The Lusitania Goes Down.

Over There Doughboys In The Great War
To Be Presented By
Captain Dale Dye USMC (Ret).

Excerpt From Episode 1
The Rising Tide.
(copyright Livingbattlefield of SC)

Lusitania Arriving in New York.

Images of Lusitania, press announcement, graphic maps inter-cut with Dale speaking.

DALE
The luxury liner Lusitania was launched in 1907, just as the competition for control of the lucrative Trans-Atlantic passenger market was heating up. She had revolutionary new turbine engines and could carry 50% more passengers than her competitors at 25 knots. She set out on her final voyage from New York to Liverpool on May 1st 1915.

The Germans had declared the sea around the British Isles as a war zone and warned German travelers not to sail on the Lusitania.

Image of the press announcement and other relevant photos.

DALE V/O
The German government took out a series of advertisements in American newspapers the morning of her departure. They warned of an attack on the liner, but she sailed regardless. She left port with her experienced Captain, William Turner at the helm and a full compliment of 1900 passengers. He was confident that his super speed would help him outrun any U-boats and she was flying the stars and stripes.

Lusitania leaves NY and we see map of her route across the Atlantic (archive and graphics).

DALE V/O (CONT’D)
As she slipped out of New York harbor and out into the Atlantic ocean, nobody realized how significant this final voyage would become.

CUT TO:
INT. NAVAL COMMAND, QUEENSTOWN IRELAND - DAY
We see British Admiral Coke studying charts and frantically talking with subordinates (re-enactment)

DALE V/O
In Queenstown, Ireland on May 7th 1915 British Admiral Coke was agitated. There had been four separate sightings of a German U-boat, since dawn and the warship HMS Centurion had been sunk the previous day. At 10:59 am, he received news that the steamer Candidate had been torpedoed and gone down. Within a few minutes a signal was received from the British Admiralty... German Submarines active in southern part of Irish channel ... make sure Lusitania gets this.

CUT TO:
INT. BRIDGE OF THE LUSITANIA - DAY
11:52am - We see Captain Turner receiving the message from Coke and conferring with other officers.

DALE V/O
The message presented Turner with a problem. The possible location of the submarine was somewhere in the St Georges Channel and his instructions were to navigate a course down the center of it.  He was supposed to be escorted through the channel by the cruiser Juno and she was nowhere in sight. He scanned the misty horizon and decided to change his course slightly, bringing him dangerously close to the rocky coast of Ireland.

CUT TO:
INT. DINING ROOM OF THE LUSITANIA - DAY
People in formal dining attire mill around the dining room (re-enactment).

DALE V/O
As the Lusitania moved closer to the shore to avoid enemy U-boats, passengers had no idea that they were entering U-boat Alley. Many were still enjoying lunch as the vessel sailed into the danger zone.

CUT TO:
INT. U-20 SUB - DAY
We see Kapitain Leutenant, Walter Schwieger look thought his periscope (re-enactment).

DALE V/O
For Captain Walter Schwieger this target of opportunity was too much to let slip away.
EXT. LUISITANIA THROUGH PERISCOPE - DAY
Small image of the Lusitania in the distance, we can see her four smoking funnels.

DALE V/O (CONT)
He recognized the Lusitania, calculated her speed at 22 knots and estimated that she was 14 miles away. He submerged and set a course that would enable him to get a perfect flank shot.

EXT. U-20 SUB - DAY
The sub submerges.
BACK TO:
INT. AND POV, BRIDGE OF THE LUSITANIA - DAY
From out at sea we spot the lighthouse of the Old Head of Kinsale.

DALE V/O
As the Lusitania moved ever closer to the Irish coast line, Turner recognized the famous lighthouse at The Old Head of Kinsale. He ordered a change of course. He was heading for Queenstown and safety, but this change of course brought him right into the path of U-20 and the eager Schwieger.
We see a map with the liner changing course directly into the path of U-20

CUT TO:
INT. AND POV U-20 SUB - DAY
We see Schwieger peering through his periscope, as the Lusitania come into view we see the bow of the ship line up with the cross-hairs.

DALE V/O
The U-boat captain wanted his torpedo to strike the ship in the area of the forward boiler room, so he calculated that releasing as the bow of Lusitania met the cross-hairs would give him the perfect position. He gave the order to fire.

EXT. IRISH SEA - DAY
A torpedo streams through the water.

CUT TO:
EXT. AND POV, CROWS NEST OF THE LUSITANIA - DAY
We see Able Seaman Thomas Quinn on the crow’s nest and we see his view of the torpedo heading for the ship.

DALE V/O
Able Seaman Thomas Quinn was on lookout in the crow’s nest of the liner as he spotted the torpedo heading for the ship.
He shouted down to the bridge, but it was too late.

CUT TO:
INT. AND POV U-20 SUB - DAY
We watch Schwieger tracking the torpedo until it strikes the liner.

DALE V/O
Schwieger watched the torpedo as explodes forward of where he had calculated.

INT. DINNING ROOM LUSITANIA - DAY
Guests are still sitting at the table as a violent explosion shakes the whole structure. We see people being thrown around, we hear screams and the sounds of breaking glass (re-enactment).

INT. AND POV U-20 SUB - DAY
We see through Schwieger’s periscope as the Lusitania immediately begins to list. Then we hear and see a second explosion.

DALE V/O
Schwieger had only released one torpedo, but now there were two explosions. This is what he wrote in his log:

EXT. LUISITANIA - DAY
We see images of the Lusitania sinking bow-down into the ocean (miniature special effects).

