Thanks a lot for your detailed response. I never really looked into US forces as I had naively assumed that as a British citizen he could only have served in the British forces. I already had a look at the Canadian database (thanks also to Michael for providing the link) but could not find him there, now I will explore the US sources. As usual with genealogy, you not learn about your ancestors but about general history as well. Today was definitely such a learning point! Kind regards from Holland, Andrea On 11/24/06, LShurtleff@aol.com <LShurtleff@aol.com> wrote: > The Wilson administration, following the American declaration of war in > April 1917, permitted the Entente powers (as well as the provisional governments > of Poland and Czechoslovakia) to recruit volunteers for military service from > among their nationals living in the United States. British conscription > adopted in 1916 did not/not extend to America and the Wilson administration made > no attempt to enforce British conscription on British subjects resident in > the US. Foreign nationals of belligerent powers, permanent residents who had > not yet become American citizens, were conscripted as were some nationals > (American permanent residents) of neutral states such as the Netherlands and > Norway. Indeed, some 20 to 25% of the AEF was made up on foreign-born Americans. > > Canada adopted conscription in 1917. Could you ancestor have served in > Canadian forces? In those days there was no concept of Canadian (or Australian, > New Zealand, South African) citizenship as distinct from British citizenship. > Therefore, British-born young men in Canada would have been subject to > conscription there as residents of a self-governing dominion of the British > Empire.. > > LGS > > ------------------------------- > To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to GREATWAR-request@rootsweb.com with the word 'unsubscribe' without the quotes in the subject and the body of the message >