UNSEEN RELICS at the National WWI Museum!!! | History Traveler Episode 218

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[TheHistoryUnderground]

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[brentsauer]

Some amazing artifacts. The scrap book and the Canadian officers book are an incredible glimpse at the individual level of such a horrific event. Thank you for giving us that glimpse into history.

[shanechaffey]

That you have access to the back rooms tells me that you and your series are held in high esteem . Congratulations

[NickC]

Been to the museum. Amazing place. The exhibit about the battlefield/ no man’s land is both eerie and serene. The whole museum is just great.

[psychofan]

The artwork in that scrapbook, really shows a lot. The darker ones probably illustrate not only life in the trenches but also what mood and mental state the artist was in at the time. This is incredible and I would love to read that journal!!! Oh my goodness what an absolute treasure!

[perplane]

This was an amazing wake-up call to those that have long forgotten WW-1 and have no idea just how horrific trench warfare was. Sadly enough, I didn't even know this museum existed so shame on me. Thank you for bringing forth this great content. I just wish the younger generation would take the time to learn about the sacrifices that were made to secure our freedoms. The current Woke movement wants to erase history as is was but everyone needs to know how we got to where we are today. My two cents worth. Thank you.

[JohnWilson-ystc]

I live just a few short miles from the liberty memorial/ ww1 museum. this place gives me chills everytime I go there. it's a wonderful place to learn the human element to this particular war. I never knew they had so many artifacts in their collection. Thank you for doing this.

[robynw]

What an amazing privilege to be permitted into the behind the scenes of this museum. Incredible artifacts that we would not have seen if not for you. Thank you JD.

[dconn]

No JD, you can't have her job! You're too valuable doing what you're doing. So many people are learning so much because of what you do. Keep up the great work, please.

[johnblessing]

Another fantastic episode JD. This is one of the best overall museums in the country, but I think a bit unknown to the general public. I’ve been there three times in the last 10 years and still don’t think I’ve seen it all. Thanks for for your content from this museum. It is definitely worth going out of your way to visit!

[helenbricka]

I was fascinated with the helmet and bugle featured first. In 1918, before leaving for France, the American buffalo was selected as the divisional insignia due to the "Buffalo Soldiers" nickname, given to African-American cavalrymen in the 19th century by Native Americans. To see that the soldier took time to hand paint the insignia on the helmet leaves me in awe of this gentleman who served as to his personal story. The memories of WWI has seemed to fade away in history due to the passage of time. Thank you for the behind the scenes glimpse into WWI and those who served.

[katiemyers]

My dad would've loved seeing this episode, he was an WWI enthusiast. Brought back memories of when I spent a semester cataloging the photo collection at St. Augustine Lighthouse. Learned a lot about the town's WWII Coast Guard activities I never knew.

[CapCarter]

This is a great video! I’m a museum collections manager myself so I love behind the scenes of museum collections. It’s great you got to film someone from the registrar department explaining how an object is accessioned into its collection. More of these videos would be cool to see from you especially because you seem truly interested in this topic of collections. Trust me it is a very cool job.

[chrisanderson]

As a history buff this is amazing! I've been studying WWII however I may be diving into WWI. Awesome video and I can't wait to dive into more of your videos. I could sit for hours and watch these videos!!!

[mlbs]

Thank you for featuring this museum. it is one of the finest I have ever seen and certainly an equal to the Smithsonian museums. I visited several years ago. As we walked closer to the entrance, I saw the two rather amorphous statues above the doors. I couldn't figure what they were at first, but suddenly they clicked and I got chills. I felt those chills again watching this video. They are two Assyrian winged sphynxes, their wings covering their faces. The one facing east covers its eyes against the horrors of the past. The one facing west covers its eyes because the future is unknown. I had 2 paternal uncles, both railroad engineers, who served in WW1 and survived. One spent the war shoeing mules in Arizona, presumably because he had once seen a mule. The other was trained as a machine gunner and sent to France. He was days away from being sent to the front, where the average lifespan of a machine gun unit was 2 weeks, when they discovered he was a railroad engineer. They pulled him out and he spent the rest of the war teaching French engineers how to use those new fangled Westinghouse air brakes. My maternal grandfather's farm in the Ardennes was seized by "les boche" and used as a prisoner of war camp for British soldiers. The Germans were cutting down the Ardennes forest for trench lumber and used the prisoners to run a sawmill in the camp. The prisoners were starving, reduced to eating rats, insects, and earthworms, so grandpere, at great risk, would toss a potato, etc over the fence whenever he could if he was doing fieldwork nearby.

[dustyrusty]

Thank you for bringing us into these places and allowing us to see this. And thanks to Eric of the Gettysburg Museum for his knowledge of past wars.

[debcattell]

Oh wow JD, this episode was amazing 👍👌 Here in Australia we have the War Memorial in Canberra and just like your museum only a small percentage is on display and they constantly rotate the items. My husband and I really enjoyed this episode and like you we would love the job of looking through and translating those amazing journals and artefacts. We just love your videos, thanks so much for taking us with you 👌😊

[kathyrichardson]

JD Great job as usual! Just amazing what you find ! My wife and I appreciate so much being able to see this history ! Love the drawings!!

[MjrCarnyx]

Getting that backstage access in a museum of your taste is just one of the best things in the world. I was lucky to experience it once at the Airborne museum in Oosterbeek (Market Garden), it is - leaving my family out of equation - still the best day of my life. Getting access to so much history, it's ridiculous. That WW1 scrapbook absolutely blew me away, that is one of the most awesome items I have seen in a long long while. Thanks so so much for taking us along :) !!

[codybailey]

I had no idea that there even was a National WW1 Museum! This is awesome! I’m definitely going to be planning a trip up that way!
Thank you so much for posting this!