tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24997271728796717302024-03-13T21:23:12.630-07:00World War I -- Heroism & Humanity Behind German LinesI'm a professional writer dedicated to telling a true story of World War I about young Americans who went behind German lines as delegates of the Commission for Relief in Belgium (CRB). The CRB and the Belgian Comite National (CN) created the largest food relief the world had ever seen. My first book on the topic, Behind the Lines, was published in 2014 and detailed the origins of the CRB. My new book, WWI Crusaders, tells the full story in one volume and will be released on November 11, 2018.Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07739805088824535293noreply@blogger.comBlogger42125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2499727172879671730.post-88209383563902861742018-08-10T13:11:00.000-07:002018-08-10T13:11:46.734-07:00Post #42: Anxieties and Frustrations March On
Friday, August
10, 2018
DON’T-FORGET-WWI-PROJECT:
Invasion. During the past week, 104 years ago on August 4, 1914, the Germans invaded
Belgium to get to their real goal, France. Belgium was no stranger to invading
armies. Before the country was established in 1830, the region was known as the
cockpit of Europe because it had witnessed many other nations’ battles across
their land—most Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07739805088824535293noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2499727172879671730.post-27266086809694378432018-08-03T14:51:00.001-07:002018-08-03T14:51:30.528-07:00Post #41: Thanks to All Those Who Have Helped Me
Friday, August
3, 2018
DON’T-FORGET-WWI-PROJECT:
Pre-war Belgium. 104 years ago this week, the European powers were blustering
toward the Aug. 4, 1914 start of World War I (1914-1918). The little country of
Belgium was secure in knowing its neutrality was guaranteed by a treaty that
all major players had signed. Belgium was the most industrialized country in
Europe and imported more than 75Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07739805088824535293noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2499727172879671730.post-43768771633760998442018-07-29T13:50:00.002-07:002018-08-03T14:52:08.958-07:00Post #40: A New World Is ComingFriday, July 27, 2018
Don't-Forget-WWI-Project:
Pre-war world. Less than two weeks before
the August 4, 1914 start of World War I (1914-1918), the world was a much different place
than today. 100 years ago, there was no commercial radio, no TV, no cell
phones, no commercial airplanes, and motorcars were still outnumbered by horses,
wagons, and people on foot. The fastest form ofAnonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07739805088824535293noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2499727172879671730.post-48661529899743006042017-10-20T16:10:00.002-07:002017-10-20T16:10:51.549-07:00Post #39: America's Charitable Heart
Friday,
October 20, 2017
The Don’t-Forget-WWI Project: On
October 22, 1914, 103 years ago Sunday, eight Americans came together in London
and committed to trying to do what had never been done before—save an entire
nation from starvation as the most horrific war the world had ever seen was
raging around it. The private-citizen run Commission for Relief in Belgium
(CRB) was founded that dayAnonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07739805088824535293noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2499727172879671730.post-21513015963902544822017-02-19T14:31:00.002-08:002017-02-19T14:31:56.868-08:00Post #38: George Washington's Birthday and Book Publishers
Sunday,
February 19, 2016
Don’t-Forget-WWI-Project: George
Washington’s birthday – To foreigners 100 years ago, it led to an act of defiance
against a prison state.
During
the harsh German occupation of Belgium during WWI, all acts and events reflecting
Belgian patriotism were outlawed. Civilians couldn’t even wear or display the tricolors
of their country’s flag.
Baron von Bissing, Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07739805088824535293noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2499727172879671730.post-949847375671469402016-12-09T11:53:00.000-08:002016-12-09T11:53:29.039-08:00Post #37: Slave Raids and My Grandfather
Don’t-Forget-WWI-Project: While
many people know about the horrors of World War I’s trench warfare on the
Western Front 100 years ago, most people do NOT know about the horrors endured
by Belgian and Northern French civilians trapped behind German lines.
Some Belgian children waiting for the CRB/CN food.
At the
start of the war, when the Germans occupied most of Belgium and a thin Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07739805088824535293noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2499727172879671730.post-798544186552995852016-08-14T15:37:00.000-07:002016-08-14T15:37:13.292-07:00Post #36: The Bloody Somme, the 1916 Belgian Harvest, and an NEH Rejection
Sunday,
August 14, 2016
Don’t-Forget-WWI-Project: Many
know that in August 1916 World War One’s bloody Battle of the Somme had just
started. It would last until November and have a mind-bogglilng 1.5 million
causalities.
