Marshall Joseph Joffre

Marshal Joseph Joffre visited Mount Vernon on April 29, 1917, as a member of the British & French War Commissions for World War I. He was known as “the hero of the Marne” and placed a bronze wreath on the tomb of George Washington. The wreath read “In the French Army all venerate the name and memory of Washington. I respectfully salute here the great soldier and lay upon his Tomb the palm we offer our soldiers who have died for their country.”