Travis County and World War I
Travis County and World War I
The Austin Veterans Day Parade organizers and committee are proud to partner with the Travis County Historical Commission to highlight this area's contributions to World War I. Texas' contributions to World War I were important and Travis County sent many troops and welcomed them home after.
Current events
OCTOBER: The Travis County WWI Centennial Committee’s exhibit of WWI artifacts is now on public display at the Capitol Visitors Center, in the old General Land Office building (on E. 11th St., in the SE corner of the Capitol grounds) now thru early January 2019. Hours are M-F 9-5, Sun 12-5
Here are a few of the items - photos courtesy Kevin McKenzie:
Other events in Travis County - see the latest at: https://www.sachome.org/events/WWI/Travis%20County%20WW1%20Centennial%20Events.pdf
WWI Monuments in Travis County
Austin High School – Memorial honoring students and alumni who died during WWI
University of Texas at Austin:
- Darrell K. Royal Memorial Stadium (originally named “War Memorial Stadium” in 1924 to honor those who died in WWI)
- Frank Denius Veterans Plaza, northwest corner of stadium, with statues and plaques honoring over 5,000 Texans who died while serving during the war and a tablet for University of Texas students, graduates, and staff who sacrificed their lives during WWIState of Texas Capitol Grounds:
- Veterans of the 36th Infantry, Texas National Guard Monument (west side of grounds)
- WWI Memorial (north side of the grounds near the TX Supreme Court)
Please send edits to TravisWW1@sachome.org
For the latest WWI Events listing with online links, online research resources, and WWI Veteran Burials, visit (after 10/1/18)TravisWW1.sachome.org
Other Texas displays of the centennial are at:
The Texas World War I Centennial Commemoration
The Texas Historical Commission
Virtual Cemetery online
Terri Hoover Mirka put together a "virtual cemetery" on findagrave.com of all identified soldiers and nurses who died in service during WWI to help anyone doing projects that would feature some of our local heroes . The list includes people born in, resided in, or buried in Travis County. Some were easy to identify but many required extensive research to locate.
On the poppy
Backroads featured a nice article on Texas poppies this time last year:
Poppies are sprouting up again as Texans observe the centennial of “The War to End All Wars,” as it was called back then. According to the Georgetown Texas Red Poppy Festival held annually in late April, seeds from wild poppies in Europe were sent to Georgetown right after World War I.
Read the whole article on the Temple Daily Telegram site.
In Flanders fields the poppies blow
Between the crosses, row on row,
That mark our place; and in the sky
The larks, still bravely singing, fly
Scarce heard amid the guns below.
We are the Dead. Short days ago
We lived, felt dawn, saw sunset glow,
Loved and were loved, and now we lie
In Flanders fields.
Take up our quarrel with the foe:
To you from failing hands we throw
The torch; be yours to hold it high.
If ye break faith with us who die
We shall not sleep, though poppies grow
In Flanders fields.
By Lx 121 - Own work, CC BY-SA 3.0, Link
From Wikipedia: The remembrance poppy is an artificial flower that has been used since 1921 to commemorate military personnel who have died in war, and represents a common or field poppy, Papaver rhoeas. Inspired by the World War I poem "In Flanders Fields", and promoted by Moina Michael, they were first adopted by the American Legion to commemorate American soldiers killed in that war (1914–1918). They were then adopted by military veterans' groups in parts of the British Empire.