But most don’t know that at the same time the American-led
Commission for Relief in Belgium (CRB), and its Belgian partner, the Comite
National, were fighting their own Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07739805088824535293noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2499727172879671730.post-78881450058349226122016-04-15T15:42:00.001-07:002016-04-15T15:42:45.925-07:00Post #35: Poison Gas vs. Food Relief
Friday, April 15, 2016
Don’t-Forget-WWI Project: One hundred and one years ago, from April 22
until May 25, the Second Battle of Ypres reminded the world of the horrors of
trench warfare. The 35 days of fighting saw the first use of poison gas on the
Western Front. The Germans released chlorine gas on April 22
French soldiers with improvised gas makes. Source: Greatwarproject.org
from Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07739805088824535293noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2499727172879671730.post-38839646127015360272015-12-06T13:48:00.000-08:002015-12-06T13:48:48.231-08:00Post #34: Rhodes scholars Head into German-occupied BelgiumSunday, Dec. 6, 2015
Don’t-Forget-WWI
Project: During World War One, exactly 101 years ago today, on
Sunday, Dec. 6, 1914, 10 young American students on Christmas break from Oxford
University were in Rotterdam preparing for the adventure of a lifetime.
1914: Belgians in a food relief line.
They had been chosen to be the first 10 official “delegates”
in the CRB (Commission for Relief in Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07739805088824535293noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2499727172879671730.post-92002848090243101852015-10-02T10:49:00.003-07:002015-10-03T15:29:04.220-07:00Post #33: Understanding 1914 Belgium, and Searching for the Past in Present Day Antwerp
Friday, October 2, 2015
The Don’t-Forget-WWI Project: An
excerpt from page 99 of my nonfiction book, Behind the Lines,
www.WWIBehindTheLines.com
"We Shall Never Forgive!”
As
September [1914] came to a close, Max [the mayor of Brussels] was not the only
Belgian in jail. All Belgians under
German occupation rule had become “prisoners in their own land,”
according Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07739805088824535293noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2499727172879671730.post-84102308585966830732015-08-21T15:12:00.001-07:002015-08-21T15:12:25.468-07:00Post #32: This Coming Sunday, Reflect on Another Sunday 101 Years AgoFriday, August 21, 2015
THIS DAY IN WWI HISTORY (Sunday, Aug. 23, 1914): An excerpt from my nonfiction book, Behind
the Lines,www.WWIBehindtheLines.com
Dinant—“The Town Is Gone”
Dinant excerpt page 20.
A few days later, it was Dinant’s turn.
A town of more than 7,500, Dinant was the
second largest in Namur Province and sat on the right bank of the Meuse River
at a major Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07739805088824535293noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2499727172879671730.post-71004277421147288512015-08-04T15:51:00.000-07:002015-08-04T15:55:27.782-07:00Post #31: Another Tuesday 101 Years Ago Was Very Different for the WorldTuesday,
August 4, 2015
THIS
DAY IN WWI HISTORY: An excerpt from my WWI nonfiction book, Behind the Lines, www.WWIBehindTheLines.com.
German uhlan (lance-carrying cavalry)
On that first day of the invasion, Tuesday,
August 4, it was a hot and surprisingly clear summer day in the normally cool,
cloudy, and wet country [of Belgium]. At 8 a.m. German uhlans (Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07739805088824535293noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2499727172879671730.post-68374111983745116012015-07-25T10:41:00.002-07:002015-07-25T10:41:44.805-07:00Post #30: Belgian Refugees and a Leap of Faith <!--[if gte mso 9]>
<![endif]-->
<!--[if gte mso 9]>
Normal
0
false
false
false
EN-US
X-NONE
X-NONE
<![endif]--><!--[if gte mso 9]>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07739805088824535293noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2499727172879671730.post-27641528626313834672015-05-21T13:11:00.000-07:002015-05-21T13:11:56.204-07:00Post #29: "Panic in Some of The Wards"<!--[if gte mso 9]>
<![endif]-->
May 21,
2015
An excerpt from Behind the Lines, chapter 12, “The
Fall of Antwerp”:
For
the Bunges, on the morning of October 7, 1914, as the shells “continued to rain
into the city, whistling over our heads, and filling the air with the roar of
frightful explosions . . . it needed a good deal of will-power to go into the
street . . . my daughtersAnonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07739805088824535293noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2499727172879671730.post-70555887325115603172015-04-13T16:10:00.004-07:002015-04-13T16:16:21.673-07:00Post #28: I Could Hear Screams and Sobs<!--[if gte mso 9]>
Normal
0
false
false
false
EN-US
X-NONE
X-NONE
<![endif]--><!--[if gte mso 9]>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07739805088824535293noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2499727172879671730.post-13694862459351024172015-02-13T14:02:00.002-08:002015-02-13T14:02:47.180-08:00Post #27: Two Belgians Meet and Change Many LivesFebruary 13, 2015
<!--[if gte mso 9]>
<![endif]-->
An excerpt from Behind the Lines:
A Chance Meeting
of a Businessman and an Abbé
During the
morning of Thursday, August 20, 1914, on a hill within a newly built suburb east of
Brussels, a small crowd of neighbors and passersby gathered. Such a coming
