My uncle Ernest Julius Erickson with his cousin Charlie Erickson in Tacoma, Washington.
Ernest was a member of the American Expeditionary Force
361st Regiment and was stationed at Camp Lewis awaiting to be sent to France in 1918.

Ernest Julius Erickson would soon find himself along with his regiment in the midst of the
Battle of the Argonne Forest, in what would be referred to as The Meuse - Argonne Offensive
located on the Western Front in France. 

It was fought from September 26th 1918, until the Armistice on the the 11th of November 1918,
a total of 47 days. The Meuse-Argonne Offensive was the largest in United States military history,
involving 1.2 million American soldiers, and was one of a series of Allied attacks known as the
Hundred Days Offensive, which brought an end to the war. 

The battle cost 28,000 German lives and 26,277 American lives, making it the largest
and bloodiest operation of World War I for the American Expeditionary Force (AEF),
which was commanded by General John J. Pershing.