Marblehead in World War I: At Home and Overseas

The small seacoast town of Marblehead, in eastern Massachusetts, was the first to answer the call to arms during both the Revolutionary and Civil Wars. Throughout World War I, Marblehead was affected, and the town influenced the outcome. Boasting of the fifth and final naval militia in history, the Tenth Deck Division, Marblehead’s men stood on the front line as the first shots rang out, aimed at the Germans in 1917. It was a town that pulled together, rallied behind their own family and friends while they fought in the trenches of war and stood shoulder to shoulder in their diligent commitment. Historian Margery A. Armstrong delves into the past through articles and letters from those overseas that were first published in the Marblehead Messenger.