A good friend of mine sent this to me today…It's a picture of 18,000 men prepariing for war in a training camp at Camp Dodge, IA in 1918.
As the Iowa National Guard's Website says:
“On a stifling July day in 1918, 18,000 officers and soldiers posed as Lady Liberty on the parade [drill] grounds at Camp Dodge.” [This area was west of Baker St. and is currently the area around building S34 and to the west.] “According to a July 3, 1986, story in the Fort Dodge Messenger, many men fainted-they were dressed in woolen uniforms-as the temperature neared 105 degrees Farenheit. The photo, taken from the top of a specially constructed tower by a Chicago photography studio, Mole & Thomas, was intended to help promote the sale of war bonds but was never used.” (Grover 1987)
http://www.iowanationalguard.com/Museum/CDStory/CDstory/LibertyStatuepage.htm
I was so impressed with this one, that I went looking for others…unfortunately the links that I found were all 404's – If you know of any other images like the one above, please post a comment with the links to them.
Regards,
jim
