Daily AncestorAmerican Expeditionary Forces
The American Expeditionary Forces (A.E.F.) were the U.S. Army forces sent to Europe in World War I under General John J. Pershing, from 1917 to 1920.
The AEF was established on July 5, 1917, with headquarters at Chaumont, France, and was disbanded on August 31, 1920. Pershing insisted on training men before they went abroad, so few arrived before January 1918, but by the end of 1918 the AEF numbered over two million men.
On a gravestone or in an obituary, A.E.F. points to service in Europe, not only in a stateside camp. Its veterans founded the American Legion in Paris in 1919.
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Daily Ancestor. "American Expeditionary Forces." Dictionary of Old Record Words. https://dailyancestor.com/dictionary/military/american-expeditionary-forces. Last checked 2026-10-12.