After training in Colorado and Texas, Hay found himself in late June among the first American troops in France as part of the American Expeditionary Force. On May 3, 1917, 21-year-old Merle Hay of rural Glidden, along with eight other young men from the town, volunteered for military service a month after President Woodrow Wilson asked Congress to declare war and enter the brutal conflict on the side of the Allied Powers.
The first connection is well-known, mostly because a major Des Moines street and shopping mall are named in the honor of this link - Merle Hay. But Glidden is clearly connected to the two American entry and exit points in these worldwide struggles. On normal days, it's a relatively peaceful community, hardly the sort of town that conjures up images of the violent cataclysm of two world wars. With a current population of around 1,150, Glidden is located along Highway 30 in eastern Carroll County in west central Iowa.