American Expeditionary Forces (AEF) In World War I

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American Expeditionary Forces (AEF) in World War I

Lantern Slide of Greeting U.S. Marines in France

View in National Archives Catalog

During World War I, the US Marine Corps was included in the American Expeditionary Forces and fought in France and on the high seas against the German U-boats in Anti-submarine patrols. This page will provide links to and additional information on where to locate information about the US Marines in World War I in other records groups besides Record Group 127: Records of the US Marine Corps.

A primary resource of Marines in World War I can be found in Record Group 120: Records of the American Expeditionary Forces (AEF) in these entries:

• Records of Divisions under 2nd Division for the 4th Marine Brigade and 5th and 6th Marines

The U. S. Marine Corps also developed their air arm at the same time as the U. S. Navy and their records were initially kept by the Chief of Naval Operations (CNO) until the establishment of the Bureau of Aeronautics in 1921.

In these series are records relating to the Marines contribution to anti-submarine patrols, special missions against U-boat pens, and the development of their characteristic “close air support” that has come to define Marine Corps Aviation.

Record Group 72: Records of the Bureau of Aeronautics

• NM-52 23: Formerly Classified Correspondence Relating to Aviation, 1917–19
• PI-26 17: General Correspondence Initiated in CNO, 1917–25
• PI-26 19: General Correspondence Initiated in CNO [Dispatches Naval Forces in European Waters]
• PI-26 30-A/B: Security Classified Records Naval Forces in European Waters
• PI-26 34: Records of Naval Forces in European Waters Aviation Section
• PI-26 36: Aviation Section Reports, 1918–19

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