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Topics Related to World War I
Congressman, 1901-23, Democratic majority leader, 1915-19. Opposed war declaration; later supported Wilson's war policies. Home is here.
U.S. Senator, 1901-1931. Chaired Senate Finance Committee during World War I. U.S. House, 1887-1889. Lived here.
"Graveyard of Atlantic." German submarines sank over 100 ships here, 1941-42, in the "Battle of Torpedo Junction." Shoals are 3 mi. south.
A German submarine sank the British tanker "Mirlo" off coast nearby, Aug. 16, 1918. Coast Guard, led by J. A. Midgett, saved most of the crew.
Secretary of the Navy, 1913-21; Ambassador to Mexico; editor; author. Birthplace stood here.
With the end of the North Carolina Department of Natural and Cultural Resources’ (DNCR) official WWI commemoration, we are transitioning our internationally-popular “North Carolina in WWI” blog and the department’s WWI Facebook page to focus on more general military history topics.
This is the second of a two-part blog post series entitled "North Carolinians and the Occupation of Europe," exploring the end of World War I and the U.S. Army of Occupation’s time in Europe from the end of November 1918 through July 1919. The posts are looking at the experiences of North Carolina military service individuals and female volunteer workers during their time on occupation duty in France and Germany, specifically.
This is the first of a two-part blog post series entitled "North Carolinians and the Occupation of Europe," exploring the end of World War I and the U.S. Army of Occupation’s time in Europe from the end of November 1918 through July 1919.
Arthur R. Swaim (who went by the nickname “Polly”) was born on October 9, 1894, in Davidson County, N.C., to Samuel Albert and Roelle Bodenheimer Swaim. Little is known about Arthur’s childhood, other than that he grew up on the family farm in Thomasville, N.C. His father Samuel Swaim was a blacksmith for much of his life, working as a farm blacksmith and later as a farmer.
War in World War I was not just war—it was unlike anything that had come before in terms of combat tactics, weaponry, communication technology, and modes of transportation. In particular was the airplane, which meant that ground military forces no longer just looked up into the sky to watch for artillery shells. Giant mechanized birds with mounted machine guns and the ability to drop bombs directly from overhead changed the nature of combat in WWI.