Free Symposium to Focus on the 100th Anniversary of the End of World War I

By NMDVS 

The New Mexico World War I Centennial Commission and the New Mexico History Museum are presenting a symposium in Santa Fe on August 25 to

highlight the Centennial of the end of World War I.

The free symposium begins at 9a.m. at the museum, located 1t 113 Lincoln Avenue next to the Palace of the Governors on the Santa Fe Plaza. New Mexico Department of Veterans Services Secretary Jack Fox, who is a commission member, will give the Welcome Address and set the stage for the day’s presentations.

World War 1: “The Great War”

World War 1 ended 100 years ago this year, when a ceasefire was signed on November 11, 1918 to end hostilities between the AlliedForces (the United States, France, and the United Kingdom) and Germany.

New Mexico became our nation’s 47^th state just two years before the war erupted due to longstanding tensions in Europe. Nearly 14,000 New Mexicans were sent to fight in the war—with 228 killed in action.

Among the topics to be covered by panel of speakers: How the assassination of a prominent member of royalty sparked the war, how an intercepted telegraph from Germany to Mexico led America to finally enter the war which it had resisted entering, and the key role an artillery unit from New Mexico played in the war–and why it received some of the highest accolades from the war by U.S. Army Commanding General John “Black Jack” Pershing.

For more information, contact DVS Public Information Officer Ray Seva atray.seva@state.nm.us or (505) 827-6352.