Lost Voices of the Great War: Summit County in the First World War
This locally produced documentary recounts the story of Summit County residents’ experiences at home and overseas during World War I.
LOST VOICES OF THE GREAT WAR uses dramatic reenactment footage, narration and interviews to bring to life collections of 100-year-old letters, film, photographs, images and documents. A wide variety of voices tell the story, including:
- Mary Gladwin, an Akronite who volunteered to serve with the International Red Cross three years before the United States declared war in 1917.
- F.A. Seiberling, co-founder of The Goodyear Tire & Rubber Company, which produced blimps, tires and gas masks for the war, and his son, Fred, who enlisted with the Ohio National Guard before going overseas to serve with “Battery B” of the First Ohio Field Artillery.
- Several “Goodyearites,” including Lester S. Himmelberger, who served in the “Balloon Division.”
- Akronite Charles C. Jackson, the only known decorated African American officer from Ohio, who was awarded the French Croix de Guerre for bravery.
- Grace Goulder, a Hudson resident, who quit her job as the first female reporter with the Cleveland Plain Dealer to serve in France with the YWCA.
The documentary was produced by Stan Hywet Hall & Gardens and The University of Akron as part of a larger partnership formed to commemorate the 100th anniversary of American involvement in the World War I.
More information on this collaboration and the film may be found at www.summitwwi.org. LOST VOICES OF THE GREAT WAR was made possible, in part, by Ohio Humanities, a state affiliate of the National Endowment for the Humanities.
Premiered on PBS Western Reserve, November 2018.