If you've read anything about World War I, you probably know it was a grisly conflict

that reduced whole cities to rubble, wiped small towns off the map, and left Europe covered

in battle scars.

The scale of the destruction was hard to comprehend for us today, and for people who lived through

it. Heavy artillery and chemical gas turned battles into hellscapes.

Soldiers fought in cold, wet trenches, dug deep into the earth, where disease claimed

more lives than the fighting.

By the end, many people had lost all faith in humanity.

And yet, amid the violence and despair,

one small sweet reminder of home made its way to the front lines,

delivered by unlikely messengers just when the soldiers needed it most.

On today's episode, A Sweet Taste of America.

This is a twist of history.

It's the summer of 1917 and World War I is raging.

Evangeline Booth sits outside of an army office in Washington, D.C., stealing herself for

another meeting where she's certain she'll be told absolutely not.

She knows what she looks like, a lanky, 51-year-old woman in the curly wig she's worn

since her 20s, when a bout of scarlet fever caused her to lose all her hair.

She's not exactly a battle-tested soldier like the general she's about to lobby.

In fact, she's worried he might laugh her out of the room.

He wouldn't be the only one.

All the politicians and military officials she's pitched her idea to have said no, even President Woodrow Wilson himself.

...