So I was watching Legends of the Fall on TV last night. In the movie, Brad Pitt and his brothers leave their ranch to join the Canadian army when the First World War begins. For my own edification:
[ul]
[li]Brad is shown in the army scenes with fairly long hair. When did modern armies start requiring the brush cut?[/li][li]Does the movie specify which battle Brad’s unit is engaged in? I figured it would be Ypres in 1915 (because of the gas attacks), but the movie seemed to imply it took place in 1914. Just poor research?[/li][li]How many Americans joined the CEF before the US joined the war? Did Americans already enlisted in Canadian units remain fighting for Canada when the US entered the war?[/li][/ul]
Many, but not all, of them joined the AEF when the U.S. entered the war.
Tom Hanks also played an American in the Canadian Armed Forces in one movie, Every Time We Say Goodbye. In the movie, he was posted to Palestine. Good flick.
I just wanted to say that the title of this thread sounds like the title of a very bad porno movie. Thank you.
I may be wrong, but it seems from bibliophage’s reply that it was permissible to stay with the Canucks once the Yanks joined the fray.
What is the procedure, legal or practical, if I had previously joined the German army?
dqa asked:
“Here’s your stahlhelm. Verdun’s that way. Good luck.”
I’ve heard of German-born Americans, both in WWI and WWII who were caught on the wrong side of the pond, and because of their birth, wound up in the German Army. IIRC, a British POW in WWII met a camp guard who was a steward on the pre-war Atlantic run, who was American in all but birth, but had been in Bremen when Germany declared war on the USA, and was eventually conscripted.
There were even units of the Canadian army composed almost entirely of American-born men: the 211th (“Alberta Americans”) and the 237th (“New Brunswick Americans”) Battalions, for example. (These 2 units did not serve overseas as units, but were broken up for reinforcements to the 4 Canadian Divisions fighting in France and Flanders).
At least one American even won the Victoria Cross: William J. Milne, of the 16th (Canadian Scottish) Infantry, near Thelus, France in 1917. (I’ve actually held this VC in my hands!)
Don’t forget that there were thousands of American farmers who had been headhunted (circa 1900-10) by the Canadian government with cheap land to farm parts of Alberta and Saskatchewan.
Interestingly, some Canadians were attached to the US Army as instructors in 1918. About 200 NCOs and 50 officers were seconded to various US Army training camps as specialit instructors, to pass on first-hand experience of trench warfare. They did not, apparently, serve overseas with the US Army.