This photograph is a true mystery for me. It began in and ended with an armistice at the eleventh hour of the eleventh day of the eleventh month in The global toll had already reached nearly 40 million casualties, including American losses of , dead and , wounded.
In June of , U. They disembarked at the port of Saint Nazaire; the landing site had been kept secret because of the menace of German submarines, but by the time the Americans had lined up to take their first salute on French soil, an enthusiastic crowd had gathered to welcome them.
The Marquis de Lafayette had fought beside Patriot soldiers, equipping some of them at his own expense. He won the affection of George Washington and became a hero to the young nation. In early July , the newly arrived American Expeditionary Force troops marched under the Arc de Triomphe, cheered by the people of Paris.
Earl F. Lavallee of Winooski, VT in Germany, As followers of PortraitsofWar will know, we take a great pride in providing interesting and never-before-seen imagery and narration of wartime photography ranging from the American Civil War to the Korean War. In most cases, I take an authentic photograph from my personal collection and work towards uncovering various details that hopefully elucidate some aspect of the photo.
In this case, I worked the other way around. My familiarity with the First World War history of the State of Vermont is well known to followers of this blog as well as within my home state. Only a week ago I was lucky enough to be invited into the bowels of the Vermont Historical Society storage area to inspect a series of American Civil War flags with a few colleagues of mine from work.
