This year is the centennial of America's entry into World War I

This conflict has almost completely faded from the American consciousness. Granted it is now beyond living memory but the conflict was a watershed moment in American history. When the war began the vast majority of uniformed servicemen were national guardsmen, our planes were rickety and out of date, and we had no tanks to speak of. Yet in less than two years, over four million Americans would volunteer for the armed forces and the United States would spend more money in that time frame than it had in the country's entire history up to that point.

While some Americans began arriving in France in late-1917, it wasn't until January 1918 that American soldiers began arriving in the trenches in adequate numbers to have an impact on the battlefield. In the eleven months between January and November 11, 1918, more than 116,000 Americans would be killed. The vast majority of those would fall in a single battle - the Meuse-Argonne - which also remains to this day the bloodiest single battle in American history.

There is a monument in Washington, D.C. to every major conflict this nation has ever fought - save one. It's time we remembered these men and the sacrifices they made in the never ending march of freedom.