Ocean County makes World War I come alive again

TOMS RIVER - George P. Vanderveer of Berkeley was 19 years old when his life came to a sudden end, thousands of miles from his Bayville neighborhood, almost a century ago during "The Great War."

Vanderveer's baby-face greeted the public as they strolled into the 1850 Ocean County Courthouse on Washington Street for a commemoration ceremony Thursday, marking the 100th anniversary of America's entry into what history would eventually call World War I.

A photo of the teenager in his Army uniform, clutching his rifle at a time probably before he had yet to see any combat, was emblazoned over the programs and guides that welcomed an audience of 21st century teens not much younger than Vanderveer from several area high schools. The World War I teen soldier, for which the American Legion Post 129 on Church Street is named, served to humanize and personify a human catastrophe of such scale that it took the lives of 17 million people between 1914 and 1918 and wounded another 20 million.

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Vanderveer was Ocean County's first casualty of World War I — one of 75 service members out of 2,433 from Ocean who were called to duty between 1917 and 1918, the last two years of a world war that had been raging over three continents for four years.

Making a late entry into the war after Germany had used its naval power to target U.S.-flagged merchant ships and offered its army to Mexico to help reconquer the American Southwest, the United States would lose a total of 116,516 of its own service members in "the war to end all wars."

In the ceremony at the Ocean County Courthouse at noon, which was one part classroom lecture and one part exhibition, county officials paid tribute to the local men who had served and died in the war, and sought to impress upon the high school students present about the horrors, brutality and scope of the war.

To mark the occasion, the Ocean County Cultural and Heritage Commission and the Department of Building and Grounds fixed American flags with 48 stars — Alaska and Hawaii were not states in 1917 — to the columns of the Ocean County Courthouse, along with patriotic bunting. It is expected to remain there for some time. The centerpiece of the period decoration is a red, white and blue banner that includes 2,433 stars for each county resident who went off to fight in World War I. In the middle of the banner, there is a single large star that bears 75 gold stars for each county resident who was killed in the war.

Additionally, the American Legion has loaned the county — for the purpose of a display in front of the courthouse — an original, French 75mm cannon that was actually used extensively in World War I a century ago.

Ocean County Freeholder John C. Bartlett Jr., a retired history teacher and college professor who has read almost 100 books about World War I, served as master of ceremonies of the centennial observance in which the Garden State Philharmonic also performed.

Ocean County Assignment Judge Marlene Lynch Ford welcomed the high school students who packed the historic, Victorian-era courtroom for the presentation.

"I want to invite you to transport yourselves back to 1917," Ford said in her opening remarks as the venue host.

"The American army in 1917 had about 130,000 men," Bartlett explained to the students. "Now to the Germans, that was not an army at all. ... When the British soldiers charged out of the trenches — this is chilling — but in one day, the British lost 60,000 troops, 20,000 of whom were dead. And the American army was half that size. The United States, during the war, produced in very short order an army of four million men by 1918; not very well trained."

Bartlett talked about the horrors of trench warfare: the endless mud, illness, rats, the death and destruction and a "war that went on and on and on," he said.

"British soldiers were often asked, 'Why are you fighting?' 'We fight because we fight and we fight.'" Bartlett said, meaning that eventually all sides had invested too much blood and treasure into the war to stop even after it appeared the conflict had reached a stalemate.

Erik Larsen: 732-682-9359 or elarsen@gannettnj.com