-Written and researched by Seán P. Duffy and Erin Rothenbuehler Schools were closed. So were restaurants, amusement parks, theatres, movie houses, and even the public library. Hotels sat empty. Meetings, parties, and society events were canceled. Sporting events postponed. People were told to stay in their homes. Even church services were canceled. Sound familiar? We’ve […]
From Camp Lee to the Great War: December 16, 1918 – Charles Riggle
“I think the war is over for good don’t you? For I think them Germans won’t want another war very soon the way they got beat in this one….” In his nineteenth letter home since leaving for Camp Lee, and his fourth letter home from France, dated December 16, 1918, PFC Charles “Dutch” Riggle, a […]
Angels of the Wards: All-Star Nurses of Wheeling
“Nurses are there when the last breath is taken, and nurses are there when the first breath is taken. Although it is more enjoyable to celebrate the birth, it is just as important to comfort in death.” —Christine Belle Throughout its storied history, Wheeling has been blessed with the dedicated service of numerous brave and […]
Welcome Home
Wheeling’s Doughboy is Back and Better than Ever In 1918, American soldiers – “Doughboys,” as they were known, probably because of their dusty uniforms during the war with Mexico 70 years prior – filled training facilities like Virginia’s Camp Lee in preparation for entering the European conflict that would one day be termed “World War […]
A Crash of Coincidences
-Written by Seán P. Duffy with research by Erin Rothenbuehler Notre Dame and Wheeling Linked by Tragedy Eighty-nine years ago today, on March 31, 1931, a Transcontinental & Western Air Fokker F-10 commercial wood-frame airplane crashed in a remote cow pasture near Bazaar, Kansas. All eight people on board, including six passengers and two pilots, […]