The British and French wanted the United States to send its infantry to reinforce their troops already on the battlelines, and not use scarce shipping to bring over supplies. Thus the Americans primarily used British and French artillery, aircraft and tanks.
German casualties between March and April 1918 were 270,000, including many of the highly trained stormtroopers. Their best soldiers were gone just as the Americans started arriving.
Wilfred Beaver was born in Kingswood, Bristol on 10th May, 1897. Beaver emigrated to the United States but during the First World War joined the Royal Flying Corps.
During the First World War he won the Military Cross and scored 20 victories. Captain Edward Rickenbacker and Captain Frederick Gillet were the only USA pilots with a better record than Beaver. After the war Beaver became a member of the Royal Air Force but eventually returned to the United States. Wilfred Beaver died at West Point, Mississippi on 19th August 1986
Frank Luke was born in Phoenix, Arizona, on 19th May, 1897. He joined the United States Air Service and after aerial combat training at Issoudun, France, he was assigned to the 27th Pursuit Squadron under Harold Hartney on 25th July, 1918. During the next seventeen days he shot down 18 enemy balloons and planes and obtained the nickname, the Arizona Balloon Buster. While flying a Spad S.XIII he was shot down by ground fire while flying over the Western Front on 29th September, 1918. He was posthumously awarded the Medal of Honor.
William Lambert was born in Irontown, Ohio, on 18th May, 1897. He joined the Royal Flying Corps in Canada and was sent to France in March 1918. Flying a S.E.5a he had 18 victories over the Western Front before being sent to England suffering from combat fatigue.