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Abstract
The May 31,1918, issue of the recently launched military newspaper Stars and Stripes featured a notice about the christening of two new 155mm "Big Bertha" field cannons by the American Expeditionary Forces (AEF): "Following the gallant custom of the French Artillery the boys of Battery B of our own F.A. Regiments decided to name their guns after those whom they considered the outstanding figures among the patriotic women of American history. For all these successes and celebrity, Elsie Janis largely defined herself by the period she spent entertaining troops in World War I. Her epitaph at Forest Lawn Cemetery in Glendale, California, reads simply, "Sweetheart of the A.E.F." At a time before the creation of the USO, and without the assistance of the YMCA or the Red Cross, Elsie Janis organized and funded her own mission to entertain and support Allied soldiers.