With the entrance of America into World War I, young Arthur Clifford Kimber put down his books at Stanford University and enlisted in the Allied cause on the Western Front. Joining the American Field Service as an ambulance volunteer, Kimber was tasked with carrying the first official U.S. Government flag to France. On Wednesday, February 21, 2018, Mr. Patrick Gregory spoke about Kimber, the subject of his recent book An American on the Western Front, co-authored with Elizabeth Nurser. The remarkable story of Kimber is a microcosm of the patriotism and fervor felt by the young men and women called to serve their country. Kimber tirelessly worked his way from ambulance volunteer in the front-line trenches in an American unit serving with the French army to joining the fledgling U.S. Air Service. He trained with French instructors and worked his way from ferrying aircraft to the front lines to piloting a fighter in combat with both the French and American Air Services. Mr. Gregory used the letters Kimber wrote to his family to tell the story of a young man whose hopes and dreams for a life after the war were suddenly ended when he was killed in action weeks before the Armistice.

Patrick Gregory and Elizabeth Nurser compiled and edited the letters of American Soldier Arthur Clifford Kimber to tell the story of his experiences, exploits, and the tragedy he saw firsthand on the killing fields of France during World War I. The letters create a stark and detailed story of a young man who finds himself forced into the heroism shown by countless Soldiers across the largest war the world had ever seen. From insight on the war preparation in New York City to personal contact with none other than Theodore Roosevelt himself, Kimber depicts the horror of war mixed with his own integration into the grind of a combat zone.

Lecture Date: February 21, 2018