Letters Written Home from France in the First Half of 1915

This volume of the collected letters of A Piatt Andrew form a fascinating insight into the formation of the justly famous American Field Service which did so much help the Allied wounded during the First World War.
“Col. Andrew was one of the first Americans to take an active part in the World War. Going to France in December 1914, he secured from the French Army authorization for American volunteer ambulance units to serve with the French divisions at the front, and with American volunteers as drivers, and with cars purchased from American donations, he built up an organization known as the American Field Service, which, before any American troops had arrived in France, had thirty-four ambulance sections and twelve camion sections serving with the French troops in France and in the Balkans. This organization took part in every great battle in which French troops were engaged in 1915, 1916 and 1917, and with its personnel of more than 2,400 young Americans, formed the most considerable organized representation which the United States had on the battle front during the first three years of the war.
“After the entry of the United States in the war, Col. Andrew turned over to the American Army the efficient organization which he had developed, and was commissioned Major, and subsequently Lieutenant-Colonel in that Army. His period of service with the French and American armies covered more than four and a half years. He was decorated by the French Army with the Croix de Guerre, and the Legion of Honor, and by the United States with the Distinguished Service Medal.” - National Cyclopedia of American Biography