YouTube transcript reformatted at textformatter.ai *may* follow.
The US had 26,000 KIA with 120,000 total casualties.
In a 53 day campaign.
My great uncle was in the 306th Infantry division during this battle. He had a lingering injury from being close to a mustard gas attack.
When Pearl Harbor happened, he told my father (who was 15 at the time) - if this war is still going on when you are 18, do not get drafted into the Army. Join the Navy
And that’s what Dad did.
Thank you, as always. This is a great post and video.
For Europe, this was the ‘14-’18 War. For us it was ‘17-’18.
I retain two helmets and a uniform from a great grandfather that fought there. And paperwork.
The first helmet is the one he actually wore. Greasy, chipped, the M1917 Brodie style.
The second is a brand new looking one that the Army handed him for the homecoming parade. Hah. Gotta make the boys look good when they get off the ship.
The paperwork is his discharge portfolio. Leather bound and stamped by Gen (Blackjack) Pershing.
My grandmother’s cousin, aged 18, was killed during that battle. What was left of him was returned home to Randolph County, Illinois, in 1920.