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15 unusual facts about American Expeditionary Forces


American Expeditionary Forces

Dalessandro, Robert J., & Knapp, Michael G., "Organization and Insignia of the American Expeditionary Forces, 1917–1923" (Atglen, Pennsylvania: Schiffer Publishing, 2008) The best single volume on AEF unit organization.

James J. Cooke, The Rainbow Division in the Great War, 1917–1919 Praeger Publishers, (1994)

American migration to France

During the United States campaigns in World War I the American Expeditionary Forces fought in France alongside British and French allied forces in the last year of the war, against Imperial German forces.

Carleton B. Joeckel

Joeckel took a leave of absence from 1917–1919 and served as operations officer with the American Expeditionary Forces, 363rd Infantry of the United States Army during the Allied Forces’ campaign against the Germans in World War I; he achieved the rank of captain.

Ed Klepfer

His career was chopped up due to time spent fighting in World War I, as part of the American Expeditionary Forces in France.

Edward Bartow

Bartow saw service in World War I with the Sanitary Corps of the American Expeditionary Forces from 1917 to 1918.

Edward Steichen

After World War I, during which he commanded the photographic division of the American Expeditionary Forces, he reverted to straight photography, gradually moving into fashion photography.

Frank L. Pinckney

After leaving Dundee, Pinckney joined the Illinois militia as a sergeant in with the 314 motor supply train in the American Expeditionary Forces serving in France.

George Matthews Harding

After the WWI Harding returned to his painting and teaching in Philadelphia, publishing a limited-edition portfolio of some of his war art entitled The American Expeditionary Forces in Action, married Anita Nisbeth of Ardmore, and established his own studio and home in Wynnewood.

Following an introduction by his sister, Harding, like other future AEF artists, studied for a time with Howard Pyle.

Louis B. Wilson

In 1918, Wilson went overseas as the assistant director of the AEF division of laboratories and infectious diseases.

Meyer Kestnbaum

In 1917 he interrupted his college education due to World War I, entering military service as a member of the American Expeditionary Forces.

Samuel Lapham VI

During the war he served at Fort Moultire in Charleston and the 61st Artillery Brigade, 1st Army, American Expeditionary Forces in France.

Two Black Crows

Anybody's War (Paramount, 1930) aka Two Black Crows in the AEF

William Wallace Atterbury

He was instrumental in reorganizing railroad traffic during the war for more efficient transportation of troops and supplies for the American Expeditionary Forces.


Alden Brooks

He was eager to join the A.E.F and thought the quickest way would be to study in a French artillery school.