The United States of America declared war on the German Empire on April 6, 1917. The U.S. was an independent power and did not officially join the Allies. It closely cooperated with them militarily but acted alone in diplomacy. The U.S. made its major contributions in terms of supplies, raw material and money, starting in 1917. American soldiers under General John J. Pershing, commander of the American Expeditionary Force (AEF), arrived in large numbers on the Western Front in the summer of 1918. They played a major role until victory was achieved on November 11, 1918.

During the war, the U.S mobilized over 4 million military personnel and suffered 110,000 deaths, including 43,000 due to the Spanish flu pandemic.

The war saw a dramatic expansion of the United States government in an effort to harness the war effort and a significant increase in the size of the U.S. military. After a slow start in mobilizing the economy and labor force, by spring 1918 the nation was poised to play a role in the conflict. Under the leadership of President Woodrow Wilson, the war represented the climax of the Progressive Era as it sought to bring reform and democracy to the world, although there was substantial public opposition to United States entry into the war.

Although the United States declared war on Germany on April 6, 1917, it did not initially declare war on the other Central Powers, a state of affairs that Woodrow Wilson described as an "embarrassing obstacle" in his State of the Union speech.

Congress declared war on the Austro-Hungarian Empire on December 17, 1917, but never made declarations of war against the other Central Powers, Bulgaria, the Ottoman Empire or the various Co-belligerents allied with the central powers, thus the United States remained uninvolved in the military campaigns in central, eastern and southern Europe, the Middle East, the Caucasus, North Africa, Sub-Saharan Africa, Asia and the Pacific.

The United States as late as 1917 maintained only a small army, smaller than thirteen of the nations and empires already active in the war. After the passage of the Selective Service Act in 1917, it drafted 2.8 million men into military service.

By the summer of 1918 about a million U.S. soldiers had arrived in France, about half of whom eventually saw front-line service. By the Armistice of November 11 approximately 10,000 fresh soldiers were arriving in France daily. In 1917 Congress gave U.S. citizenship to Puerto Ricans when they were drafted to participate in World War I, as part of the Jones Act. In the end Germany miscalculated the United States' influence on the outcome of the conflict, believing it would be many more months before U.S. troops would arrive and overestimating the effectiveness of U-boats in slowing the American buildup.

The United States Navy sent a battleship group to Scapa Flow to join with the British Grand Fleet, destroyers to Queenstown, Ireland and submarines to help guard convoys. Several regiments of Marines were also dispatched to France. The British and French wanted U.S. units used to reinforce their troops already on the battle lines and not to waste scarce shipping on bringing over supplies.

General John J. Pershing, American Expeditionary Forces (AEF) commander, refused to break up U.S. units to serve as mere reinforcements for British Empire and French units. As an exception, he did allow African-American combat regiments to fight in French divisions.

On the battlefields of France in spring 1918, the war-weary Allied armies enthusiastically welcomed the fresh American troops. They arrived at the rate of 10,000 a day, at a time when the Germans were unable to replace their losses. After British Empire, French and Portuguese forces had defeated and turned back the powerful final German offensive (Spring Offensive of March to July, 1918), the Americans played a role in the Allied final offensive (Hundred Days Offensive of August to November).

American commanders used the same flawed tactics which the British, French, Germans and others had abandoned early in the war, and so many American offensives were not particularly effective. Pershing continued to commit troops to these full- frontal attacks, resulting in high casualties against experienced veteran German and Austrian-Hungarian units. Nevertheless, the infusion of new and fresh U.S. troops greatly strengthened the Allies' strategic position and boosted morale. The Allies achieved victory over Germany on November 11, 1918 after German morale had collapsed both at home and on the battlefield.

In 1917, shortly after the United States entered World War I, Rockwell decided to join the navy. A skinny, young sailor reported in to the hot and humid Naval Training Camp at the Charleston Navy Yard on 23 August 1918.

Norman Rockwell was twenty-three years old when he attempted to enlist in the United States Navy at Pelham Bay Naval Training and Recruiting Center. The doctors rejected him because he was seventeen pounds underweight for his age and height. Then he returned to New York and tried the enlistment center at the city hall. The young man who weighed him had been a student at the Art Students League. With his help they convinced the doctor to waive ten pounds but not seventeen. The young yeoman asked “how about the treatment”? Bananas, doughnuts and water, said the doctor. If you eat seven pounds worth you ’in. The doctor had the ingredients in a drawer. After stuffing himself and several tries on the scale he finally passed. Norman was officially a sailor!

His original orders were to take him to a base in Ireland, where he would paint insignia on airplanes, but a German submarine off the East coast detoured his ship to Charleston, SC. While awaiting a duty assignment, several personnel noticed his portraits drawn while waiting and he was assigned to draw cartoons and making layouts for Afloat and Ashore, the Charleston Navy Yard’s official publication. The work only took him two days a week and the rest of the time he could work on anything he wanted as long as it related to the Navy.

This was the cover for the Saturday Evening Post published 18 January 1919.

Seaman Rockwell survived the 1918 "Spanish Flu" pandemic while stationed at Charleston.

With the help of a doctor that he had painted a portrait for, told Norman to stay out of the hospital because there are too many germs there. He recovered in his quarters with lots of rest, staying covered and drinking fluids.

Norman eventually moved his studio on the base to the Commanding Officer's site of employment on the USS Hartford, Admiral Farragut's famous Civil War ship -- "Damn the torpedoes, full speed ahead!"

The Hartford had been refurbished since Mobile Bay and was a sumptuous palace. In the center of the ship a grand, red-carpeted staircase swept down to a huge ballroom whose walls were decorated with ornate hand-carved scrollwork. The officers’ quarters were lavishly appointed and hung with all manner of rich velvets and tapestries. Down all carpeted hallways ran handrails of gleaming brass. Norman soon learned that the real purpose for being on the Hartford was to paint a portrait of Captain Mark St. Clair Ellis.

During this period, he also drew and painted portraits of his comrades and commanders. When the war ended in 1918, Rockwell was granted an immediate discharge.