RALEIGH — The bravery of World War I veterans will be long remembered, thanks to a family of historians with connections to Scotland County.

On Saturday, the North Carolina Museum of History unveiled its newest exhibit, “North Carolina & World War I,” days after the war’s centennial anniversary, and decades after the exhibit’s project manager and curator, Jackson Marshall promised the last living WWI veterans their story will live on. He was assisted on the project by his sons, students at St. Andrews University.

Marshall, the North Carolina Museum of History deputy director began his path as a WWI historian in 1982, two years after his grandfather, a WWI veteran and Purple Heart recipient, passed away.

Throughout the 1980’s Marshall interviewed some of the last remaining veterans of “the war to end all wars,” with the last two he spoke with being 102-years old.

“Their biggest concern was that they were going to be completely forgotten, so this in a way is a culmination of a promise that I tried to make to them — that they would be remembered,” Marshall said.

It is safe to say Marshall has fulfilled that promise, with nearly 300 museum visitors walking through the exhibit in its opening hours, as well as hundreds in attendance for the centennial commemoration and solemn wreath laying by Gov. Roy Cooper on the capital grounds near the WWI centennial exhibit, the largest state museum display of its kind.

“I am glad and appreciate the governor’s remarks today and glad to see as many people here today to come to this exhibit because it is all about remembering the service and sacrifice of the WWI soldiers and nurses,” Marshall said.

The new exhibit is meant to illustrate what it was like for North Carolina soldiers to go through the war, and provide a better understanding of the global scale of the war and its lasting impact.

The interest in the first world war is not enjoyed by Marshall alone, his two sons Stuart and Dalton Marshall have been involved with the history of the great war for most of their lives. In fact, many of the artifacts in the exhibit itself were collected by the brothers.

The two brothers are alumni of St. Andrews University and studied history during each of their four years in Scotland County.

“As we got close to building the exhibit and installing it, Stuart and Dalton just showed up and said ‘hey we want to help and help you get through it and help the museum staff get through this,’ and they were invaluable, we had a couple people who joined with them and we brought them on board — they really made a difference,” Jackson said.

The siblings proved invaluable to the exhibit’s success, and for Stuart, this success is aiding in his decision to follow in his father’s footsteps as a historian. “I hope to start graduate school this fall and hopefully begin my career as a historian in public history or otherwise,” Stuart said.

“We didn’t have enough staff to build this and they knew what they were building because they know the war and they have been in the trenches overseas, they know what it’s all about, they have read a lot about it, so they had a perspective the staff here did not have,” Jackson said.

Growing up, Stuart and Dalton would accompany their father on trips to WWI battlefields in Europe to search for artifacts. “My dad began going in the 1990’s to various battlefields in France and Belgium and when my brother and I got old enough we went with him in 2003 and 2006,” Stuart said.

“WWI is a controversial topic because soldiers who fought in the war were told they were ending all wars,” Stuart said. “It was incredibly disheartening for those who lived through it and see their friends killed in the conflict, only to have more conflict break out,” Stuart said.

The exhibit features artifacts from the war lining the trench walls, many of which belonging to Jackson, Stuart, and Dalton, from the many trips taken to the WWI battlefields of Europe.

Among the artifacts the family has donated to the exhibit are bullets, shell casings, bomb shrapnel, barbed wire, bayonets, shovels, and even a 36-square-foot trench warfare replica the three built in the garage for strategy games when the now adult sons were adolescents.

“We never thought our artifacts would end up in a museum, but I am definitely excited about it now,” Stuart said.

As visitors enter the WWI installation, they are greeted by children from the various countries involved in the conflict on television monitors. From there, museum-goers are taken on a voyage of sorts through what North Carolinian soldiers went through before they reached the trenches on the western front.

This journey introduces visitors to Kiffin Yates Rockwell, the first American pilot to shoot down an enemy aircraft on May 18, 1916. He was also the first American pilot to be killed in the war when a German two-man reconnaissance plane shot him down.

The Asheville native was buried with military honors, and the North Carolina Museum of History has his uniform on display in the new exhibit, which is on loan from the Smithsonian in Washington D.C.

Continuing through the exhibit, there is a recruitment desk, WWI recruitment ads, and an Atlantic voyage display, which was the only means of U.S. soldiers getting from North America to Europe, before visitors enter the life-size maze of trenches the Marshalls and museum staff erected over the last year.

“There have been overwhelmingly positive reactions from people so far,” Stuart said.

Those who are interested in seeing first hand what North Carolinian soldiers went through in WWI, North Carolina & World War I will by open through January 2019.

“I hope the public will get a better understanding of the time period and want to do more research of their own,” Stuart said.

Nolan Gilmour | Laurinburg Exchange Jackson Marshall, North Carolina Museum of History deputy director stands at the entrance of the nation’s newest WWI installation with his son Stuart Marshall, who has helped his father in the creation of the largest state museum WWI exhibit, “North Carlina & World War I,” after his graduation from St. Andrews University in May 2016.
https://www.laurinburgexchange.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/04/web1_marshalls.jpgNolan Gilmour | Laurinburg Exchange Jackson Marshall, North Carolina Museum of History deputy director stands at the entrance of the nation’s newest WWI installation with his son Stuart Marshall, who has helped his father in the creation of the largest state museum WWI exhibit, “North Carlina & World War I,” after his graduation from St. Andrews University in May 2016.

Nolan Gilmour | Laurinburg Exchange Hundreds of visitors and reenactors alike gathered in downtown Raleigh Saturday for the WWI Centennial Commemoration and unveiling the the North CAorlina Museum of History’s new “North Carolina & World War I” installation.
https://www.laurinburgexchange.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/04/web1_soldiers.jpgNolan Gilmour | Laurinburg Exchange Hundreds of visitors and reenactors alike gathered in downtown Raleigh Saturday for the WWI Centennial Commemoration and unveiling the the North CAorlina Museum of History’s new “North Carolina & World War I” installation.
SAU students aid history project

 

By Nolan Gilmour

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Reach Nolan Gilmour at 910-506-3171