gas attacks, found and comforted the wounded, and once caught a German soldier by the seat of his pants, holding him there until American soldiers found him. His actions were well-documented in contemporary American newspapers.
Stubby has been called the most decorated war dog of World War I and the only dog to be nominated for rank and then promoted to sergeant through combat, a claim having no official documentary evidence, but recognized in connection with an exhibition at the Smithsonian Institution.
Sgt. Stubby is the subject of a 2018 animated film:
Sgt. Stubby: An American Hero is a 2018 computer-animated adventure film centering on the real-life Sergeant Stubby, a stray Boston Terrier] who becomes a hero during World War I. Directed and co-written by Richard Lanni. The film was released in North America on April 13, 2018 by Fun Academy Motion Pictures.
What great way for younger generation to learn about WWI.
American soldiers paying tribute to all the horses that lost their life in World War I.
This was taken in 1918. Very powerful photograph!
below is information accompanying this photo on facebook
The British, Commonwealth and Allied forces enlisted many millions of animals to serve and often die alongside their armies. These animals were chosen for a variety of their natural instincts and vast numbers were killed, often suffering agonising deaths from wounds, starvation, thirst, exhaustion, disease and exposure. This Memorial is a fitting and lasting tribute to them all.There are many inspiring and often tragic stories of the great devotion and loyalty shown between horses, mules and donkeys and their masters during some of the bloodiest conflicts of the 20th century, as can be read in Jilly Cooper's moving book Animals in War, published by Corg
Horses, Mules and Donkeys Eight million horses and countless mules and donkeys died in the First World War. They were
used to transport ammunition and supplies to the front and many died, not only from the
horrors of shellfire but also in terrible weather and appalling conditions. Mules were found to
have tremendous stamina in extreme climates and over the most difficult terrain, serving
courageously in the freezing mud on the Western Front and later at Monte Cassino in
World War II. Equally they toiled unflinchingly in the oppressive heat of Burma, Eritrea
and Tunisia.
Dogs The dog's innate qualities of intelligence and devotion were valued and used by the forces
in conflicts throughout the century. Among their many duties, these faithful animals ran
messages, laid telegraph wires, detected mines, dug out bomb victims and acted as guard or
patrol dogs. Many battled on despite horrific wounds and in terrifying circumstances to the
limit of their endurance, showing indomitable courage and supreme loyalty to their handlers. Pigeons More than 100,000 pigeons served Britain in the First World War and 200,000 in World War II.
They performed heroically and saved thousands of lives by carrying vital messages, some-
times over long distances, when other methods of communication were impossible. Flying at
the rate of a mile a minute from the front line, from behind enemy lines or from ships or
aeroplanes, these gallant birds would struggle on through all weathers, even when severely
wounded and exhausted, in order to carry their vital messages home.
Other Animals Elephants, camels, oxen, bullocks, cats, canaries, even glow worms — all these creatures,
great and small, contributed their strength, their energy and their lives in times of war and
conflict to the British, Commonwealth and Allied forces during the 20th century.
2001 Release: Against the backdrop of the Great War, Joey (the horse) begins an odyssey full of danger, joy and sorrow,and he transforms everyone he meets along the way.
Want to learn more before Sunday? This just showed up at the Library of American's Story of the Week http://storyoftheweek.loa.org/2018/06/woundedhow-it-feels-to-be-shot.html?m=1
A basic computer class will be offered at Capitan PL beginning Thursday June 14 from 6:00 to 8:00 pm and will run for 6 weeks. The class is free but limited in size so sign ups are required. Call 354-3035 or come by the Library - 102 E 2nd Street. The class is provided by the Adult Literacy Program.
