RARE AZO REAL PHOTO POSTCARD JAN. 2nd 1917 Troops were in northern Mexico in early 1917 as part of the Mexican Punitive Expedition, which was an attempt to capture the revolutionary Pancho Villa after his raid on Columbus, New Mexico, in 1916. The troops, under the command of General John J. Pershing, were in Mexico from March 1916 to February 1917 and were recalled to the U.S. before the end of January 1917, though the expedition officially concluded in February.