In PBS’s ‘The Great War,’ Soldiers Detail the War Effort

‘The Great War’ tells the story of World War I’s legacy, exploring how the war changed America and the world. This landmark 3-night event tells the story of America’s fight through unpublished diaries, memoirs, and letters from the Americans who experienced the Great War firsthand.

The letter pictured here, for instance, from Lt. Walter Boadway to his wife Betty, dated October 20, 1918, details an encounter with a soon-to-be famous compatriot. Lt. Boadway, stationed in Italy, writes about the fun of “going out” in uniform as an officer. He mentions a recent outing with a Red Cross lieutenant named Hemingway, from Oak Park, IL. Hemingway, of course, famously drove an ambulance at the Italian Front in 1918 and was seriously wounded in July of that year. Boadway met Hemingway when he’d been “in the hospital 4 months” after that incident, healing from his wounds. Boadway’s encounter with the future Nobel laureate reiterates how many American lives of his generation participated in the war, on the front and at home.

Find out more about World War I’s legacy by tuning in to the second installment of The Great War, tonight at 9/8c on PBS. Learn more www.pbs.org/thegreatwar.