Lecture: Private George Dilboy and the Decisive Battle of World War I

When the Yankee Division was thrown into combat during the terrible summer of 1918, none of its soldiers had more combat experience than Private George Dilboy. Born in the Greek-speaking provinces of the Ottoman Empire, Dilboy had fought in the Balkan Wars as a teenager, and after emigrating to New England, he eagerly volunteered for service in his adopted country shortly before the United States entered World War I. This presentation, given by Professor Dan Breen from Brandeis University on the 100th anniversary of the end of the war, commemorates Dilboy's heroism during that bloody conflict by telling the story of how, in a few moments of astonishing courage, he earned the only Medal of Honor awarded to a New Hampshire resident during the Great War.