Maine’s participation in World War I was the topic of an illustrated talk May 4 by Maine Historian Earl Shuttleworth Jr., as part of the Chats with Champions series at Skidompha Library in Damariscotta.

“About 35,000 men and women took part in the war, but many more helped out at home,” Shuttleworth told a packed audience in the library’s Porter Meeting Hall. Shuttleworth said recruitment began earlier than Maine’s official entry into the war in April 1917 with temporary British enlistment tents set up on Monument Square in Portland. “Officially, Americans were not allowed to join foreign armies,” he said.

Upon entry, National Guard units throughout Maine quickly mobilized volunteers. Grand parades were held in cities and towns as the new recruits boarded trains on their way to training camps and then to the front in Europe, he said. “The Red Cross was important,” said Shuttleworth; many women were put into service either assisting the wounded or wrapping bandages. Many women worked in textile and shoe mills to provide material support for the troops.

Over $118 million was raised in government bonds and $8 million in stamps to help fund the war effort. “It represented $47 for every man, woman and child in the state,” he said. Surface ships and submarines were constructed in Bath and Kittery. Artists contributed by making recruitment posters. “After the war ended, the parades began again.”

Over the years, numerous monuments and sculptures were commissioned to keep the memory of the “Great War” alive. “Sadly, for whatever reason, the peace did not hold. WWI was a blueprint for WWII,” he said.

Shuttleworth, of Hallowell, began his interest in history at the age of 13 following the destruction of Union Station in Portland. He has served on the Maine Historic Preservation Commission and is past president of the Maine Historical Society. He was named the Maine State Historian in 2004 and is the co-author of “Maine Photography: A History 1840-2015.” He said he began research into the talk to follow up on his interest in Maine’s part in the Civil War.

The series is sponsored by Sherman’s Maine Coast Book Shop in Damariscotta.