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Kansas City Ceremony Marks Centennial of U.S. Entry Into World War I

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The U.S. entry into World War I on April 6, 1917, marked the beginning of the American Century, said retired Army Col. Robert J. Dalessandro, the commissioner of the World War I Centennial Commission.

Courtesy graphic of World War I American soldiers, also called "Doughboys." Photo by Air Force Senior Master Sgt. Mary-Dale Amison
Courtesy graphic of World War I American soldiers, also called "Doughboys." Photo by Air Force Senior Master Sgt. Mary-Dale Amison
Courtesy graphic of World War I American soldiers, also called "Doughboys." Photo by Air Force Senior Master Sgt. Mary-Dale Amison
World War I soldiers
Courtesy graphic of World War I American soldiers, also called "Doughboys." Photo by Air Force Senior Master Sgt. Mary-Dale Amison
Photo By: Air Force
VIRIN: 170406-Z-NE814-001

Dalessandro spoke at today’s ceremony marking the entry of the United States into The Great War at the National World War I Museum and Memorial in Kansas City, Missouri.

The ceremony in Kansas City let the audience “hear the voices and relive the human experience that more than any other in modern history fundamentally changed our nation, helped define our culture and establish the world that we live in today,” Dalessandro said.

The subtitle for the centennial commemoration is, “In Sacrifice for Liberty and Peace.” This is in keeping with how America approached the war, which had already killed millions of people in Europe when America entered the conflict.

Fighting for Democracy

The ceremony charted the reasons the United States went to war, but it also charted what the United States wanted to accomplish in the war. The U.S. did not want territorial gains, but instead, a birth of democracy and freedom in areas long-plagued by despotism.

The war changed the United States from a country willing to stay inside its own borders to one that understood that what happened in faraway lands had a direct impact on its people.

The war also changed the military, Dalessandro said. The Army grew from a small armed force of 160,000 to more than 4 million in less than a year. About 2 million U.S. troops served in France. The Army began the war riding on horses, and ended it driving in trucks and tanks. The military adapted to planes, machine guns, new modes of communication, gas warfare and heavy artillery.

America still lives “in the long shadow of World War I,” he said. The war sped up progress in race relations in the country, women’s voting rights and equality, advances in science and medicine.

America’s involvement in World War I wasn’t without cost: The United States lost 105,973 service members during the war with 193,602 wounded.

(Follow Jim Garamone on Twitter: @GaramoneDoDNews)

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