Into the Sun is a new musical featuring the poems of British war poets and soldiers who were killed in World War I. Co-author Mike Gubser (James Madison University) says the title is from Wilfred Owen’s 1918 poem Futility, where soldiers try to awaken their fallen comrade with the warmth of the sun.
Move him into the sun. Gently its touch awoke him once,
At home, whispering of fields unsown.
Always it woke him, even in France,
Until this morning and this snow.
Later in the show: The 1918 Battle of Megiddo was the world’s last great cavalry charge and a decisive British victory. Eric Osborne (Virginia Military Institute) says the victory led to the collapse of the Ottoman Empire and paved the way for the future state of Israel in Palestinian territories. Plus: In his forthcoming book, “Unwilling Doughboys: The U.S. Army’s Foreign-born Conscripts in World War I, Alex Paul (Virginia Military Institute) shatters the myth that during WWI, most immigrants in the United States submissively complied with the conscription practices of many local draft boards.