American soldiers in campaign hats sit with children outside a house in a French village while one soldier gets a haircut

American soldiers and village children on a street in France during World War I. U.S. Army Signal Corps, National Archives. Click the photo to see it larger. The KNOWOL logo doesn’t appear on prints.

During World War I, a U.S. Army Signal Corps photographer took this picture of American soldiers and children on a village street in France. The Army typed its caption on the card the photo is mounted on: “With the A.E.F. in France. This shows how our fighting boys are carrying happiness and love of humanity right up to the trenches. The discomfort of the life abroad cannot destroy the American love for children, or the gift of enjoying life, and here we see strong evidence of the appeal which the soldiers make to children, and vice versa.” The A.E.F. was the American Expeditionary Forces, the U.S. Army sent to Europe.

What to Look For

A soldier sits on a big wooden block by the wall with a white cloth around his shoulders, and the soldier behind him is cutting his hair. Next to them, a soldier holds a little girl on his knee, and a small boy in a wide sun hat and suspenders sits on the ground among the men with his legs stretched out. A girl in a dotted dress and dark stockings stands at the left, and behind her a woman sits on a doorstep. An older girl in a long checked smock stands in the big open doorway, under a small picture tacked to the door frame.

The soldiers wear the Army’s broad campaign hats with cords around the crown, wool shirts and canvas leggings. The soldier standing at the right also wears his wool coat, a cartridge belt with ammunition pockets and a bayonet in its scabbard at his side. Behind him, lace curtains hang in the window, and a long-handled tool leans against the wall.

Clues to the Date

The card doesn’t give the date, the village, the unit or anyone’s name, but two clues point to 1917, the first months American troops were in France. Two photos numbered right after this one in the Signal Corps files, 685 and 688, are labeled “With the first AEF troops in France” and “With the first Americans to arrive in France.” And the men in this photo still wear campaign hats. The 1st Division’s history says the division gave up the campaign hat for good at the end of 1917 and switched to the steel helmet and the overseas cap. Both were made in France, and troops who came later got them when they arrived.

The First Americans in France

The first American combat troops in France were men of the 1st Division. Its 16th and 28th Infantry regiments landed at St. Nazaire on June 26, 1917. In July the division moved to the area around Gondrecourt, in the Meuse department of eastern France, to train with the French 47th Division of Chasseurs Alpins, known as the “Blue Devils.”

The men lived in billets in the villages there. They slept in old barns and stables where rain, snow and wind came through the roofs, and they climbed into the lofts on rickety ladders. Men who didn’t fit were put in portable barracks built in empty lots and fields next to the villages. Firewood was saved for cooking, so for much of that time the billets had no heat.

Christmas in the Villages, 1917

That Christmas, the soldiers decided to give the French children a happy holiday. In every village where troops were billeted, they put up Christmas trees, and they bought all the presents, candy, cakes and chocolate they could find. On December 25, 1917, Mayor Jacquinot of Gondrecourt wrote to thank the American troops for the party they gave the town’s children. “It was, indeed, a feast of two great families,” the mayor wrote.

The Army’s Photographers

On July 21, 1917, the Army put the Signal Corps in charge of photographing America’s part in the war. The Army wanted the pictures for propaganda, science, identification and military scouting, but mainly to make a picture history of the war. The Signal Corps photo section in France started with 25 men in August 1917 and grew to 92 officers and 498 men by November 1918. Each division got a team with one movie cameraman and one still photographer, plus assistants.

About This Photo

  • Archive title: “American soldiers in France”
  • Original caption: Typed on the Signal Corps card and quoted in full at the top of this page
  • Date: Not recorded. The clues above point to 1917.
  • Place: A village in France. The card doesn’t name it.
  • Photographer: U.S. Army Signal Corps (the card doesn’t give a name)
  • Collection: Photographs of American Military Activities, Records of the Office of the Chief Signal Officer (Record Group 111), National Archives at College Park, Maryland
  • Photo number: 111-SC-684, National Archives Identifier 55162703. The Archives holds it as a print mounted on its caption card.
  • Rights: Public domain, a work of the U.S. government
  • Restoration: KNOWOL, 2026, from the Archives’ highest resolution scan

KNOWOL prints this restored photo on luster photo paper in the 12 x 18 inch size, plain or in a black or white wood frame. Click here to get your copy of the American soldiers in France photo.

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