Brothers at War

At

the beginning of the First World War there was much sympathy in America

for the French, British and Russians against the Germans, Austrians and

Turks. But the United States Neutralization Act made it a felony for

citizens to support either the Allies or the Huns except for

humanitarian assistance to either side. To avoid the proscriptions of

the Neutralization Act many wealthy, prominent Americans bought

ambulances for the French Army and recruited college students from the

nation's top colleges and prep schools to man them. Jack and Alan

Nichols lived at home with their parents Walter Hammond Nichols and

Eleanor C. Nichols in the small town of Palo Alto, California, and were

students at Stanford just across the then street. Both were avid pro

"Allies". Alan, a Junior at Stanford, was older and left for France

first while Jack, a Freshman, followed some months later. For two small

town young teenage boys who had never left Palo Alto, crossing the

country for a ship to France was in itself an extraordinary adventure.

They both joined the French Army Ambulance Corps at first. Once they

were in France with the French Army the American Neutralization Act no

longer applied nor its prohibition of participation on either side of

the conflict. Alan later transferred to the French Army Air Corps and,

after the U.S. joined the fight on the Allies side, Jack to the American

Tank Corps. Both brothers functioned as "junior journalists." Alan wrote

long letters from France to his father about his experiences which were

then published by the Palo Alto Times from its "foreign corespondent."

They were then collected, edited and appeared as Letters Home: From the

Lafayette Flying Corps. Jack wrote his own book Two Years: World War I

Experiences in France. This book is now combined with a selection of

Alan's letters and the collaborative effort titled Brothers At War. It

is the story of their war lives serving, each in his own different way,

the French army, but with shockingly different endings.