American Soldier Exhibit
Details:
In one of the last rooms of the exhibit. Near the end of the tour of the museum. Museum The exhibit is a 2 by 2 meter square area cut out of the wooden floor, similar to many other exhibits throughout the museum. In this exhibit, there are a number of pieces of American soldier equipment from World War I, among which include the American army uniform, cold weather gear, canteens, and a rifle. In front of the exhibit, there is a white plexiglass plaque discussing the United States Army's involvement in the Great War.
Monument Text:
THE AMERICAN SOLDIER
Five million Americans were called up in the Great War; approximately 100,000 were killed. Two million served overseas. The first casualties suffered by American forces were on the Somme, at Cartigny.
The American army was never under joint military control. It operated its own logistics and some would say, its own war. There is little doubt, though, that the appearance of a vast, new army in France, with huge material support, reinforced the Allied line at precisely the moment that the German army began to run out of men, material and morale.
The sociability which held units together in the British army soon surfaced in the American : baseball leagues by the score sprang up like mushrooms. The traditional practice of segregation was replicated in the American army, as was the American habit of organizing voluntary social services (YMCA, etc.)
