The Summer Concert Series at the National World War I Memorial kicks off on June 25, 2026 at 5 p.m. and this year’s opening is extra special. We are proud to present a special concert celebrating 250 years of American music, highlighting our nation’s rich musical history in advance of the semiquincentennial of the United States of America.  RSVP to join us at the Memorial for a free evening of music in a truly historic setting, as we take you and your family through a journey of American music from the Revolutionary War to battle hymns to the Raiders March and modern patriotic favorites.

Donut fans, fierce competitors, and lovers of classic American traditions—join us June 5 at the National World War I Memorial in Washington, D.C., for an unforgettable celebration. A beloved annual tradition, The Salvation Army and BakeMark’s National Donut Day World Donut Eating Championship brings together history, heart, and high-stakes indulgence in a setting that honors a defining chapter of our nation’s story. Learn more about the WWI Donut Dollies, and find out how you can attend this all-consuming event June 5 honoring generations of service, compassion, and resilience that continue to define the American spirit.

Soil collected from six World War I battlefields in France will soon be brought to Arlington National Cemetery, restoring a memorial that disappeared from the hallowed U.S. military burial ground nearly a century ago. Gathering the soil for the memorial brought five American Gold Star mothers across northern and eastern France over the past week, retracing battlefields and cemeteries tied to some of the war’s bloodiest fighting involving U.S. troops. Earth from each of the sites was originally sealed inside the Sacred Soil Marker at Arlington, designed in the 1920s by French World War I veteran and sculptor Gaston Deblaize to provide a tangible remembrance for families of service members who died in the war. Read more, and learn why the U.S. monument did not last long, and how the restoration project carries a deeply personal motivation for the five Gold Star mothers: preserving remembrance of the sacrifices of those who, like their sons, served and died for the United States.

Lake of the Ozarks veteran Mike McCain, 78, Sunrise Beach Honor Guard Bugler for American Legion Zach Wheat Post No. 624, will sound Taps in Washington, D.C. at the National WWI Memorial & Museum on June 3, 2026. McCain served in the Army National Guard and Reserves Military Police from 1970 to 1976 in Iowa and Missouri. He will perform the 24-note call at 4:30 p.m., EST. The WWI Memorial was dedicated on April 16, 2021. The inscription on the memorial states, “We were young, they say, we have died, remember us.” Read more about McCain and his special bugle, and learn how, through the National WWI Memorial, memorial, a grateful nation honors the service, valor, courage, and sacrifice of the 4.7 million American sons and daughters who served in the great war.

Historian and researcher Lisa Oberg recalls that "'Goodbye U. of W.; Hello France' was the headline in a Seattle-area newspaper I came across while researching the University of Washington’s response to World War I. It has led me on a decade-long pursuit of the women featured in the article who had enlisted in the U.S. Army Signal Corps as telephone operators – AKA 'Hello Girls' – and their compatriots."  Learn how Lisa's award-winning research and writing led to her joining M-HARP, as she is dedicated to "preserving the history of the Hello Girls and ensuring that their descendants and future generations understand the significance of their service."

Catherine Bourgin, granddaughter of Hello Girl Marie Edmée LeRoux, and M-HARP Founding Member, reports a busy month of May on the Finding the Hello Girls mission. In New York City, she and other team members identified the graves of two Hello Girls, and attended a working performance of the Hello Girls Musical that may help send it to Broadway next year. Later in Washington, DC, a flurry of activities connected M-HARP she and other team members with diplomats from Belgium, the ancestral homeland of eight Hello Girls. Read Catherine's entire report, and find out more about how "From an unmarked grave in Queens to the steps of the National World War One Memorial, the Hello Girls’ mission continues."

"This is the courageous story of Captain Gustave C. “Pig” Dittmar, commander of Company C, 360th Infantry Regiment, 90th “Tough ‘Ombres” Division. Dittmar would be awarded the Silver Star for gallantry in action near Bantheville, France on November 1st, 1918, but only two years prior was in the middle of an outstanding Gridiron career."  Michael Santoro’s explores more of the hidden history to be found in WWI artifacts. Read more about how Dittmar's football career ended in WWI, but despite his wounds, his military service to the nation continued on through WWII.

