North Dakota museum adds new WWI exhibit

BISMARCK, N.D. – The North Dakota Heritage Center & State Museum in Bismarck has opened a new World War I exhibit.

The “North Dakota and the Great War” is one of several exhibits commemorating the 100th anniversary of the war, the Minot Daily News reported. It will be displayed through fall 2018.

The exhibit features a variety of items from WWI including veteran uniforms. The exhibit also explains the impact the war had on North Dakota and how residents supported the war effort.

Other WWI exhibits in the museum include an exhibit examining women’s activities in North Dakota and Canada, unique objects and a State Archives collection of WWI propaganda posters.

About 31,000 of the state’s residents served in WWI, according to the exhibit. It says that more than 200 of those soldiers were Native American.

Joseph McCloud of the Turtle Mountain Reservation was among several young men who went to Canada and enlisted in the Canadian Expeditionary Forces, according to the exhibit.

In July 1917, North Dakota National Guard units were first mobilized for war, the exhibit states. President Woodrow Wilson called the U.S. National Guard into federal service on July 3, 1917.

WWI ended on Nov. 11, 1918, when the Armistice Treaty was signed.

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Information from: Minot Daily News, http://www.minotdailynews.com