The Great War.....what was so great??

     I am reading "The Last of the Doughboys" by a man named Richard Rubin.
     For you youngins', Doughboy was the name given soldiers from the U.S. in World War I.  But they didn't call it World War I, they called it The Great War.  I imagine the death and devastation experienced by our European friends was so great, it was an apt way to describe what happened.  It was also called the War to End All Wars....but we know that didn't work out.
     Which  brings me to something you may not know about me:

I have a direct connection to The Great War

     My father was German....his entire family, all my aunts and uncles from his side, were from Germany.  My pops came over in 1902...he was one year old.  Or he came in 1901, I have it written down somewhere.....heaven help me.
     And if you are doing the math, I was born when he was 48.  By the time I was 10, he was in no mood to go play catch, ride bikes, or be a pal.  He was tired and grumpy, mostly grumpy.  But I digress.
     He was also a soldier (for our side) in The Great War.  As far as I know, he went into the army, was sent to Camp Grant in Rockford and went through training camp....and the war ended.  He was mustered out and went back home to Chicago.
     One time on our annual visit to our Swiss Miss, we went to some battle grounds and museums from the Great War.  Based on what I saw, the only thing great about it was the number of people who died and the destruction it caused.  We stayed in a villa which was now a bed and breakfast.  The villa had been French, captured by Germans, bombed, recaptured by the French, bombed again, and eventually rebuilt.
     Walked the battle ground at Verdun.  This battle on the Western Front was fought from February to December in 1918.  300,000 men died!!  Almost 1 million more were wounded.  When the French finally claimed victory, they had advanced the lines maybe one half mile.  We visited a monument for Australian troops.  The names of 10,000 Aussies who died in France are listed on the memorial.  There are also monuments for Newfoundland (which still has extensive trenches), Canada, and other sites we did not get a chance to visit.
     Every small French village had a memorial to their dead in The Great War.
     I don't think we can comprehend what those people went through.
     I've always liked history.  I have enjoyed reading about the world and its past. "The Last of the Doughboys" is a really fascinating look at the survivors.  The author interviewed men who were 103-109 years old in the early 2000s.  He said he spent a decade tracking down and interviewing the former Doughboys.
     Maybe because of my dad, and the fact I know so little about him, that's why this book really grabs my interest.   Makes me wish I had taken some time to talk to him about his life....I have a feeling he had a few surprises hidden away.