Steve Tom became aware of  American WWI aviator Kiffin Rockwell by way of a 16th birthday present from his great-great aunt. Fascinated by the pilot's story, Tom started searching for a biography, "but to my surprise there were no biographies of him."  When that was still the story fifty years later, says Tom "I decided to write one myself. I believed this remarkable American deserved to be remembered."  Learn how a lifelong interest in a virtually forgotten American hero led to the publication of his book chronicling the fascinating story of an idealist who volunteered—long before his country drafted its first soldier—to fight, and ultimately die, in defense of civilization.

Bronxville High School students participated in the “Lest We Forget: A Memorial Day Gallery Event,” an immersive and interactive program designed to deepen their understanding of service, sacrifice and remembrance through primary sources and reflection.  Military historian and archivist Mitch Yockelson shared inspiring stories of remembrance and discussed the significance of Memorial Day, as well as its connection to the upcoming 250th anniversary of the United States. Read more, and see how a student-organized program for the event "allowed students to connect historical events to broader themes of remembrance and national identity."

More than a century after one of the deadliest maritime losses in American military history, the wreckage of the U.S. Coast Guard Cutter Tampa has been located deep beneath the Atlantic Ocean, the Coast Guard said Wednesday, April 29. A team of British technical divers confirmed the discovery after a three-year search, identifying the long-lost vessel roughly 50 miles off Newquay, Cornwall, in the United Kingdom, according to a Coast Guard news release. The wreck lies more than 300 feet below the surface. Learn how this find may help bring new clarity to a tragedy that unfolded in the final weeks of WWI, when the Tampa was struck by a German torpedo and sank in a matter of minutes.

It began with discovery of this compelling photocopy in the files of the Beacon Historical Society in New York, labeled on its rear as simply, “Hortense Schoenfeld Doob.” Nothing more. Fortunately, some sleuthing has helped the Society to shed at least a little light on the service by this Beacon woman – while also illustrating how historical research has been revolutionized by the internet. Read more, and discover how the accidental find revealed the story of Hortense and the Dutchess County unit of the Women’s Motor Corps, the only such unit in New York State to be called into active service during World War I.

Nowadays, racing is followed across the whole of the United States, with the Triple Crown races capturing the mainstream attention. However, it could be argued that the success of racing in this modern day wouldn’t have been achieved had it not been for Sir Barton’s domination in the 1919 Triple Crown, the year after the end of World War I. FInd out how Sir Barton’s win in the Derby signalled that life in the U.S. was back to normal, with major sporting events getting back into the swing of things.

Writes author Don Brown: "'Time will not diminish the glory of their deeds.' General John J. 'Black Jack' Pershing, commander of the American Expeditionary Force during World War I, spoke those words about America’s Doughboys of the Great War. They ring as true today as they did a century ago. Yet while time has not diminished their glory, it has, tragically, diminished the memory of who they were — these American soldiers of the “Great War” — and what they sacrificed."  To help combat that forgetting, Brown remembers one WWI division that sacrificed extraordinarily: the famed “Old Hickory” Division — the 30th Infantry Division — that led the breakout against Imperial German forces in 1918. 

The Connecticut State Library unveiled a new statue of the famous World War I canine Sgt. Stubby, who was adopted by a Connecticut Guardsman, was able to smell incoming gas attacks before humans, and is widely considered the first U.S. Military working dog, during an April 20 ceremony at the Library. April 4 marked the 100th anniversary of Stubby’s death. Learn more about the statue, and Stubby, who was more than just a mascot and friend of the 102nd; he was an integral part of the team. 

Every major American war has been paid for with some combination of taxes, borrowing, and — in a few cases — inflation. On the Crest Capital website, they take a look at the borrowing part: the war loans and bonds the U.S. Treasury has sold to the American public, and occasionally to foreign governments, to raise the capital a war requires. It walks the long arc from Revolutionary War loan certificates through the Civil War’s Jay Cooke operation, the five WWI Liberty Loans, the $186 billion WWII Series E campaign, and today’s TreasuryDirect savings-bond program. Learn how poster artists like Howard Chandler Christy, James Montgomery Flagg, and Joseph Pennell created images that were printed and distributed in the hundreds of thousands to sell WWI Liberty Loans. 

When Woodrow WIlson won the U.S. Presidency in the election of 1912, his wife Ellen Axson Wilson was elevated First Lady when she moved into the White House with her family in March 1913.  As First Lady, Ellen focused her attention on several Whitge House projects, including the West Garden, the forerunner to the modern Rose Garden. She also