Five Harvard Men Fighting in World War I

choi

James Kelly, They Bled Crimson; By summer 1916, Harvard men couldn't wait to join the fight in France. Wall Street Journal, Jan 7, 2013
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB ... 27541875270714.html
(book review on James Carl Nelson, Five Lieutenants; The heartbreaking story of five Harvard men who led America to victory in World War I. St Martin's, 2012)

Note:
(a)
* "Kelly is now the most common of all Irish family names in Ireland."
* The English and Scottish surname Nelson means son of "the medieval personal name Nel or Neal, Anglo-Scandinavian forms of the Gaelic name Niall (see Neill). This was adopted by the Scandinavians in the form Njal and was introduced into northern England and East Anglia by them, rather than being taken directly from Gaelic."
(b) The crimson is Harvard's color.
(c) "James Carl Nelson has a bachelor’s degree in journalism from the University of Minnesota and has worked as a staff writer for The Miami Herald."
(d) The review mentioned a Harvard man William Otho Potwin Morgan.
* Otto
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Otto
(table: Related names  Otho)
* The "Otho" can be a given name or surname, where the "th" is pronounced like that in mouth.
(e) The review said, "George Alexander McKinlock, the son of a utility executive from Lake Forest, Ill, died at Soissons in July 1918."
* Lake Forest, Illinois
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lake_Forest,_Illinois
* Soissons
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Soissons
* World War I (July 28, 1914-November 11, 1918)

Wikipedia: "The assassination on June 28, 1914 of Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria, the heir to the throne of Austria-Hungary, by a Yugoslav nationalist in Sarajevo, Bosnia was the proximate trigger of the war. It resulted in a Habsburg ultimatum against the Kingdom of Serbia. Several alliances formed over the previous decades were invoked, so, within weeks, the major powers were at war; via their colonies, the conflict soon spread around the world. On July 28, the conflict opened with the Austro-Hungarian invasion of Serbia.

(f) The review referred to "George Guest Haydock, a star pole vaulter from Milton, Mass."
* Milton, Massachusetts
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Milton,_Massachusetts
(a town; southern neighbor of Boston; birthplace of former US President George HW Bush; named Milton in honor of Milton Abbey, Dorset, England)
* For Milton Abbey, see Milton Abbey School
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Milton_Abbey_School

(g) The review alluded to "Robert Graves, whose 'Good-Bye to All That' (1929)."
* Good-Bye to All That
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Good-Bye_to_All_That
(an autobiography by Robert Graves [1895-1985; English], first appeared in 1929, when the author was thirty-four)

Quote: "A large part of the book is taken up by his experience of the First World War, in which Graves served as a lieutenant then captain in the Royal Welch Fusiliers, alongside his equally famous comrade Siegfried Sassoon. Goodbye to All That provides a detailed description of trench warfare

* The English surname Graves means son of Grave. The latter is "from Middle English greyve ‘steward’, from Old Norse greifi or Low German greve (see Graf)."
* Siegfried Sassoon
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Siegfried_Sassoon
(1886-1967; an English poet)
* The Jewish (Sephardic) surnames Sassoon/Sasson--The accent is in the second syllable--are "from the Hebrew personal name Sason, meaning ‘joy.’"

* fusilier
http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/fusilier

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fusilier
* fusil (n; French): "a light flintlock musket"

(h) The review stated, "The Allied cause drew sympathy from students at Harvard from the start, partly because one of its alumni, former President Theodore Roosevelt, helped spearhead the so-called Preparedness Movement."
* Together with general Leonard Wood to lead Preparedness Movement, Theodore Roosevelt was a civilian/an ex-president.   
* Theodore Roosevelt (1858-1919; president 1901-1909; Republican)
* Woodrow Wilson was a Democrat.
(i) Doughboy
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Doughboy
(j) Aida
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aida
(section 5 Synopsis: Aida, an Ethiopian princess, is captured and brought into slavery in Egypt)
(k) Cantigny
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cantigny,_Somme
(During World War I, a battle liberated the town from German forces [Battle of Cantigny, fought on May 28, 1918 was the first American offensive of World War I])
(l)
* Richard Ager Newhall, The English Conquest of Normandy 1416-1424: A study in fifteenth century warfare. Yale University Press, 1924.
* Hundred Years' War
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hundred_Years%27_War
(section 6 Resumption of the war under Henry V: 1415–1429)