BATH — One hundred years ago, the U.S. entered World War I, a war that would ultimately claim 116,516 U.S. lives. Forty-one of those came from Beaufort County.

Saturday, Bath’s annual festival will lead off with a wreath-laying ceremony for the 40 local men, and one woman, killed during the war that marked America’s first departure from isolationist policy.

The wreath-laying ceremony takes place at 10 a.m. at the Bonner House, where Northside High School JROTC will present the colors and the Bath Junior Chorus will perform for those gathered.

“I know of two (of the casualties) who will be represented by family members at the ceremony. Blount Rumley will be part of the living history display with artifacts of James Henry Baughman of the Lafayette Escadrille. Robin Suggs is an Interpreter I for Historic Bath State Historic Site. Her great-great uncle was David H. Boyd from Pinetown,” Phoebe Wahab, one of Bath Fest’s organizers, wrote in an email.

Bath Fest has always been a celebration of the town’s history — at 302 years old, it’s North Carolina’s oldest incorporated town — but this year, the festival departs from the colonial era, and is instead centered around the centennial of America’s entry into World War I.

Living history exhibits at Bonner Point will take a realistic look at World War I encampments and reenactor James Charlet, in the role of Keeper James of the Outer Banks’ life-saving service, will tell the true story of the rescue of a British merchant ship torpedoed by a German U-boat off the North Carolina coast.

“Bath Fest 2017 will take you back in time, not 300 years to colonial Bath but 100 years as the residents of eastern North Carolina looked eastward to the war raging in Europe. The lives of our great-grandfathers and great-grandmothers were about to change forever,” reads the Bath Fest website.

The festival may focus on a different era this year, but the staples of Bath Fest remain the same: hand- and homemade arts and crafts vendors lined up and down South Main Street; Bath Elementary School’s annual display of student art; and entertainers throughout the day, including country/Southern rock singer Randall Warren, members of the Beaufort County Traditional Music Association, Christine Winstead and line-dancing students from Beaufort County Community College and gospel singer Dana Lewis. The inspiration for the popular children’s novel “Taffy of Torpedo Junction,” Carol Dillon, will also talk about what it was like to grow up on the Outer Banks during World War II.

Bath Fest takes place from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.

 

LOCAL WORLD WAR I VETERANS TO BE HONORED

Army Pvt. George M. Bennett, Blounts Creek

Army Sgt. Gilbert B. Bonner, Bonnerton

Joseph Bonner, Ransomville

Army Pvt. Bennie F. Boyd, Pinetown

Army Pvt. David Herman Boyd, Pinetown

Navy Fireman 3rd Class Joseph Bryan Brooks, Bath

Army Pvt. James A. Carter, Pungo

Army Pvt. George W. Corey, Washington

Army Capt. Horace B. Cowell, Washington

Army Pvt. Alfred G. Davis, Washington

Army Pvt. Charley Davis, Washington

Army Pvt. Claude H. Davis, Ransomville

Army Pvt. Edward S. Doughtry, Washington

Navy Fireman 2nd Class William Robert Eborn, Washington

Army Cpl. Hubert Ellis, Washington

Army Pvt. Major Elliston, Washington

Army Pvt. Robert Gattis, Aurora

Army Pvt. Thaxton Gibbs, Bath

Army Corporal Alson W. Gray, Washington

Army 1st Lt. Stephen J. Hawes, Belhaven

Army Pfc. Lindsay D. Hodges, Washington

Army Pvt. LeRoy Hooten, Washington

Army Pvt. Howard J. Jackson, Washington

Army Pvt. Stephen Johnson, Washington

Army Pvt. John N. Judkins, Pantego

Army Pvt. Charles H. Lilley, Pantego

Army Pvt. Arthur Little, Bonnerton

Army Pvt. Leslie G. Marcusen, Belhaven

Army Pvt. Robert Respass, Washington

Army Cpl. Elwood G. Roe, Surry

Army Pvt. Ellis Simmons, Leechville

Army Pvt. David S. J. Swain, Washington

Army Pvt. Julius Lonzer Tetterton, Washington

Army Cpl. David G. Thomason, Edward

Army Pvt. Solomon Tuten, Edward

Army Pvt. Cornelius Waters, Pinetown

Army Pvt. Lafayette Woolard, Washington

Army Pvt. Smithfield Jones, South Creek

Army Sgt. Walter Goddard, Washington

Lafayette Escadrille Pilot James Henry Baugham, Washington

Nurse Maude Estelle Pierce, Washington