Nearly half the U.S. soldiers who fought in World War One were foreign born. Because of large-scale immigration at the turn of the 20th century, the U.S. changed from a population that was 60 percent British and 35 percent German at the time of the Civil War into the proverbial “melting pot” at the start of the Great War: 11 percent British, 20 percent German, 30 percent Italian and Hispanic, and 34 percent Slavic. In fact, one-third of all Americans were foreign born or the children of immigrants. WWI draftees, who today we might call “hyphenated Americans,” spoke 49 different languages. Although it made communication difficult, the recruits performed splendidly on the battlefield and were proud to fight — and die — for their country and its principles of democracy and inclusion. Read more about the era of WWI and the lives of an immigrant family on the Lower East Side in On the Shore (see NOVELS).
