Lafayette, we are here

1. Words spoken by an American military officer in 1917 at the tomb of a French patriot, the Marquis de Lafayette, who fought for the United States in the Revolutionary War. “Lafayette, we are here” suggested that, by entering World War I on the side of France, Americans were repaying a debt to the French, who had helped the United States gain its independence from Britain. Some have identified the person who first said “Lafayette, we are here” as General John Pershing.

Example Sentences

He ended with a declaration, “Lafayette, we are here.”

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“Lafayette, we are here!” the Americans announced—a tribute to the Marquis de Lafayette, who sailed to America at the age of nineteen and served as a volunteer under George Washington during the American Revolutionary War.

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Charles E. Stanton’s legendary utterance: “Lafayette, we are here!”

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Charles Stanton, an aide to Gen. John J. Pershing, told the French, “Lafayette, we are here.”

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The shouts of "Lafayette, we are here!" symbolised a country repaying its debt 140 years later.

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