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America’s entry into WWI remembered at library

Last Thursday was the 100th anniversary of the United States’ entry into World War I, and residents gathered at Mathews Memorial Library to honor the memory of the local men who perished during that “war to end all wars.”

The ceremony was organized by library director Bette Dillehay, who said that “few of us remember the sacrifice that was made,” and that a ceremony was appropriate, given the fact that the library itself was dedicated on Nov. 11, 1937 to the 11 Mathews men who died in the war.

Supervisors’ chair Jack White spoke emotionally about the war, which resulted in 11 million military deaths and seven million civilian deaths. While the U.S. lost 53,402 soldiers on the battlefield, he said, another 63,114 military personnel died of other causes, such as pneumonia. When the U.S. entered the war in 1917, he said, millions of people had already died.

White told of General John J. “Black Jack” Pershing, who delayed putting troops on...

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