Category Archives: Military History

MEUSE-ARGONNE ABMC CEMETERY – AMERICA’S GREATEST TEST – THE MEDALS OF HONOR

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Flags of the Allied Powers in the Chapel at Meuse-Argonne ABMC Cemetery

THE CEMETERY

Meuse-Argonne ABMC Cemetery is by far the largest of the cemeteries administered by the American Battlefields and Monuments Commission from the First World War. In fact, the cemetery is the largest ABMC cemetery in Europe, second in size in the World only behind the giant cemetery on the south side of Manila.

The Meuse-Argonne ABMC Cemetery is located directly in the heart of the area American soldiers fought and died for from 26 September 1918 until the end of the war on 11 November. It was the longest and hardest campaign the American Expeditionary Force was tasked with during the war. Success came, but only after long struggles as the AEF learned what it meant to wage an industrial scale war. The learning curve we see in evidence among the 14,246 men buried here.

The Meuse-Argonne ABMC Cemetery from the ABMC brochure.

Quick facts you can pick up from the cemetery brochure: There are 22 sets of brothers included among the dead; the cemetery covers 130.5 acres; 268 Stars of David and 486 graves of soldiers whose identity remain unknown; 954 names are inscribed on the Tablets of the Missing – men whose remains were never recovered.

Because of the sheer size of this cemetery, I am going to take a couple of blog posts to try and cover a few of the stories lying here.

There are also nine men here who were awarded the Medal of Honor, eight died as a direct result of their actions. They will be whom I concentrate my thoughts upon today.

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SOMME ABMC CEMETERY – AMERICANS FIGHT WITH THE MOTHER COUNTRY IN THE GREAT WAR

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somme abmc chapel
The chapel at Somme ABMC cemetery.

General John J. Pershing resisted calls from the British and French to insert incoming American units as replacements for existing units.  Pershing and President Woodrow Wilson both wanted American units to fight as an amalgamated unit on the Western Front.  They wanted a true American army to provide a backbone for the future.  But then came the German Spring Offensives of 1918.  These offensives shook the Allied front, then threatened to push the British back to the Channel Coast and the French beyond Paris.  Considering this emergency, Pershing relented, finally allowing some of his units to fight with the French and the British.  Some of the consequences of their work with the British are in evidence here at Somme ABMC Cemetery – American Battlefields and Monuments Commission.

The politics involved bringing American forces to fight alongside British and Commonwealth units is the stuff for another post.  Today, we concentrate on the end results – the cemetery.

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AISNE-MARNE ABMC CEMETERY – AMERICA ENCOUNTERS THE GREAT WAR HEAD ON

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1919 panorama of what would become the Aisne-Marne ABMC Cemetery.

From the US 2nd Division website.

The Spring Offensives of 1918 rocked the Allies to the core.  For a moment, it appeared the Great War could actually be lost.  Enter America and the American Expeditionary Force – AEF.  General John J. Pershing had been pushing against the desires of his fellow Allies to insert American troops as they became available into the ranks of the French or British armies.  In the emergency of spring 1918, Pershing finally relented, agreeing to allow American divisions already present into the front lines as needed.  The Aisne-Marne ABMC – American Battlefield and Monuments Commission – Cemetery is a result of that decision. 

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OISE-AISNE ABMC CEMETERY – AMERICAN SPIRIT AT THE SECOND MARNE

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Walking the cemetery with former Cemetery Superintendent Jeffrey Aarnio at Oise-Aisne ABMC.

People not acquainted well with the First World War might be surprised there was more than one Battle of the Marne.  The first battle was by far the more famous, but the second proved to be as decisive, if not more, than the first.  In this campaign, American units fought for lengthy periods of time in division sized units in a truly international campaign.  The bulk of the effort was French, but there were British and Italian troops fighting alongside the Doughboys, throughout.  The American efforts in the Second Marne are remembered in the ABMC – American Battlefields and Monuments Commission – Oise-Aisne Cemetery equidistant between the town of Fère-en-Tardenois to the west and Nesles to the east – about 1 kilometer either direction.

