The caption to that photo says that’s Pvt. Ed Williams.
No it doesn’t look like the same guy to me. One seems darker complected than the other but that might just be the picture exposure. To me the man in the OP has more prominent cheek bones and has a smaller build.
Everyone in the group photo is wearing the French Croix de Guerre. There were 170 awarded to the regiment in WWI.
If he was a Buffalo Soldier (9th & 10th Cav) he’d be wearing breeches and boots, not puttees. And a campaign hat, not an overseas cap.
Thanks for all these responses. I’d never heard of the Harlem Hellfighters, the French Croix de Guerre and a few of the other things mentioned before this thread. I’ve been googling and learning a lot.
There were a hell of a lot more black units than the Hellfighters and the Buffalo Soldiers. There were about 350,000 black soldiers in the AEF. Many were in support units that didn’t get the same amount of acclaim.
I imagine it’s a fourragère. According to Wikipedia, the 370th Infantry, a black outfit, was awarded it.
Worn on the other shoulder, with the tips showing.
It doesn’t look like any version of the fouragere I’ve seen, it’s only worn on dress uniforms and it’s worn on the left shoulder.
This is what one looks like. It is definitely not a fourragère.
They are thick and braided with a prominent metal tip. The tip is different depending on the grade of award.
It’s basically the same uniform as the guys here, but no ribbons or medals, collar insignia, rank or service stripes. So I’d expect he wasn’t awarded anything at the time the OP’s picture was taken.
I believe the picture in the OP is of a soldier who has possibly completed basic training but has not been to war yet.
Things were different in the past but in general those uniforms are not the kind that you wear medals on. Notice some are wearing overcoats with the medal and others their uniform without an overcoat. What often happens is awards formations happen when duty uniforms are worn. A medal is pinned on. Handshakes are made. Pictures are taken. Then you take the award off and only wear it on your dress uniform.
The lack of rank insignia is what confuses me. If it’s a trench whistle, or even a compass, then I’d expect him to be NCO or officer. (And I do think that it is a whistle). I know that senior officers could get away without wearing rank insignia, but was the same true of NCO’s?