Category Archives: History

MEUSE-ARGONNE CEMETERY – VALOR BUT NOT QUITE ENOUGH

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Distinguished Service Cross – established in 1918 as a second rank for valor to the Medal of Honor.

Others beyond the golden dead (Medal of Honor winners have their names inscribed in gold at cemeteries administered by the American Battlefields and Monuments Commission (ABMC)) earned medals for valor. Their headstones are inscribed with their awards, as well, here at Meuse-Argonne ABMC Cemetery, just not in gold. You have to look a little harder.

This is the second of a series looking at some of the men and women lying buried at America’s largest cemetery in Europe, Meuse-Argonne ABMC Cemetery in Romagne, France. Here, we look at the award given out on the second rung of heroism in the pantheon of awards for heroism in the American military system – the Distinguished Service Cross.

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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.

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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.

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

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Aisne-Marne ABMC Cemetery
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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St Mihiel Cemetery
Taken from the postwar Michelin Guide to the Battlefields is a early photo of the cemetery at St Mihiel.

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.

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BAD KREUZNACH – REMEMBER AND RETURN TO THE NAHETAL

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Bad Kreuznach panorama Kauzenburg
This is a 2018 panorama over the city of Bad Kreuznach from the Kauzenburg. The Nahe Canyon leading to Bad Münster am Stein-Ebernburg is on the right.

Bad Kreuznach – Bad “K” or just “BK” to most former Americans living here – was and is a wonderful town to be introduced into culture beyond America. Who says you can’t go back?  I lived and worked here for three years back in the 1980’s, a time of strong US dollars and a last fling of Cold War uncertainty. 

Today’s blog is a simple chance to amble down through the mists of my time and a chance to update photographic memories of a part of Germany flying under the radar of the Viking longboat cruisers.

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HINDU SANCTUARY IN THE TUALATIN MOUNTAINS FOCUS ON DIFFERENT PATHS TO THE SAME GOAL

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Sunlight filters through the trees along the Shrine Path high among the Tualatin Mountains.

“BUILD IT AND THEY WILL COME”

“Build it and he will come”. So, intones the voice of Shoeless Jackson to the Iowa corn farmer played by Kevin Costner in the 1989 film Field of Dreams. The quote often remembered wrongly as “Build it and they will come”. The film was a version of W.P. Kinsella’s novel Shoeless Jackson. In this case, we will choose the more popular interpretation which better describes this Hindu sanctuary high in the Tualatin Mountains just north of Portland. A retreat pointing towards a universal message of different paths leading to the same goal.

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WEST POINT CLASSES IN THE GREAT WAR

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AEF Commander General John J. Pershing (class of 1886) and Army Chief of Staff General Peyton March (class of 1888)

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.

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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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