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ST MIHIEL ABMC CEMETERY – HISTORY RELIVES A HUNDRED YEARS ON

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World War One was not the first time American soldiers died and were left on foreign soil.  The Great War did leave by far the largest number of dead Americans outside the native country, however.  To establish and maintain cemeteries outside the United States to honor the sacrifices made by so many, the American Battlefield and Monuments Commission was set up in 1923 headed by no other than General John Pershing.  There are 28 cemeteries falling under the guise of the ABMC today.  Here is the ABMC St Mihiel Cemetery filled with soldiers many falling during the first offensive campaign fought by the US Army as a cohesive unit – St Mihiel.

St Mihiel Cemetery
Taken from the postwar Michelin Guide to the Battlefields is a early photo of the cemetery at St Mihiel.
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WEST POINT CLASSES IN THE GREAT WAR

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West Point classes before the Great War was the main source of officers guiding the U.S. Army.  The huge mobilization meant an equal increase in the officer corps which West Point could not begin to cover.  But the officers with West Point in their background – much as was the case during the American Civil War – did account for most of the upper leadership positions within the Army and the AEF.  Also, like the Civil War, there was a certain animosity between West Pointers and those without the pedigree in World War One, too.  I, however, want to focus on the West Pointers here.  This is a brief rundown of several who helped the American efforts during the Great War.

AEF Commander General John J. Pershing (class of 1886) and Army Chief of Staff General Peyton March (class of 1888)
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AMERICA REMEMBERED ON ISLAY, TORPEDOED VICTIMS OF THE GREAT WAR

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America standing high on the cliffs of Islay.

The Setting

High above the cold, wind-driven waves of the Irish Sea, sitting atop rocky vertical cliffs on a southern peninsula with the odd name of the Mull of Oa on the Scottish island of Islay, a forgotten stone monument fashioned in the shape of a lighthouse.  The American Red Cross erected the monument in 1920 to honor the memory of those who died in two separate troopship sinkings – the Tuscania and the Otranto – off the coast of Islay.  Designed by a Glasgow architect as a monumental cairn recognizing the importance of those dead in the cold waters off Islay. Most who see the monument see a lighthouse peering into the dark and icy seas. America intertwined with Islay.

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FROM ITALIA IRRENDENTA TO ANTIFASCISM IN ONE BOOK – EMILIO LUSSU

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Emilio Lussu as an officer with the 151st Italian Infantry Regiment of the Brigatta Sassari

ITALIAN OFFICER, POLITICIAN AND WRITER OF THE GREAT WAR AND BEYOND

A UNIQUE WORK

Perhaps the best novel written about the Italian Great War front – not in English is The Sardinian Brigade by Emilio Lussu.  The book’s title in Italian Un anno sull’altipiano which translates to A Year on the High Plateau with other English editions are titled A Soldier on the Southern Front.

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ASTORIA’S DOUGHBOY – UNIONTOWN’S MONUMENT TO LOCAL SOLDIERS OF THE GREAT WAR

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The Astoria Soldiers Monument

DOUGHBOYS REMEMBERED

Drive on US 30 as the highway meets US 101 underneath the Oregon side of the Astoria-Megler bridge over the Columbia River and you pass a small statue of a World War I soldier.  The monument is “the Doughboy” or Astoria’s Doughboy. Doughboy refers to the nickname given to American infantrymen during the Great War. The nickname continued to refer to American soldiers until the Second World War nickname “G.I.”.

World War 1 was a major event in the country’s history. The war pushed a somewhat unwilling nation onto the international stage.  Not since the American Civil War had something like World War 1 transfixed the US. During that war, some 10% of the population of the Union served in the Federal Army.  By 1918, with 4.8 million serving in the armed forces, 4.7% of the population had served.

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ERNEST PSICHARI – AN ENDING TO THE BEGINNING

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Ernest Psichari before Rossignol.

A MONK SOLDIER

If the war had come just a little later, Ernest Psichari might have avoided his fate at Rossignol entirely by already not being a part of this world but cloistered as a monk in the next. Psichari was one of the up-and-coming French writers who fell early in the war.

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