 on August 2, 1918. Major General William S. Gray was summoned by our Secretary of War to proceed with all haste from his post at Camp Fremont in California to Kansas City. There he was to meet the Secretary of War at the Baltimore Hotel to receive instructions that would begin one of the most unique military adventures of the 20th century. In Kansas City, Secretary of War Newton D. Baker was waiting for the general with instructions that had been carefully formulated and approved by the President of the United States. President Woodrow Wilson had become increasingly aware of the disorder and confusion resulting from Russia's withdrawal in the war against Germany. The Treaty of Brest-Litovsk threatened the Allied war effort and gave Germany the opportunity of seizing considerable war materiel which had been sent to Russia while that country had been a combatant. The Secretary of War handed General Graves a sealed envelope containing our policy in the Russian situation. The general was informed he would command an American Expeditionary Force in Siberia. Secretary Baker offered this advice, watch your step. You will be walking on eggshells loaded with dynamite. By late summer 1918, the populace of Vladivostok, Siberia watched the arrival of the first American troops that would comprise our expeditionary force. By the end of September, Major General Graves and his carefully selected staff were ready to begin their military adventure in the Siberian sector. Under the general's command were the 27th Infantry Regiment, the 31st Infantry Regiment, the 17th Evacuation Hospital, and administrative and support units. The Expeditionary Force totaled 10,000 officers and men. From August 1918 into April 1920, Siberia was to be the home of this expedition. Cities such as Vladivostok, Khabarovsk, Harbin, Chita, Krasnoyarsk and Omsk would be entered in the activity reports of this expedition. This big picture is a glimpse into that long ago American Expeditionary Force in Siberia. The city of Vladivostok with its strategic Golden Horn Bay was the geographical center for our expeditionary force. From his headquarters on Svetlanskaya Street, General Graves was now prepared to follow the objectives outlined in President Wilson's aid memoir. Objective one was to render all possible assistance to Czechoslovakian troops who had become isolated in Russia as a result of that country's capitulation to Germany. Czech military units were now making their way toward Vladivostok. The next task was to enable them to leave Russia and to return to their homeland, or if possible, to use them in a reconstituted eastern front which had by now collapsed. The Czechoslovakian army had distinguished itself in combat against Germany and the safety of these seasoned troops was considered essential by the Allies. Objective two was to guard military supplies and equipment which had been shipped to Russia during her participation in the war against Germany. With Russia no longer a combatant, Allied military supplies were to be protected from seizure or destruction by any force hostile to our military interests. The third objective outlined in the President's aid memoir to General Graves was to provide humanitarian assistance to the Russian people. National disorder had made thousands of Russians homeless which had created an aggravated refugee problem. Hunger and sickness were ever present. Refugees sought shelter wherever possible in railroad terminals, railroad cars, and in improvised shanties. The American Red Cross, working with the American Expeditionary Force, offered assistance to the homeless, the hungry, and the sick. Dr. R. B. Tuesler was the Chairman of the American Red Cross Commission for Siberia. He and his staff, along with nurses and doctors, wrote an inspiring chapter into American Red Cross tradition. Beyond these specific objectives, General Graves and his men were to avoid any involvement in the erupting internal affairs of Russia. This presidential directive was easier issued than followed, but General Graves, a West Point graduate from the class of 1889, adhered to these policies with great perseverance during the precarious time of his expedition to Siberia. To the American soldiers of this expeditionary force, the challenge of accomplishing our objectives was monumental, and military life in Siberia, to say the least, was unusual. The 27th Infantry Regiment, under the command of Colonel Henry D. Steyer, had sailed from the Philippines to Vladivostok. Two of its companies established rail security between Vladivostok and Nikolsk, Osuri, while remaining elements established camp in the Vladivostok perimeter. The 31st Infantry Regiment had also sailed from the Philippines. They arrived in Vladivostok in mid-August 1918, under the command of Colonel Frederick H. Sargent. They established operations in the Kuborovsk region. Garrison duty in Siberia was mostly training. The Siberian landscape became host to the marching, drilling, and target practice of military units, not only from the United States, but from Japan, China, Britain, Canada, France, and Italy as well. Our American Expeditionary Force was part of a combined military representation. The Supreme Allied War Council, fearing the results of the Brest-Litovsk Treaty, directed military forces to northern Russia as well as Siberia. In