Here we are, May 2018, living on the edge. Will North Korea keep its nukes? Will Iran get nukes? Are we once again on the edge of a war, or will everyone ease back?

With these conditions, it will help us know how people felt 100 years ago. We were, in fact, at war in Europe. The United States had become fully involved in the Great War, and the area waited for news of the casualties that were sure to come.

The Gazette-Journal is fortunate to have some Mathews Journals from 1918 in its files (the Gloucester Gazette was not born until January 1919). Exactly 100 years ago, at this point in May, the Journal informed its readers that two million Americans would go to Europe in 1918, and possibly four million by the end of the year; General Pershing was slated to lead allied forces whenever American troops outnumbered others in a coalition; with little news yet of local troops in combat, the Journal told about an Illinois pastor who gave up his robes to become an infantry lieutenant; and fi...