World War I 100 Years Ago: April 6-12

From The Indianapolis Star, Sunday, April 7: The largest parade in Indianapolis history wound through eighteen blocks of the city’s downtown yesterday unleashing a patriotic fervor the likes of which has never before been seen. A pageant of 40,000 men, women and children on foot, in automobiles, and on scores of strikingly decorated floats took over two hours and thirty minutes to pass the reviewing stand at Pennsylvania and Vermont Streets. “Buy Bonds!” was the cry heard by the giant crowd of over 200,000 persons who thronged the streets watching the parade. The opening day of the third Liberty Loan drive began at dawn as sleepers were awakened by the roar of airplanes over the city firing machine guns and bombing the inhabitants with Liberty bond messages. Never has the “Win the War” spirit been more determinedly in evidence.