together normally would have been filled with greetings, handshakes, Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07739805088824535293noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2499727172879671730.post-86218201829467702882015-01-05T11:13:00.000-08:002015-01-05T11:13:05.782-08:00Post #26: The Cast of Belgian Characters and How the Book is Doing<!--[if gte mso 9]>
Normal
0
false
false
false
EN-US
X-NONE
X-NONE
<![endif]--><!--[if gte mso 9]>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07739805088824535293noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2499727172879671730.post-48918096746850629302014-11-05T19:37:00.001-08:002014-11-05T19:40:04.976-08:00Post #25: The Cast of American Characters and How the Book is Doing<!--[if gte mso 9]>
<![endif]-->
<!--[if gte mso 9]>
Normal
0
false
false
false
EN-US
X-NONE
X-NONE
<![endif]--><!--[if gte mso 9]>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07739805088824535293noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2499727172879671730.post-29049813086567853332014-08-04T15:54:00.002-07:002014-08-06T06:57:59.582-07:00Post #24: August 4, 1914 . . .and so it beganAugust 4, 2014
A Spot of History: An excerpt from my book, Behind the Lines (minus the footnotes):
On that first
day of invasion, Tuesday, August 4, it was a hot and surprisingly clear summer
day in the normally cool, cloudy, and wet country of Belgium. At 8 a.m. German uhlans (lance-carrying cavalry)
thundered across the Belgian border, signaling the start of what became the deadliest
war theAnonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07739805088824535293noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2499727172879671730.post-34324590848458161012014-03-09T15:43:00.003-07:002014-03-10T19:35:31.593-07:00 Post #23: The WWI Fall of Antwerp and a Small Pontoon Bridge to Safety March 9, 2014
A Spot
of History: The Fall of Antwerp is one of the major events of the opening
days of WWI, taking place from September 28 to October 10. Thousands tried to flee prior to the bombardment of the city. It was pure chaos and bedlam. When the shelling started, it got even worse.
Antwerp refugees trying to get cross a pontoon bridge -- one
of the last escape routes out of Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07739805088824535293noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2499727172879671730.post-15388702071003287402014-01-26T16:13:00.001-08:002014-01-27T07:02:54.136-08:00Post #22: The First Two Pages of My Belgium/CRB Book And My "Nut" Graph
January 25, 2014
A Spot of History: I've
decided to use this post's Spot of History to showcase the first two pages of
my Belgium/CRB book. No book title yet, but I've now roughed out the first 35
pages, which is the majority of Chapter One. I thought I would share these
first to pages to see if anyone thinks they're interesting enough to want to
read more. If you like them, please send me aAnonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07739805088824535293noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2499727172879671730.post-84350431785124399972013-12-05T16:26:00.003-08:002013-12-12T08:47:13.316-08:00Post #21: Belgian Spirit and Facing Fear -- Seth Godin's Way December 5, 2013
A Spot of History: As mentioned in
earlier posts, when the Germans conquered Belgium they effectively shut down
the country and cut off its seven million people from the rest of the world.
All telephone,
telegraph and mail services were shut down, no trains, buses or cars were
allowed to run, and travel even between nearby villages was strictly forbidden.
Newspapers were Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07739805088824535293noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2499727172879671730.post-73711601994487677852013-11-18T14:00:00.003-08:002013-12-12T08:46:32.041-08:00Post #20: What do Plattsburgh, NY, Claude Debussy and Norfolk Jackets have in Common?November 18, 2013
A Spot of History: As we all know --
without thinking too hard about it -- our individual lives do not happen in a
bubble. Our thoughts, feelings, actions and reactions are predicated not on a
specific moment in time. They are, in fact, founded in and created by a vast
array of events, experiences and
information we have collected prior to the present moment.
What Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07739805088824535293noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2499727172879671730.post-29979985748632826102013-07-26T09:29:00.001-07:002013-10-31T07:47:00.334-07:00Post #19: Rhodes Scholars and German Savages Ready to Scalp Women and ChildrenJuly 26, 2013
A Spot of History: The CRB officially came
to life at a London meeting in late October 1914. Work was begun immediately on
multiple fronts, including buying foodstuffs from international markets, chartering
ships around the globe, and organizing a transportation center in Rotterdam
that would coordinate all cargo vessels and the transfer of goods into Belgium.
But what of
the Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07739805088824535293noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2499727172879671730.post-54125630818897788132013-06-23T16:25:00.000-07:002013-07-25T14:10:44.118-07:00#18: The Importance of Credible News & What Some Will Endure To Provide It, OR Creative Photoshopping 100 Years AgoJune 23, 2013
A Spot of History: In this cellular age
of constant connectivity, it's hard to imagine being cut off from not only the
world at large but nearly everything beyond your own neighborhood. No mail, no
phones, no TV, no radio, no wifi, no cars or trains, and travel restricted to
within a few walking miles of home.
That's what basically
happened to Belgium in August 1914 when Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07739805088824535293noreply@blogger.com0