This French gun was the first to be fired by the Americans in the war. The writing on the shield shows it was fired October, 1917, when the first Americans went into the trenches for training.
South Bend news-times
South Bend news-times., June 07, 1918
<a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn87055779/1918-06-07/ed-1/seq-1/">South Bend news-times., June 07, 1918</a>