ELLY GRIMM
• Leader & Times
World War I involved all parts of the world, and Kansas was not exempt from those efforts.
Recently, author Blake Watson announced a new project to highlight some Kansans’ stories from that time.
“My new book is called 'Kansas and Kansans in World War I,' and I've been working on this book for about 10 years on and off for the past decade or so. In the book, through a series of stories about individual people, I've tried to describe how Kansas was affected by World War I, and how it contributed to the U.S. involvement in the war,” Watson said. “One of the focuses is on eight soldiers from Jefferson County, which is just north of Lawrence, and they're followed as they go through enlistment and training and eventually to the war in France. They all experienced different outcomes – some were captured and/or killed, some were wounded, some were able to make it back home. I also have a focus on the home front, because Kansas was not a state that was seen as super supportive of entering the war, there were several Kansans who were opposed to the buildup of the military prior to the war, but once war was declared, Kansas was definitely very involved. There were some other interesting happenings during that time, not all of them good – several Mennonites were pacifists and completely opposed to the war, particularly in the Wichita/South Central Kansas region, and there were also many ethnic Germans who were subjected to discrimination and harassment.”
Watson said his inspiration for the book began rather simply.
“I'm one of those people who's interested in family history, and I found out about several relatives who had served in WWI, but in particular, I was intrigued by my mother's uncle, my great-uncle Ralph Nichols, who's one of the eight people followed in the book,” Watson said. “Like many high school young men at that time, he initially joined the National Guard but when the war broke out, the National Guard became part of the U.S. Army, and he was sent to France. He was on the field during a major battle when he was only 19 years old and was actually shot in the cheek but miraculously remained undisfigured and unhurt. He came back and went back to high school since he wasn't able to finish, and after college, he was in the NFL for one season, and unfortunately ultimately died in a car accident in 1929.”
All that research, Watson said, then led him to putting it all together in a book.
“Once I learned about Ralph's experience, it led to me doing more research about other people, and it all just rather snowballed into learning about different regiments and battles and other such history,” Watson said. “Eventually, it all came to a point where I thought 'This could be particularly interesting for people in Kansas and elsewhere' since it represents multiple stories. In the course of my research, I found several stories that were very poignant and/or sad, and I wanted to share those anecdotes because those are what really bring history to life for people. I really wanted to explore all of those aspects, and I also have a couple chapters about the experiences of African-Americans from Kansas and those soldiers who trained in Kansas, particularly near what is now Fort Riley.”
Overall, Watson said, putting the project together was a very enjoyable experience.
“I didn't know that much about WWI going into this – and I'm sure many others would say the same – and while this is not a comprehensive history of the war, it certainly provides an insight into what some segments of the Kansas population were thinking when this was all going on,” Watson said. “I learned so much about how the Army was formed – there weren't very many soldiers, so there were several young men who were drafted, and I have a chapter about the draft in the book. With that, I actually worked to find who was the first person in each Kansas county who had to register, which was really interesting. Also, when I found the stories, it all just became so interesting, and what's unique about WWI compared to later wars is it happened during a time when local newspapers, including in Liberal, would publish letters soldiers wrote to their loved ones, so you get a real sense of who these young men were and what was going on. Obviously, I couldn't cover every single soldier and every single incident, but I hope people will find it pretty representative of that time period. Anyone interested in ultimately learning more can visit their local historical society to see if they have any information available, or they can visit the Web site findagrave.com, which sounds morbid, but it can be a useful resource for people wanting to look into family history. People can also visit the newspapers.com database, and it's got many publications from small towns and larger cities, and that's another great resource.”
After all the time and work, Watson said he is excited to finally see his work officially published.
“I'm very excited to have it published, and I'm already hearing from people wanting to share their stories with me, which I think is amazing. Working with the people I did to put together the book was also great, and it's amazing to see how everything turned out,” Watson said. “Something particularly neat that happened during the process was, I was looking for one of the soldiers' photos, and he didn't have children, but I was able to find a great-niece of his, who had a great photo of him, and I was able to use it in the book, and there were some details about his service she wasn't aware of, which was neat for the both of us. The book is set to be released early next month through United Press of Kansas. People can pre-order it now, and there's a 50 percent off offer if you redeem some coupon or code, so people can get a deal on it even before it's released.”
As for future projects? Watson said nothing is fully decided at the moment.
“I actually joked with my wife 'One state down, 49 to go,' but I don't think I'd have the stamina to do something like that,” Watson said with a chuckle. “I've got a couple ideas floating around, but I'll just have to wait and see if anything comes of any of that. I'm also thinking about creating a Web site so if people want to share their own stories, that could be done. I'm always open to hearing from people and since I'm a law professor, I have access to a lot of information and resources, so if anyone wants to get in touch with me and share, I'd be glad to help them.”
