Meuse-Argonne Cemetery
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Meuse-Argonne American Cemetery (WWI) by Jeffrey Aarnio, Assistant Sup. The Meuse-Argonne American Ceme- casualties. In the next 11 days, the tery is located about 26 miles north- First Army pushed north another 37 Those of you who have visited the west of Verdun in the Meuse Depart- km to reach the edge of Sedan before cemetery or know the history may ment of the Lorraine Region. Meuse- the Armistice took effect on 11 No- think of the Lost Battalion (elements Argonne AC is the largest military vember. While it is impossible to truly of the 77th ID who were isolated in cemetery in Europe with 14, 246 buri- put into perspective the number of their advance when the flank units did als (as many as 28,000 burials at the Americans and the difficulty of fight- not keep pace, eventually becoming end of 1918). It is fitting that this ing in this colossal offensive, the map surrounded by Germans for five cemetery is located in the heart of the on the next page reveals how many days), or Sergeant York’s heroic ex- Meuse-Argonne Offensive of 26 Sep- Medals of Honor were awarded over ploits (killing 15 enemy and taking tember through 11 November 1918, this month and a half period. In all, a 132 prisoners, portrayed later in a which remains America’s largest mili- total of 119 Medals of Honor were classic film with Gary Cooper), or the tary offensive to date with over awarded for the First World War. numerous officers who would later go 1,200,000 soldiers who took part in “Double” Medals of Honor awarded on to greater fame in WWII such as this continuous battle over a 47-day to marines by the Navy and Army for Captain Harry Truman, Colonel period. To put this into perspective, the same action - only count as one George Marshall, Jr., Colonel Bill there are currently around 160,000 award. Out of the 119 total Medals of Donavan, Colonel Douglas MacAr- U.S. military personnel in the entire Honor for World War One, 53 of thur, and Lt. Col. George Patton, Jr. country of Iraq. In the early morning which were awarded for actions in the (all of whom fought in the Meuse- hours of 26 September on the jump- Meuse-Argonne Offensive (45%). If Argonne campaign). Of the nine off line, there were nine American one adds the eight Medals of Honor Medal of Honor recipients buried at divisions with six divisions in reserve. earned in the Champagne Offensive in MAAC, Luke Air Force Base is An American division in WWI con- the area between the Argonne Forest named after Lt. Frank Luke and the sisted of 28,000 men as opposed to a and Blanc Mont (Sommepy - where National Guard training facility Camp WWII division of 18,000 men. (There the U.S. Federal Monument is lo- Roberts in Central California is were only five U.S. assault divisions cated), then this brings the total to 61 named after Corporal Harold Roberts. in Normandy on 6 June 1944) The Medals of Honor (51%). This latter Corporal Freddie Stowers received the land between the towns of Romagne- tally is logical in that this area was Medal of Honor in April 1991 after a sous-Montfaucon and Cunel, where known as the Meuse-Argonne Presidential committee was ordered to the cemetery is located, was liberated (Champagne) Offensive and is in the re-examine whether discrimination on 14 October 1918 by the 32nd and area of responsibility of the Meuse- played a role in military awards. In 5th Infantry Divisions and was imme- Argonne AC. There may very well fact, Corporal Stowers was the only diately used as a burial site. By 31 not be another battlefield where so black soldier to have been nominated October, the American First Army many Medals of Honor were awarded for the Medal of Honor during the had finally breached the last defensive (post Civil War) than the horrendous war. Also buried in the cemetery is trench line of the series of Hindenberg battle that took place between the east the only Jewish soldier to receive the lines, not even five kilometers north bank of the Meuse river and the Ar- Medal of Honor during the war; the of Romagne and suffered over 27,000 gonne forest in the fall of 1918. recipient was Sergeant William Saw- elson. Meuse-Argonne American Cemetery Romagne-sous-Montfaucon, France Looking now at the lesser known history poses. The only recorded combat death lated grave. Cpt. Coolidge, nephew of behind the Meuse-Argonne AC, it is of a balloonist took place when “Lt. President Calvin Coolidge, and friend fitting to examine the soldier that was Cleo J. Ross (8th Balloon Company) . and former classmate at Groton and Har- selected among the 1,237 unknowns . and Lt. Herbert Hudnut were aloft and vard of Quentin Roosevelt, was killed on from the Great War to represent the