Over the weekend, U.S Marines marked the 104th anniversary of the Battle of Belleau Wood with a ceremony at the Ainse-Marne American Ceremony, alongside representatives from the French and German militaries. 📸 (U.S. Marine Corps video by Sgt. William Chockey, SSgt. Akeel Austin, MSgt. Robert Brown) #Marines #MarineCorps #SemperFidelis | U.S. Marine Corps

On 6 June 1918, the 4th Marine Brigade began its initial assault at Belleau Wood, charging across a wheat field toward German strongholds. The Marines would fight relentlessly for three weeks and suffer heavy casualties from German machine guns and artillery fire. The total number of Marine casualties would eclipse all the casualties the Corps had sustained in its previous 143 years. Belleau Wood became a touchstone battle in the annals of the Corps, marking the birth of the modern United States

As a "living tribute" to President Trump and the American people during his state visit this week, French President Macron presented an oak sapling taken from the scene of the key WWI battle at Belleau Wood. In the battle, U.S. Marines are said to have gathered at the site after repelling a German offensive in the final year of WWI almost exactly a century ago, in June 1918, about 60 miles northeast of Paris in the Champagne region, Reuters reports. The sapling grew close to the so-called “Devil