Third Thursday Presentation Commemorating US Entry into World War I

(Hartford, CT)– The State of Connecticut marked the centennial of the U.S. entry into World War I and remembered Connecticut’s contributions and experiences. The event was held at the Connecticut State Library on Thursday, April 6, 2017.  The commemoration took place at 11:00 AM in Memorial Hall at the State Library, 231 Capitol Avenue, Hartford, Connecticut 06106.

The public was invited to attend this commemoration of the centenary of the start of World War I and to pay tribute to the enormous efforts made by Connecticut Yankees to contribute to the monumental war effort required by all Americans to win the war.

By the time the U.S. entered the war, Connecticut Governor Marcus H. Holcomb had received praise from around the nation for the manpower, nursing, industry, and transportation census he had commissioned. Connecticut led the nation in knowing how many of its men were ready for war and their skill sets; how many nurses were ready to go overseas; and what the manufacturing capabilities of its factories were to help the war effort.  The Connecticut Home Guard bill had been passed and units had already been formed and activated; bridges and factories were being protected by the Connecticut National Guard and Naval Militia troops, and munitions manufacturing had been increasing for years.  No other state rivaled Connecticut in its readiness to go to war.

Connecticut was prepared when President Woodrow Wilson called the nation to war in his address to Congress on April 2, 1917: “The world must be made safe for democracy. Its peace must be planted upon the tested foundations of political liberty. We have no selfish ends to serve. We desire no conquest, no dominion. We seek no indemnities for ourselves, no material compensation for the sacrifices we shall freely make. We are but one of the champions of the rights of mankind.”