BROADCASTS.com

Chris Isleib on why the United States entered WWI and the tremendous sacrifice of American lives ~ \n\n" ... democracy was under very real threat and America joined in, in order to help save democracy, in order to keep them from that threat, and also to just end this fighting. They did so successfully, but enormous human cost. Americans lost 116,516 men and woman."\n\nChris Isleib - Director of Public Affairs - United States WWI Centennial Commission in studio interview with host Andy Ockershausen\n\nAndy Ockershausen:\tThis is Andy Ockershausen. This is Our Town. Because of my relationship with history, I'm so, so excited to have someone who is connecting this generation, or these generations,\nto something that's sort of lost in our life, and that's WWI. I'm so delighted to introduce Chris Isleib. Did I do that right, Chris? \nChris Isleib:\tPerfect pronunciation. Thank you. \nAndy Ockershausen:\tChris, as a man, I don't know his complete title, but as far as I'm concerned he is Mr. WWI, to do this publicity and to do the PR, and to get this community turned on to what's happening. This year is a big year. It's 100th anniversary of WWI. \nUnited States World War I Centennial Commission\nChris Isleib:\tThank you for your generous words. I'm part of a team. We have a WWI Centennial Commission, which was created by Congress in 2013. It consists of 12 appointed Commissioners, and they're appointed by the President of the United States, by the Senate, and the House members as well as by ... there's one each from the American Legion and from the Veterans of Foreign Wars. \nAndy Ockershausen:\tBy getting into one of our military academies, then right? You have to have an appointment. \nChris Isleib:\tYes, sir. \nAndy Ockershausen:\tDo you have any Congressmen or Senators on the commission, or are they all outsiders?\nChris Isleib:\tNo, these are all people who have demonstrated history in working with Veterans Affairs, Cultural Affairs, or Historical or Military Affairs. \nAndy Ockershausen:\tBeing a Washingtonian and having a picture of my father in his WWI, they must be ... I guess they were called fatigues at the time, because he didn't do anything. He wasn't in the Army. He ended up in the Navy. It made me aware of WWI and the fact is, that it's sort of forgotten in Our Town and it's forgotten in our society. That's a shame. \nWWI in the Shadows of WWII\nChris Isleib:\tIt's not entirely forgotten, luckily. There's starting to be a ground swell. We've been doing a lot of outreach to try and turn that. However, for the longest time WWI just wasn't talked about. It was always in the shadow of WWII, and that's for a couple of reasons. Historians tell us that the veterans, when they came back, it was such an awful war that they didn't talk about it that much at the time. The other thing was for Americans especially, the narrative is complicating and very cloudy. Unlike WWII, which started with the bombing of Pearl Harbor and this awful-\nAndy Ockershausen:\tA shock. It started definitely with a shock. \nChris Isleib:\tAnd similarly ended with a shock. Unfortunately, WWI it started with some disgruntled Serbian guy, and many people can't find Serbia on a map, assassinating a crowned prince of Austria and the next thing you know Australia is invading Turkey. So it's just like this, "What just happened here?" moment. On the other end of the narrative, at the end of the war, there was a huge amount of fighting, a huge amount of death, a huge amount of loss, and then they just voted to not do it anymore and it became not even really a Peace but an Armistice. \nAndy Ockershausen:\tYeah, they got it over. That's right. It wasn't Peace, an Armistice. \nChris Isleib:\tYeah. \nAndy Ockershausen:\tBoth said said, "We've got to get this thing over." \nEnormous Loss Suffered in WWI\nChris Isleib:\tYeah. And it was after an enormous, enormous loss. I'm not a historian, but so many countries lost so many people. I read a statistic while I was in France this p...