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One of the four was an ex-soldier who, one year before, had been gassed when he was fighting in the battles of St. Mihiel and the Argonne in World War I. He needed the money, he said, to marry his teenaged fiancee.

The young men fell in the Argonne Forest and at St. Mihiel and Chateau Thierry.

Commanding a hilltop spot in Thiaucourt, this circular colonnade was built to commemorate the capture of the St.-Mihiel salient, or bulge, by the American Expeditionary Forces and to symbolize the enduring friendship and cooperation between the U.S. and French armies.

Sprawling over more than 40 acres, this cemetery contains the graves of 4,153 U.S. soldiers, most of whom died during the St. Mihiel offensive.

The monument is located 10 miles east of the town of St. Mihiel. 011-33-383-800-101.