An American soldier in the Great War

In 1917, United States military forces began to leave for France to help with the Allied defeat of Imperial Germany along the Western Front in 1918. World War I had become the most destructive war in human history up to that point. Two million American soldiers were sent to help the Allies. Private First Class Elmer O. Smith of Michigan was one of those soldiers. His diary and letters have been placed into historical context to describe how a typical American soldier underwent training to fight with his unit. Private Smith was seriously wounded in an artillery attack in his third day at the front but he recovered and returned to fight for the last ninety days of the war.