Claude witnesses a mixture of raucous and somber activity when his unit arrives in France. He observes the overeager excitement of Americans flirting with French women, trying French cheese for the first time, and attempting to use their newly acquired French vocabulary (often with amusing results). He also observes food shortages, badly injured soldiers with amputated limbs, and soldiers with sickly, suffering faces. When Claude asks where the wounded soldiers came from, he learns that they are survivors of the brutal Battle of Cantigny.

As the soldiers march through the fields of France, Claude is struck by the mixture of familiarity and unfamiliarity within the landscape. The Old World thatched roof houses, vibrant cornflowers, and poppies are completely new to Claude. He sees a number of familiar plants and trees, however, including cottonwoods. Claude reflects that this familiar tree somehow appears more beautiful growing in France than it ever did in Nebraska. In addition, Claude sees boxes of produce that have been shipped in from the midwestern United States, bearing stamps and labels he recognizes. He feels proud that soldiers and French villagers are being fed by hardworking farmers “back home.”

Captain Maxey, a small, frail man who comes from a poor family in Mississippi, is appointed first officer of Claude’s unit.