- [Announcer] If you look around your town, there is a good chance that you will see a World War I Memorial.

It will have the names of men and women who died while serving in the United States military during the war.

World War I was fought because countries were battling over which country should rule Europe.

The fighting began in 1914, but by 1917, the European countries were so exhausted that no one had the strength to win the war.

So, in 1917, the United States decided to join the European democracies, and sent an army of doughboys to France to help win the war.

Some of these doughboys were from Alabama.

(cheering) Who were the Alabama Doughboys?

American soldiers in World War I were nicknamed doughboys.

No one really knows for sure where that name came from.

- [Narrator] What?

- [Announcer] About 86,000 Alabamians were doughboys.

Many of them would travel through this train station in Montgomery on their way to serve in the military during the war.

The army built Camp McClellan and Camp Sheridan near Montgomery to train the new soldiers.

These forts closed in the 1990s, but led the way for new bases in Alabama, like Maxwell Air Force Base.

Airmen and women are from all over the country, but the Alabama doughboys from World War I all served together in the same unit.

The doughboys were neighbors.

This World War I Memorial in Eufaula is topped with a statue of a doughdoy.

You can see what their uniforms looked like.

Below the statue are the names of the people of Eufaula that died while serving in the military during World War I.

One of the soldiers is Sergeant Robert Brannon.

He, like many of the men listed here, served together in the 4th Alabama Infantry Regiment until its name was changed in World War I to the 167th United States Infantry Regiment.

Even though the name was changed, Sergeant Brannon and all the soldiers in this unit were from Alabama.

The 167th was joined with other regiments from Iowa, Ohio, and New York to form a new larger unit.

Since it was made up of units from all over the country, it was called the 42nd Rainbow Division.

The division, including the Alabamians, were sent to France to fight in the war.

They fought so bravely at a place called the Red Cross Farm that a memorial to them stands there today.

When some of the soldiers were wounded at the Red Cross Farm, they were cared for by female nurses from Alabama.

Not all of the doughboys were boys.

The war also changed the types of jobs that women could do.

In 1916, Alabama made it a law that women could officially become professional nurses.

Some of them traveled to France to help sick and injured soldiers, but just because they worked in hospitals didn't mean they weren't in danger.

The World War I Memorial in Clayton, Alabama lists the name of Katie Dent, a nurse who died during the war while working at a hospital in France, which cared for over 7,000 soldiers.

Julia Lide from Talladega, served in a hospital that served so many soldiers that she was awarded a medal for her work.

Sadly, she also died in France while caring for her soldiers.

In honor of her work, she was buried at Arlington National Cemetery in Washington D.C., a place where the United States honors members of the military.

At the time, this was a high honor, as usually only men were honored in this way.

Not all doughboys were equal.

Although Black people did not have the same rights as white people in Alabama at this time, many of them, like Zachariah Lewis from Eufaula, wanted to join the war effort and support the United States.

But whether you were a soldier or a nurse, you would have to serve in a unit of only Black people because the army was segregated.

Segregation means that white and Black people are kept separated.

When Zachariah joined the army, all the men in his unit were Black, except the officers who were white.

Officers are the people who give all the orders in the army.

Although some Black soldiers were sent to fight in Europe, most of them remained in the United States as laborers.

Zachariah died from disease while serving as a soldier in Alabama during the war.

His name is listed on the Eufaula World War I Memorial.

Black nurses faced the same issues.

They were not allowed to follow the army to France and remained in Alabama in segregated units.

But they helped save many people during the flu pandemic of 1918, especially in rural communities that did not have access to doctors and nurses.

Even though Black soldiers and nurses had served the United States and risked their lives, nothing changed for them when the war ended.

The doughboys and nurses returned to an Alabama that had not changed in many ways, but there is one change that World War I and the doughboys brought to the States.

It was found that when the Alabama doughboys joined the army, many of them could not read.

So, laws were passed to improve the schools in Alabama, maybe even the school you're sitting in right now!