So you can set the cyclic rate to almost anything barring the barrel burning-out or ammunition running out. Even then you can water cool the barrel. Examples of slow cyclic rate and fast cyclic rate. ^(I realize one of these is a WWII gun.)

So ultimately why did most WWI nations settle on a 450-600 rounds per minute cyclic rate?

Newbie here as far as learning the mechanics and terminology of WWI. I am fairly well versed in the broad history. So anyway I am researching someone (Arthur H Richter, born Corning, NY, 1890) who ended up as a 2nd Lieutenant in WWI via records and old newspaper articles.

My first problem is I am trying to understand a Feb 28, 1917 hometown newspaper account of him which says he has "Enlisted in the Foreign infantry." Could that be correct, technically speaking? I know the U.S. had not entered the war yet, but does that mean enlistees were actually enlisting with a foreign infantry?

His military abstract agrees with the date of enlistment as being February 1917 but has him with Co I, 16th Inf. He was honorably discharged a year later to receive a commission and ended up in the 311th Infantry, Company M. (His military abstracts says Company H, but all his surviving correspondence has Company M as the return address, and all newspaper articles including when he was a commander in the VFW and American Legion, etc., indicate Company M.)

Yeah, so I have other questions but the first one, I guess, is whether there is more I need to know, or find out about him enlisting in the "Foreign infantry"? Or is it sufficient, and more accurate to just say that he enlisted in "Co I, 16th Infantry"?

If someone can get me on the right path here, thanks.

I’m currently working on dissecting some family history regarding my great-grandfather. My great-uncle wrote a document that says this about my great-grandfather:

“He was a frustrated Army Cavalry Officer. He served in WWI but through no fault of his own, did not go overseas and had a very undistinguished career. Consequently, he tried to make up for it by becoming Lt. Colonel and the Executive Officer of Squadron C, US National Guard Cavalry unit out on Empire Blvd in Brooklyn. He had his own horse and went down and played soldier every week he could.”

Admittedly, I don’t know a ton of WWI history, so I thought this group may be able to help. I have two questions:

1. What would be some reasons that he wouldn’t have gone overseas?

2. How would I go about trying to get his actual military record? Are those available?

Thanks for any help!

In Flanders Fields By John McCrae

In Flanders fields the poppies blow

Between the crosses, row on row,

    That mark our place; and in the sky

    The larks, still bravely singing, fly

Scarce heard amid the guns below.

We are the Dead. Short days ago

We lived, felt dawn, saw sunset glow,

    Loved and were loved, and now we lie,

        In Flanders fields.

Take up our quarrel with the foe:

To you from failing hands we throw

    The torch; be yours to hold it high.

    If ye break faith with us who die

We shall not sleep, though poppies grow

        In Flanders fields.

The museum has uploaded several videos of historians talking about the war. Many of them are excellent.
https://www.youtube.com/@NationalWWIMuseum/videos

EDIT: Sorry, I left out the photo of the whole thing.

This pair of stars attached to black armbands, were given to my grandmother after the death of my uncle in WWI. He served in the Navy and died from pneumonia in 1918. They are about the size of a nickel. At first they look like they are solid metal, but they are actually made of extremely fine wire that is woven into the shape of a star. They are not pins- they are woven into the cloth of the armbands.

https://preview.redd.it/yq27lqudpxzd1.jpg?width=3024&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=fa9de5076a0b1c860545d19e9019514777c240c2

I would like to know what organization issued these stars to the mothers of men who died in WWI.

The star is made from very fine twisted wire

Hi, I'm looking for sheet music to the song 'The Girls All Dote on a Military Man' by Bennett Scott and A.J. Mills. The only place I can find it is on the Australian National Library. As an American, I can't access it. If there are any Australians that can help me, I'd be very appreciative, or if anyone else could find the song somewhere else.

Thank you!