In scarcely a month the First World War will be more than a hundred years agone, and even the SECOND World War has almost slipped from living memory. They were gigantic events in the life of the world, and they were gigantic events right here in our ordinary towns and villages.

*Personal and community memories are coming together in a remarkable exhibit assembled and presented by individuals and agencies from across the county – from Corning to Greenwood, from Dansville to Addison. This exhibit is open free of charge on a walk-in basis at the Veterans of Foreign Wars (V.F.W.) post in Bath, on Route 54.

*It’s not surprising that the Curtiss company was a major war supplier, rolling out engines and airframes in Buffalo and Hammondsport. Photos, buttons and badges (security police) tell the Curtiss story, along with a model engine. At first glance it might seem surprising to see that Gunlocke in Wayland was also a major manufacturer… but after all, the military needed acres and acres of chairs.

*Much of the exhibit focuses on local contributions to the war effort. The girls at Davenport orphanage collected fat to sell to a butcher, and donated the funds. (One thoroughly reprehensible man went to jail for 120 days, for stealing fat from the orphans.)

*You might like to see the scarf, socks, and blanket knitted to Red Cross instructions for donation to soldiers. You’ll also find peach pits and walnut shells (200 of them crushed up would filter a gas mask) and milkweed pods (two bagsfull of the silk would stuff a life jacket). Kids gathered these up, even as they saved up pennies to buy government bonds.

*Neither the tragedy nor the controversy are hidden. Over the war years hundreds of Conscientious Objectors served in a camp at Big Flats, mostly put to agricultural work. Army nurse Eunice Young of Arkport endured three years in a Japanese prison camp. The exhibit includes the Red Cross armband she was wearing when she was captured, while assisting at surgery. Carlton Nipher died four days AFTER World War II ended, when his airplane blew up. His last letter home is in fragments, sections having been cut out by the censor, and lost forever.

*A century-old photographic “Roll of Honor” collage from Centenary Methodist Church includes a picture of Charles Westcott, the first Bath man killed in World War I. The local American Legion post is named for him.

*St. Thomas Episcopal Church in Bath lent training items for air-raid spotting – civilians staffed designated posts to keep track of air traffic, and sound the alert in case of enemy attack. Kanestio Historical Society’s exhibit includes an air raid warden’s helmet and accoutrements.

*All of this is part of the first Steuben County History Awareness Week, co-ordinated by County Historian Emily Simms. At least 14 agencies have created exhibits, though others are pitching in as well to ake the whole week happen. The exhibit’s open Tuesday through Friday from 2:00 to 6:00, and then Saturday from 9:00 to 2:00. Seven-hundred students, mostly from Bath or from Campbell-Savona, are coming through in class groups.

*Then on Sunday October 7 I’ll be giving a 3:00 presentation at Haverling High School auditorium, “Over Here: The Great War in our Small Towns.” This will be followed at 4:30 by a “gala U.S.O. show finale!”, complete with a live big band. We hope you’ll be able to taake in some part of the week’s activities. It’s the way of the world that memories fade, but they shouldn’t disappear.