When World War I, known at the time as the Great War, broke out in Europe in 1914, it was three years before the United States provided assistance to its allies. In San Francisco, a deadly bombing at the Preparedness Day Parade in 1916[1] was believed to be planted by someone protesting US involvement.
When the US entered the war in 1917 San Francisco had little, if any, economic impact as a result of the war: in fact, the City continued to grow and thrive. The only real reminder of the war was the absence of the substantial number of men and women who enlisted.
General John “Black Jack” Pershing (1860 – 1948), posted at San Francisco’s Presidio[1A], had tragically lost his wife and three daughters when their Presidio home caught fire. Pershing was given command of the American Expeditionary Force. His successful campaigns in June and July of 1918 ultimately led to the last major German offensive of the war. Four months later, Germany surrendered.
At 1:00AM on November 11, 1918, as Armistice was officially declared in Europe, San Franciscans poured into the streets and made their way to the Civic Center, waving flags and banging drums. An hour later, people packed into the Civic Auditorium. A woman could be heard asking for a prayer for the dead. As the San Francisco Chronicle[2] would report: “Off came hats and ten thousand heads were bowed in the instant.” Mayor James Rolph[3], with a soldier on one arm and a sailor on the other, led a procession down Market Street. Rolph would inevitably be swallowed by the crowd, which remained peaceful throughout the night and into the next day. Stores and businesses shuttered in celebration.
In the following weeks, soldiers who returned home to San Francisco were given a hero’s welcome with the largest parade in San Francisco history.
The following year, a month before the Treaty of Versailles was signed, thousands of people gathered in Golden Gate Park[4] to watch Mayor Rolph dedicate a 15-acre plot as the “Grove of Heroes”. It remained a dusty patch of ground until 1932 when a monument – an 18 ton granite boulder taken from Twin Peaks and inscribed with the 761 San Francisco men and women who lost their lives in World War I – was dedicated. It remains a little known site within the park, but a somber reminder worth visiting.
[1] Preparedness Day Parade bombing: https://thesanfranciscophoenix.com/?p=3531
[1A] The Presidio: https://thesanfranciscophoenix.com/?p=5121[2] San Francisco Chronicle: story coming January 16th
[3] James “Sunny Jim” Rolph: https://thesanfranciscophoenix.com/?p=5365
[4] Golden Gate Park: story coming April 4th
