Introduction

This postal history exhibit shows postal material associated with the American volunteer ambulance drivers in WWI.

This is the story of American volunteer ambulance drivers who served in France and Italy before the United States entry into WWI on April 6, 1917. Almost immediately after war broke out in August 1914, young Americans began volunteering for ambulance duty in Europe.

The majority of the volunteers came from Ivy League universities and Eastern prep schools. According to the American Field Service (AFS) WWI history, of the 2,500 drivers who served in the AFS: 348 came from Harvard; 202 from Yale: 187 from Princeton and 122 from Cornell.

As war progressed the volunteer units grew steadily. By the time the U.S. Army took over the volunteer organizations in October 1917, over 3,500 Americans had served as drivers in 43 volunteer ambulance stations.

Note that this article contents have also been shown as an exhibit by the author. This article is the property of the author, and is provided freely for research and educational purposes, on the Military Postal History Society website.

This article is available in the following formats:

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• Article as web pages
• Text of Article