Re-enactors with the Great War Associations 80th Division, 318th Infantry Regiment, American Expeditionary Forces at the Averasboro Battlefield Museum last year. Kneeling, from left, Dr. Jay Gillispie and Brian Beckley. Standing, from left, Desmond Touchstone, Josh Blake, Jay Callahan, Ryan Young, Vince Petty and Dustin Hussey.The group of re-enactors will take part in a living history event this weekend on the museum grounds with a historically accurate World War I encampment.

By REECE MURPHY

Of The Record Staff

World War I has been called “The Great War” and “The War To End All Wars,” but despite the grandiose names and the fact the war was one of the largest and bloodiest in history, it has gradually lost much of its awe over the years in the minds of many Americans.

The Averasboro Battlefield Commission wants to change that. To that end, the commission will host another of its well-regarded living history events this weekend featuring a World War I infantry encampment of American Expeditionary Forces (AEF) soldiers, also known as doughboys.

The event, at the Averasboro Battlefield Museum on N.C. 82 between Dunn/Erwin and Godwin, is free and set to run between 10 a.m. and 4 p.m. Saturday, rain or shine. “What we’re portraying is the doughboy experience,” said World War I re-enactor and Sampson Community College Professor Dr. Jay Gillispie. “What we want to do is portray what it was like for the typical doughboy in France during 1917 and 1918.

“We also try to emphasize North Carolina’s role in World War I,” he said.

World War I was fought by the Triple Entente powers of France, Russia, Great Britain and later the United States, and The Triple Alliance of Austro-Hungary, Germany and the Ottoman Empire. The war began in June 1914 and came to an end at 11 a.m. on Nov. 11, 1918.

Though America didn’t enter the war until 1917, Mr. Gilispie said it was enough to cause quite a stir among the Triple Alliance.

“One of things that prompted the Germans to give up was that, ‘OK, we’re already almost pushed back, and the Americans are halfway here,’” he said.

By the time the war was over, approximately 70 million soldiers had been deployed between the armies and more than nine million soldiers and civilians killed, by some accounts.

Four million of those deployed soldiers were part of the AEF, many from North Carolina’s 30th Division, with two million AEF forces stationed in France. Approximately a quarter of a million doughboys lost their lives.

“As one historian put it, in a very real sense, it was the end of the 19th and beginning of the 20th century,” Dr. Gillispie said. “It’s one of those things that’s been forgotten, we often don’t realize how much Europe and the rest of the world changed as a direct result of this war.

“A lot of people had fathers, grandfathers and great-grandfathers who were in the AEF, but they don’t know what they did exactly and the war kind of got sandwiched there between the Civil War and the second World War,” he said. “So we try to bridge that gap.”

Bridging the gap means bringing it to life. Museum Operations Director C.C. Livingston said he has no doubt Dr. Gillispie and the other re-enactors can do just that. “This is a group that just started a few years ago and this is their third year here with us,” Mr. Livingston said. “They’re very knowledgeable and they’re all about the historical aspect of it down to their equipment.”

During the event, visitors will be treated to weapons demonstrations with actual World War I-era weapons, period cooking, poison gas drills and much more.

“We’ll show people how to use the equipment, the gasmasks, hand grenade throwing demonstrations, things like that,” Mr. Gillispie said. “We also try to have a lot of fun things for kids to do, so there’s something for everybody.” But wait, isn’t the Averasboro Battlefield Commission and Museum dedicated to the Civil War? Yes, but not exclusively, Mr. Livingston said. It would be more correct, he said, to say the commission and museum is committed to teaching people about a gamut of historical facets.

“We’re inclusive to other historical subjects, and there were people involved in World War I from right here in Harnett and Cumberland counties,” Mr. Livingston said. “There’s been a lot of interest in the subject and I’d like for everyone to come out and join us Saturday.”

The Averasboro Battlefield Museum is located at 3300 N.C. 82. From Interstate 95, take Exit 71, travel west and turn on N.C. 82. The museum is located approximately 2.5 miles on the right.

For more information, call the museum at 891-5019 or visit its Web site at www.averasboro.com.