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History

Americans had volunteered to drive ambulances for the French army as early as 1914, and had become famous and respected under the name of the American Field Service and the Norton-Harjes Ambulance Corps associated with the Red Cross. When the United States entered the war in 1917, France requested that these ambulance services should be continued and expanded. Order 75 authorized the creation of 160 sections (Ireland, pp. 224-225). These units were attached to the French army, but were supplied and paid by the American Expeditionary Force. In 1918, when the stalemate of the trenches gave way to open warfare and the demands on ambulances grew enormously, many sections were lent back to the US Army by the French. Thirty sections served in Italy.

Service in France

Based on French army experience, the Service used Ford Model T ambulances in France. Fords could navigate muddy or damaged roads, were easy to repair and light enough to be pushed out of shell craters. They could carry three wounded on stretchers, or four sitting. Ford chassis were shipped from the United States, and wooden bodies were added on arrival in France, using the very successful French army design.

The Service had its base at Camp Crane in Allentown, Pennsylvania. Sections were organized at universities across the United States, and also contributed by corporations and cities, and formed from individual volunteers. The first 20 sections were sent to France in August, 1917 to join the roughly 25 sections organized there from American Field Service and Norton-Harjes personnel. There was then a delay due to confusion between French authorities and the AEF, and another 32 sections were sent over between December 1917 and March 1918. (Ireland p.232) Headquarters were established first at Sandrecourt northwest of Paris, and then at Ferrières-en-Gatinais 100km south of Paris.