Society of the First Infantry Division

Big Red One, June 2013

General Pershing disembarks in Boulogne on 13 June 1917. On June 13, 1917, a little more than two months after the United States entered World War I, Gen. John J. Pershing arrived in France with his staff to establish American forces in Europe. Although not the first Americans to arrive, Pershing’s presence served as an important symbol to the British and French. Thousands of Americans were already serving in Allied uniform, or as international medical and relief volunteers. American military units, an Army hospital, U.S. Navy destroyers, and advanced military missions were by now supporting Allied forces. But Pershing’s arrival signified that the United States had arrived in earnest as a partner of the Allied powers.

June 5, 1944: 1st Infantry Division troops leave the port of Weymouth, Dorset in Southern England en route to Omaha Beach in Normandy.
Photo by Robert Capa, colorized by Jecinci