World War I

The Wreck of the First U.S. Navy Destroyer Jacob Jones Has Been Found

Just 40 miles off the coast of the Isles of Scilly, in the southwest of England, a team of expert divers located the wreck of the USS Jacob Jones (DD-61). The Tucker-class destroyer was built prior to WWI and was sunk on December 6, 1917, by a German submarine. Of her crew of seven officers and 103 men, 2 officers and 62 men lost their lives according to the U.S. Navy’s Naval History and Heritage Command. The Jacob Jones was the first American destroyer lost to enemy action. On April 6, 1917, when America declared war on Germany, the USS Jacob Jones was on patrol off the Virginian coast. The next month, on May 7, she set sail for Europe. Ten days after departing her homeport of Boston, Jacob Jones arrived in Queenstown, Ireland and began patrol and convoy escort duties in British waters. Throughout 1917, Jacob Jones conducted several notable rescues. On July 8, the new rescued 44 survivors from the British ship Valvetta when she was sunk by a U-boat. That same month, she rescued...

The Men Who Fought in the Battle of Belleau Wood

Battlefield Chronicles, World War I

In June of 1918, a fierce battle was waged at Belleau Wood, an ancient hunting-reserve of old-growth oaks, surrounded by wheat fields, located about 60 miles outside of Paris. The Germans were launching their spring offensive to overwhelm the Allies before they were fortified by fresh American troops. The Americans were arriving at a rate of about 250,000 per month. The Battle of Belleau Wood has since achieved near-mythic status in U.S. military history, particularly for the U.S. Marines. Founded in 1775 during the American Revolution, the U.S. Marines Corps had a reputation for discipline, excellent marksmanship, and, as the Germans would find out at Belleau Woods, tenacity. During the Great War, they were also very young. A The New York Times article from July 1918 cites a report stating that "nearly one-third of the recruits obtained by the Marine Corps since the United States entered the war were under twenty-one years of age." The article goes on to quote Secretary of the Navy...

WW1 – Battle of Saint-Mihiel

Battlefield Chronicles, World War I

The United States entered World War I on April 6, 1917, when it declared war on Germany. The declaration came after a series of provocative acts from the German military and diplomatic corps. U.S. troops arrived in Europe by June 1917 but were largely ill-prepared for the kind of fighting taking place on the western front. Preparation for the Saint-Mihiel Battle For months, American soldiers were used to augment French and British forces in Europe. As training improved and the number of veteran U.S. troops increased, Americans reasserted control of their forces. By September 1918, Gen. John J. Pershing had taken command of the American First Army and would lead them into combat at Saint-Mihiel. Pershing was leading the largest American offensive operation ever assembled for combat in the first time American troops were deployed to defend a foreign country. The Germans had captured Saint-Mihiel early on in the war, and its position cut a hole in the French Army’s line of...

WWI Military Technologies Still in Use Today

Sgt Alvin York – An Unlikely Hero

Profiles in Courage, World War I

Alvin Cullum York was one of the most decorated United States Army soldiers of World War I. He received the Medal of Honor for leading an attack on a German machine gun nests, killing at least 25 enemy soldiers, and capturing 132 during the Meuse-Argonne Offensive. He was also a conscientious objector. Biography of Alvin Callum York York was born on December 13, 1887 to William and Mary York of Pall Mall, Tennessee and raised in a two-room log cabin in a rural backwater in the northern section of Fentress County. He was the third oldest of a family of eleven children. Like many families in the county, the York family eked out a hardscrabble existence of subsistence farming supplemented by hunting. York's father, also acted as a part time blacksmith to provide some extra income for the family. In the wake of his father's death in 1911, York, as the eldest still living in the area, was forced to aid his mother in raising his younger siblings. To support the family, he began...

WW1 – Meuse-Argonne Offensive

Battlefield Chronicles, World War I

World War I will be remembered as one of the bloodiest wars in human history. Millions of soldiers died on both sides, and whole generations of young men were wiped out. Armies were bogged down in impenetrable trenches, resulting in thousands dying in futile assaults against fortified enemies. The war also introduced new and terrible weapons, such as the machine gun, which made the war even more horrific and bloody. There were many terrible battles, but the worst one for the American Expeditionary Forces (AEF) was the Meuse-Argonne Offensive. On August 30, 1918, the supreme commander of Allied forces, Marshal Ferdinand Foch, arrived at the headquarters of General John J. Pershing's 1st US Army. Foch ordered Pershing to effectively shelve a planned offensive against the St. Mihiel salient as he wished to use the American troops piecemeal to support a British offensive to the north. Outraged, Pershing refused to let his command be broken apart and argued in favor of moving forward with...

Heroines Under Fire

Profiles in Courage, World War I

On July 29, 1918, field nurse Linnie Leckrone jumped on a truck headed for the front as part of Gas and Shock Team 134 in the battle of Chateau-Thierry northeast of Paris during the Great War. As German artillery rained down, she tended the wounded. For her "conspicuous gallantry in action," Leckrone was awarded what was then called the Citation Star in a certificate signed by Gen. John (Black Jack) Pershing, commander of the American Expeditionary Force. Linny Lecrone's Courageous Merit Was Recognized Posthumously She was one of only three women to earn the Citation Star in World War I, but she left the service before she received the award. She was also unaware that the Army in 1932 made recipients of the Citation Star eligible for the new Silver Star, the nation's third-highest award for valor. Her courageous service was finally recognized posthumously on July 31, 2007, at the Women in Military Service for America Memorial in Arlington, Va. when her daughter Mary Jane Bolles Reed...