ACTOR VO
(German accent)
There was an unusually heavy detonation beyond the front funnel. The explosion of the torpedo must have been followed by a second explosion, boiler, coal or powder? The superstructure at the point of impact and the bridge are torn asunder.... It appears as if the ship is going to capsize very shortly.

DALE V/O
The Lusitania took only 18 minutes to sink. As her bow disappeared under the cold waters of The Irish Sea, her stern rose high up in the air before plummeting into the depths.

CUT TO:
EXT. IRISH SEA AT KINSALE - DAY
We see the ocean waves with the lighthouse in the far distance. We hear screams and splashes and see boats, floating luggage and people thrashing around in the water, trying to save themselves.

DALE V/O
One thousand 198 souls perished in the cold murky waters off the coast of Ireland. Of these, 128 were Americans.

Lusitania at The Bottom of The Irish Sea. (Photo Courtesy of Wexford Sub Acqua Club)

(Script Copyright  of Livingbattlefield of SC)

Hell-Fighters Band to Come Alive.

 

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A Lasting Love Affair

Lieutenant (Bandleader) James Reese Europe.

The Great War changed many things in France. The French lost more than four percent of their population in the meat grinder of combat, and their towns and cities still bear the scars to this very day. But in the midst of all the carnage, a love affair developed. A love affair that grows stronger as each year passes, and it was all thanks to a group of African Americans.

Lieutenant James Reese Europe, and the soldiers of the all-black, 15^th New York National Guard Regiment, shipped out of New York on December 27^th 1917, destined for the bloody trenches of France. Packed away alongside all the usual stuff a soldier would carry were the tools of their other trade; trombones, trumpets, saxophones and a whole variety of musical instruments. These men were on their way to start another French Revolution, the revolution of Jazz.

It took a while before the men of the 15^th New York got to do any soldiering. The commanders of The American Expeditionary Force just didn’t want to place black soldiers alongside their white American brothers, so Europe and his men dug trenches, laid railroad track, and unloaded supplies. But all the while they mesmerized their French hosts with this new and intoxicating jazz, and the love affair began.

The French Army was colorblind. They didn’t have a problem with these black sons of America, so they twisted the arms of a few U.S generals and finally got permission to incorporate the 15^th New York into their ranks.

Now called the 369^th Infantry Regiment, this group of musicians fought with real élan, earning the nickname, The Harlem Hell-Fighters.

We will tell the story of this band of musical warriors in our new, four-part public television series, Over There. Doughboys in The Great War, and we are going to re-build the Hell-Fighters band.

By drawing young African American musicians from across the Carolinas and Georgia, the Hell-Fighters band of James Reese Europe will come alive.

Story of African American Hero to feature in forthcoming WWI series.

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Henry Lincoln Johnson, aka Black Death

Redcap Henry Johnson enlisted in the US Army June 5^th 1917. Joining the all black New York National Guard, which became the 369^th Infantry Regiment, nicknamed The Harlem Hell Fighters. Arriving in France on New Year’s Day 1918 Henry and his comrades were assigned menial chores on account of the strict segregation laws that existed in the US Armed Forces of WWI. Within several months, and without any hint of racial bias French Command took control of the 369.^thand dubbed them Les Enfants Perdus.... The Lost Children.  They began the task of training these Black Sons of New York in combat tactics. Wearing French helmets and armed with French weapons the unit was honed into a fighting force that would distinguish itself time and again.

In Minacourt, France the men of the 369th came face to face with the horrors of war for the first time.

There were a whole lot of blind men, and one-legged men, and one-armed men, and sick men, all-coming this way. I asked a white man where all these wounded men come from? And he says, 'Nigger, they're coming from right where you're going the day after tomorrow.' Said a veteran of the 369^th’s march to the front.

Stones, dirt, shrapnel, limbs and whole trees filled the air. The noise and concussion alone were enough to kill you. Flashes of fire, the metallic crack of high explosives, the awful explosions that dug holes fifteen and twenty feet in diameter. The utter and complete pandemonium and the stench of hell, your friends blown to bits, the pieces dropping near you." (Major Warner Ross)

During the night of May 14th, 1918, Privates Henry Johnson and Needham Roberts were on guard duty as a German grenade landed near them.  Needham was instantly put out of action and Henry Johnson, wounded was left to face a German trench raiding party, all alone.

Badly wounded and dazed from the explosion, Henry fell upon the raiders with ferocity. Slashing with his bolo knife, clubbing with his rifle until it broke in shards and launching a grenade, he singlehandedly killed or wounded 24 Germans and rescued his buddy Roberts from certain capture.

Cartoon of Henry's Actions.

There isn't so much to tell. Just fought for my life. A rabbit would've done that.(Private Henry Johnson)

For his actions at Minacourt, Henry Lincoln Johnson was awarded The Croix de Guerre with star and gold palm, France’s highest honor. It would not be until long after his death that the United States recognized his bravery. In 1995 during the Clinton Administration he was posthumously awarded a Purple Heart for his wounds and in 2003 after many years of lobbying, the Bush Administration awarded him the Distinguished Service Cross 

for extraordinary heroism in action in France during the period 13 - 15 May 1918.

Sergeant Henry Johnson died penniless in New Lennox, Illinois at the Veterans Hospital, on July 5, 1929. He is buried in Arlington National Cemetery. He was 32..