The AFS Association was established in May 1920 to coordinate reunions among former members of the American Field Service and also to administer the AFS Fellowships for French Universities program, which had been established in December 1919.
The photograph featured above is from 1924, and was taken during the first AFS Association pilgrimage to France. The former AFS Drivers met with Marshall Joffre at the École de Guerre. They were officially received by the local authorities in Verdun, where AFS Drivers had evacuated many casualties during the longest and bloodiest battle of the First World War. They also visited the former AFS headquarters at 21 rue Raynouard in Paris, where the Comtesse de Villestreux, owner of the villa, held a tea in their honor. The trip was such a success that the participants decided a similar reunion would be held every year in Paris. The image above was then used in a brochure for the second pilgrimage to be held in 1925, which cost a total of only $290 per person!.
Click here to download the entire brochure from 1925, or here to learn more about the fascinating history of AFS through the new timeline available online!