American Expeditionary Forces Memorial

The United States joined the First World War on 6 April 1917, and the first elements of the 1st Infantry Division disembarked near Saint-Nazaire on 26 June 1917 (the commander of the American Expeditionary Forces in Europe, Major General John J. Pershing, travelled separately and arrived in Boulogne-sur-Mer two weeks earlier).

The initial suggestion was for a large clock to be built in a square in the town of Saint-Nazaire, but that quickly changed to a bronze sculpture designed by Gertrude Vanderbilt Whitney.

Vanderbilt and Ross had previously collaborated on the large stone plinth for her sculpture of Buffalo Bill – The Scout, commissioned in 1917 and completed in 1924.

Funding of US$100,000 was raised by public subscription, and the resulting memorial was erected in 1926 on a rock in the sea beside the beach of Grand-Traict, on the north bank at the mouth of the River Loire.

A proposal to rebuild the monument came to fruition in the 1980s, with the sculpture remade by Pierre Fouesnant [nl] and installed alongside plaques in English and French.