A century later, America’s entry into the Great War remembered

A century after the United States took the leap and joined the European Allies in the slaughterhouse that was World War I, the nation and the world gathered in Kansas City to contemplate the ordeal and the changes it wrought.

“We still live in the long shadow of World War I in every part of our lives,” said retired Col. Robert J. Dalessandro, chairman of the United States World War One Centennial Commission.

Foreign dignitaries from 27 countries joined elected officials and regular Americans from 26 states under an azure sky with no rain to hear words and songs from another era. A multimedia program, on a stage with two huge screens framing the Liberty Memorial, told the story of American reluctance and then steadfastness in venturing “Over There” to end the carnage on the Western Front and make the world safe for democracy.