WW1 – When Johnny Comes Marching Home

Battlefield Chronicles, World War I

When war raged through Europe in the summer of 1914, the American public wanted nothing to do with it. Not our war, they said. President Woodrow Wilson agreed. He pledged neutrality for the United States. But over the next few years, three incidents turned public option away from isolationism to one of wanting to take action against Germany and its allies. First was when a German submarine torpedoed the British-owned passenger liner Lusitania without warning, killing 1,2,00 passengers, including 128 Americans. Second, a German submarine sank an Italian liner without warning, killing 272 people, including 27 Americans. The final straw was the Zimmermann Telegram, a 1917 coded diplomatic proposal from the German Empire for Mexico to join in a military alliance in the event the United States entered the war against Germany. The telegram's main purpose was to make the Mexican government declare war on the U.S., which would have tied down U.S. forces and slowed the export of U.S. arms to...

Sgt Henry Johnson, U.S. Army (1918-1919) – America’s First World War Hero

Profiles in Courage, World War I

Henry Johnson was a World War I soldier who singlehandedly beat back a German assault while critically wounded. He was a great American hero and received the highest military honor of two different countries. One of those countries, however, his very own, didn't bestow that medal until nearly 100 years after his service in WWI. The honor this man deserved was not awarded by the U.S. government upon his return home, because he was black. But that racism was eventually overcome, if only by the undeniable memory of his heroism. Biography of Henry Johnson In 1917, a young Henry Johnson was working as a Red Cap porter at an Albany, New York train station joined the 15th New York National Guard Regiment. Due to U.S. segregation policies, it was an all-black regiment. Due to be shipped out to France as the U.S. declared war on Germany and its allies, the 15th New York was renamed the 369th Infantry Regiment and placed within the American Expeditionary Force under General John J. Pershing....

Air Marshall William Bishop – WW1 Air Ace

Military Myths and Legends, World War I

Air Marshal William Avery "Billy" Bishop was a Canadian fighter pilot in WWI who crashed his plane during a practice run and was ordered to go back to flight school. He didn't. Instead, he went on to shoot down 72 enemy aircraft, making him a legend in his own time and earning him a Victoria Cross. Billy Bishop's Early Military Career Bishop's military career didn't start off well. He joined the Royal Military College of Canada in 1911, was caught cheating, and had to start his first year all over again. In 1914, he joined the Mississauga Horse cavalry regiment, but couldn't join them overseas because he caught pneumonia. Once he recovered, they transferred him to the 7th Canadian Mounted Rifles where he proved to be a born sniper, able to take out targets others could barely see. He finally boarded a ship for England on June 6, 1915 as part of a convoy that was attacked by German U-boats. Three hundred Canadians died in that attack, but Bishop's vessel was untouched. The surviving...

MajGen Smedley Butler, U.S. Marine Corps (1898–1931) – Medal of Honor Recipient

Profiles in Courage, World War I

Smedley Butler may be the best-known double Medal of Honor recipient and one of the most popular military Generals in U.S. history. Butler served 33 years in the Marine Corps and had a role in the Spanish-American War in Cuba, the Philippine-American War in Manila, the Boxer Rebellion in China, the Banana Wars in the Caribbean, the Mexican Revolution, and World War I. Butler's first Medal of Honor was earned during the Mexican Revolution when the then-major fought block to block in the streets of Vera Cruz to rid the city of the. resistance. His second award occurred a year later in 1915 when his Marines engaged in hand-to-hand combat with the Caicos resistance, a lower society of miscreants who formed a gang to wreak havoc in Haiti. Smedley Butler is One of the Most Revered Military Generals in U.S. History His wartime heroics became legendary, and he is one of the most recognized Marines of all time. Butler also introduced the Marine Corps' first unofficial mascot, a bulldog named...

Native American Contributions in the U.S. Military

Global War on Terror, Military Myths and Legends, World War I, World War II

Throughout American History, Native Americans have distinguished themselves with bravery and courage in military service to their country, often without enjoying the same rights and privileges afforded other soldiers. During WWI, more than 10,000 Native Americans served in the American Expeditionary Force. The majority were volunteers, and most were not considered U.S. citizens. Only U.S. citizens were eligible for the draft. Despite this, the government required Native American men to register for the draft, causing frustration and sometimes rebellion. Many hoped their service would lead to the government granting them full U.S. citizenship. At the time, only Native Americans who accepted an allotment of land under the Dawes Act of 1887 received citizenship. As a result, thousands of Native Americans served before they even won the right to vote. It was during WWI that military officials realized the value of Native languages to transmit sensitive information. German officials...

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World War I

The Wreck of the First U.S. Navy Destroyer Jacob Jones Has Been Found

The Men Who Fought in the Battle of Belleau Wood

WW1 – Battle of Saint-Mihiel

WWI Military Technologies Still in Use Today

Sgt Alvin York – An Unlikely Hero

WW1 – Meuse-Argonne Offensive

Heroines Under Fire

WW1 – When Johnny Comes Marching Home

Sgt Henry Johnson, U.S. Army (1918-1919) – America’s First World War Hero

Air Marshall William Bishop – WW1 Air Ace

MajGen Smedley Butler, U.S. Marine Corps (1898–1931) – Medal of Honor Recipient

Native American Contributions in the U.S. Military

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