na- attacked by a Fokker D. VII, the bal- 27 October 1918 about 10 km west of tional unknown soldier. This decision loon burst into flames. Lt. Ross made the cemetery. His isolated grave is main- followed the British and French ceremo- sure that his observer got over the side tained by the people of Chièvres. nial burials of an unknown at Bucking- safely. He went over the side and after ham Palace and the Arc de Triomphe his parachute deployed, burning frag- respectively. On 22 October 1921, one ments of the balloon fell on the para- unknown from four American military chute. Lt. Ross [fell] to his death from cemeteries (Aisne-Marne, Meuse- several thousand feet.” The Army Bal- Argonne, Somme and St. Mihiel ceme- loon School at Ross Field, Arcadia, teries) was selected from among the un- California was so named after the death knowns “which represented the remains of Lt. Ross, who is buried at MAAC. of soldiers of which there was absolutely (see http://www.militarymuseum.org/ not the slightest indication as to name, BalloonSch.html) Cpt. Hamilton Coolidge’s Headstone rank, organization or date of When one mentions the Code Talkers, death.”(from Quartermaster report that most people immediately think of the Sergeant Victor Chapman, Plot D, Row can be read at: http:// Navajo marines who were instrumental 1, Grave 33, is the only member of the www.qmfound.com/ in the Pacific theater during World War Lafayette Escadrille to be interred in an soldier_unknown.htm) The four un- II. But the original Code Talkers were American overseas military cemetery as knowns were disinterred and brought to fourteen Choctaw soldiers of the 36th a member of this French unit, also the town hall in Châlons-sur-Marne ID who first used their language to de- known as the Lafayette Flying Corps.* (today Châlons-en-Champagne) where feat German code breakers in the This is a very unique and mysterious they were given full military honors. Meuse-Argonne (Champagne) Offen- burial which still leaves us perplexed One of the pall bearers, Sergeant sive of October 1918. This highly suc- about how the decision was made to Younger - a decorated infantryman - cessful use of Native American lan- bury Sgt. Chapman in the cemetery. It is was asked to place a white rose on one guages was repeated and expanded in true that Victor Chapman was represen- of the caskets in the town hall. This se- the Second World War to include Co- tative of the blue-blood idealists - he was lected unknown was then shipped to the manche and, as already mentioned, the great-great-great grandson of John United States aboard the American naval Navajo, to compliment the Choctaw Jay, first U.S. Chief Justice - who volun- vessel, the Olympia. The Tomb of the soldiers (see http://www.turtletrack.org/ teered to fight with the French and Brit- Unknown Soldier with the selected un- Issues00/Co06032000/ ish before the official entry into war by known remains (he was officially CO_06032000_Codetalk.htm). the U.S. In fact, Chapman volunteered awarded the Medal of Honor, the Distin- for the French by first entering the Third guished Service Cross and the highest Marching Regiment of the First Foreign military awards by several allied nations) Regiment of the Foreign Legion before was officially inaugurated on 11 Novem- transferring to the Escadrille Américaine ber 1921, three years after the end of the as one of its founding members (the war. The three remaining unknowns name was changed soon after to Esca- were brought to the Meuse-Argonne AC drille Lafayette following German pro- and interred in Plot G, Row 1, Grave tests of American neutrality in 1916). numbers 1, 2, and 3 (also from Quarter- Chapman was killed flying a non-combat master report). Choctaw soldiers of the 36th ID mission from his base at Behonne, near Bar-le-Duc, to deliver fresh oranges to In early October, we had the pleasure of another American pilot at the evacuation welcoming to MAAC an American hospital at Vadelaincourt, near Verdun. grandfather, father and son—direct Instead of following orders not to fly on descendents of a WWI aerial photogra- a combat patrol, Chapman followed sev- pher who took many photos of the eral Lafayette pilots to the east bank of Tomb of the Unknown Soldier, Meuse area around MAAC—after all the Meuse and was shot down near Arlington National Cemetery three had read, “Echoes of Eagles: A Douaumont, northeast of Verdun on 23 Son’s Search for his Father and the June 1916. (see “The Lafayette Flying According to the ABMC book, Legacy of America’s First Fighter Pi- Corps: The American Volunteers in the “American Armies and Battlefields in lots”, by Charles Woolley & Bill Craw- French Air Service in World War One”, Europe”, 1937 Edition, the American Air ford.