Beyond the AEF

Beyond the AEF. . , The American Expeditionary Forces were the soldiers and marines who fought on the Western Front in France and Belgium. But many other Americans served in the war.

While the United States initially remained neural, thousands of Americans crossed into Canada to join the British war effort; four American soldiers received the Victoria Cross, Britain's highest award for valor. Others served with the French Foreign Legion. Some Americans formed the Lafayette Escadrille, a squadron of aviators flying with the French air force. Others organized field hospitals and ambulance services.

"If I died, I want you to know that I have died as every man ought to die, fighting for what is right." , Kiffin Rockwell, Lafayette Escadrille, February 17, 1916

, Although the Army bore the brunt of the fighting, the Navy and Coast Guard made important contributions in tough and demanding missions.

When America entered the war, German submarines were sinking one in every four ships that sailed from British ports. The Navy engaged German submarines off the east coast of the United States, along the Atlantic seaways to England, Ireland, and France, and in the Mediterranean. The Navy also laid an extensive "mine barrage" in the North Sea.

In addition to hunting submarines, the Navy and Coast Guard escorted convoys of ships that carried troops and critical supplies to the front. Of the two million U.S. troops transported across the Atlantic, only 637 were lost to German submarines. This achievement cost the Navy 431 dead and 819 wounded, while the Coast Guard lost 121 men, proportionately the greatest loss of all the U.S. armed services.

Some Army contingents fought in campaigns outside the Western Front. The 332nd Infantry Regiment serve in Italy, fighting alongside the Italian Army against against Austro-Hungarian forces in the Vittorio Veneto campaign. More than 13,000 American soldiers deployed to North Russia and Siberia between 1918 and 1920, as part of the Allied intervention in the Russian civil war. While the U.S. contingents mostly carried out defensive operations and guarded American property, American participation poisoned relations between the United States and the victorious communists, who formed the Soviet Union in 1922.

"We recognize with feelings of gratitude the debt we owe the United States .... The close cooperation between our two services has … been one of the outstanding features of the war." , Admiral Sir Rosslyn Wemyss, Royal Navy, November 16, 1918