this latter operation, Japan had agreed to a United States proposal that she join this multinational expedition. General Kikuzo Otani of the Imperial Japanese Army was the Senior Allied Officer present and was given command by the Supreme Allied War Council. The American Expeditionary Force, however, remained autonomous under the command of General Graves. Even so, much of the military activity in the Siberian sector required careful coordination and mixed representation. Vladivostok assumed the appearance of an international settlement and its railroad station and important military center was under a rotating guard from each of the military forces stationed in that city. This was the eastern terminal of the Great Trans-Siberian Railroad. Now it became a reception center for military and civilian travel and the city itself was a reflection of the currents which were racing across all of Russia. In the Golden Horn Bay area, the arrival of Allied vessels was increasing. The flagship of our American Asiatic Fleet, the USS Brooklyn, under the command of Admiral Rogers, arrived in Fort in the fall of 1918. General Graves, with members of his staff and John Caldwell, the U.S. consul in Vladivostok, visited Admiral Rogers to discuss our Siberian operation. While this review was taking place, the sailors and marines from the USS Brooklyn spent much of their time going through ship and shore drill. Flagships of other countries represented in the Siberian expedition were also riding anchor in the harbor. The British cruiser, Suffolk, provided support to the land-based units from that country. The first-knife Hampshire's were one of the British units. This parade along Svetlanskaya Street was prior to their rail movement to the city of Omsk, where Russian Admiral Alexander Kolchak had seized power and established a dictatorship throughout Siberia and eastern Russia. The involved and confusing internal situation in Russia was a constant concern to Allied presence in Siberia. General Graves was realizing the significance of Secretary Baker's comment about eggshells loaded with dynamite. Military parades along Svetlanskaya Street were a standard part of the training regiment. This one included units from all Allied countries represented in the Siberian expedition. By now, the citizenry of Vladivostok was becoming accustomed to the drum beats, the martial music, and the cadence. There were opportunities to relax and forget the soldiering for a little while. At the hippodrome in Vladivostok, Canadian soldiers hosted a spirited, allied, athletic contest. And at Khabarovsk, Siberia, where part of the 27th Infantry was garrisoned, a Wild West show must have looked pretty strange to the local populace. Just as strange to our troops was the sight of Ataman-Kolmikov's Cossacks, who were part of Alexander Kolchak's all Russian army in Siberia. These fierce-looking Cossacks were something to watch. Music In the spring of 1919, the Russian Railway Service Corps, a non-combatant unit, commanded by American colonel John Stevens, was given responsibility for maintaining rail operations along the Trans-Siberian Railroad, over which Czech military units were reaching Vladivostok on their troubled journey home. Adventures along the vast area serviced by the Trans-Siberian were daily occurrences. Each allied country had assigned sectors of control responsibility. No one could ever be quite certain as to what the next day would bring. At Harbin Manchuria, the Trans-Siberian Railroad served a vital transfer point for passenger and freight travel between China, Siberia and Russia. Protection of this rail center was essential to the allies. Travel along the railroad was quite another problem. Clearance of damaged or destroyed Russian trains was a frequent necessity. Debris, dynamited tracks and other obstacles were the results of the internal turmoil, which was raging throughout Russia. The rail traffic along the Trans-Siberian was a mixture of the divergent interests operating in this area. One of the most essential uses of the Trans-Siberian was to transport the sick and wounded back to Vladivostok. American military doctors and nurses from the field hospital that was part of our expeditionary force were confronted with wounded soldiers, typhus cases, severe frostbite and related ravages from the Siberian weather. This evacuation hospital was commanded by Colonel Thomas E. Scott. Seventeen American nurses were with our expeditionary force. They were under the supervision of Chief Nurse K. C. Hannon and were stationed at our field hospital in Tumen, Siberia. From August 1918 through December 1919, American soldiers guarded rail depots, stores of war material and supervised German and Austrian prisoners who had been incarcerated when Russia had been in the war. In January 1920, Czech units were safely in Vladivostok and were being evacuated to their own country. World War I had ended and military supplies were no longer subject to hostile seizure. Conditions inside Russia dictated no further use of our military expedition. Washington instructed General Graves to remove his entire operation. By April 1920, he and his American expeditionary force would brought an adventure to be recorded in history books and preserved on this precious film taken by signal corps cameraman of the United States Army.