MONUMENT TO FIRST LANDING OF AMERICAN TROOPS IN FRANCE UNVEILED
Nazaire, France (JFK+50) On June 26, 1926, Associated Press reports the monument "to commemorate the landing of the first American troops on French soil nine years ago was unveiled today with impressive ceremonies."
The monument, designed by Mrs. Harry Payne Whitney, was presented to France for the people of the United States by American ambassador Myron T. Herrick*.
AP says the memorial depicts "a doughboy in steel helmet standing on the back of an American eagle."
It includes the inscription...
"Here landed June 26, 1917...the first troops of the American Expeditionary Forces..."
AEF commander John J. Pershing attended the ceremonies.
JFK+50 NOTE
The American Landing Monument, a.k.a. St. Nazaire Statue of Liberty, is located in Saint Nazaire, France. We cannot find a photo online of the monument.
*Myron Timothy Herrick (1854-1929) was born in Huntington, Ohio & studied at Oberlin College & Ohio Wesleyan University. MTH served as governor of Ohio 1904-06 & U.S. ambassador to France 1912-1914 & 1921-1929. He is the only American ambassador to France to have a street named in his honor in Paris.
SOURCE
"Herrick Unveils War Memorial," The Evening Star, Washington, D.C., June 26, 1926, Chronicling America, Library of Congress, www.loc.gov/
