ASSOCIATION OF THE UNITED STATES ARMY

The remains of America’s first unknown soldier were brought home by eight men selected for the mission for their extraordinary feats during World War I and the appeal their stories would have as representatives of all American forces overseas, author and historian Patrick K. O’Donnell says.

Describing the World War I generation as “forgotten” and part of a “forgotten war,” O’Donnell learned of the men and their solemn mission on a battlefield walk of Belleau Wood in France a few years ago. He realized the story of the body bearers was “history hidden in plain sight.”

April 10, 2017

World War I began with the smallest of incidents and turned into one of the most complex of global events, a lesson that should be heeded today, according to a panel of historians gathered at the Association of the U.S. Army on the 100th anniversary of the U.S. entry into “the war to end all wars.”