Happy 242nd birthday, Big Green
U.S. Army regulars of the first American contingent to arrive overseas in World War I, Wellington Barracks, 1917. Photographed by Christina Broom via Museum of London. Note the stacked M1903s, disk type canteens, and the very real “I guess we are over there now” faces. Most of these men had likely seen the elephant in Mexico or the Philippines, but were not ready for the ultra modern meat grinder of the Western Front
Since its official birth, more than a year before the Declaration of Independence — the U.S. Army has been getting it done.
On June 14, 1775, the Continental Congress passed the following resolution:
Resolved, That six companies of expert riflemen [sic], be immediately raised in Pennsylvania, two in Maryland, and two in Virginia; … [and] that each company, as soon as completed [sic], shall march and join the army near Boston, to be there employed as light infantry, under the command of the Chief Officer in that army.
With this resolution, the Continental Congress adopted the New England Army of Observation, making it a “continental” army — a united colonial fighting force — that could represent all 13 colonies with the addition of the troops from the three middle colonies. The Continental Army thus became America’s first national institution.
Chief of Staff of the Army Gen. Mark Milley and Sgt. Maj. of the Army Daniel Dailey sends the below message for the 242nd Army Birthday. This year’s theme commemorates the 100th anniversary of World War I.
The first 243 American soldiers in Europe arrived on British soil on 18 May 1917, shown in the image at the top of this post. They would begin crossing the Channel and landing in France on 26 June. Four months later, on 21 October, the first Americans entered combat when units from the U.S. Army’s “Big Red One” 1st Infantry Division were assigned to Allied trenches in the Luneville sector near Nancy, France.
With that in mind, check out 7 ways WWI still impacts today’s Army.
