Research, research, research! We’re off and running on the next novel in the Mackenzie story and part of the “I am a Soldier, First and Always” series. There were several paths I could have followed, but I wanted to ensure the story would interest readers. If you have read any or all of the earlier novels, you can see the military theme as I follow the Mackenzie family through the 1800s from conflict to conflict. History provided stories for the turn of the century when the Army was sent to the Philip[pine Islands and China, continued duty in the Caribbean, and even expeditions along our southern border. Yes, we even chased Poncho Villa in Northern Mexico. It would be attractive to some folks focused on that period, but the conflict needed to be more significant for me. Enter World War I and Europe.
You can tell from my personal story
The Americans formally joined the war on April 6, 1917. In spite of the American declaration of war, it took another year for Americans to mobilize, train, cross the Atlantic, pass advanced training, acquire planes, get weapons and then go into action. After all, the pre-war American military was small compared to those of the great combatants – Germany, France, the British Empire, Russia, Austria Hungary, etc., who had been fighting since August of 1914.
In all, 24,000,000 men were registered into the United States armed services. Of that number, approximately 4,000,000 were put in an army uniform and approximately 2,084,000 made the journey to Europe ending up mostly in France.
American Expeditionary Forces – AEF – WWI – World War I (usaww1.com)
