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.

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.

THE MEDAL

The Medal of Honor was originally devised in 1863 as a permanent decoration and was authorized to be issued to Army officers, as well – earlier similar medals were issued only to enlisted men.  Since the beginning of the award over 3,500 Medals of Honor have been awarded – over 600 awarded posthumously.  For World War One, there were 121 men honored – 34 posthumously. 

DOUBLE WIN

Five of the nineteen recipients who earned two Medals of Honor, did so during this war.  All were Marines.  They gained them because of being Marines serving in an Army unit – the 4^th Marine Brigade (5^th and 6^th Marine Regiments) made up half of the 2^nd Division.  They were issued Medals of Honor from both the Navy and the Army, both branches wanting in on the glory.  After 1919, the loophole closed. Men were eligible for only one Medal for a single action.

The one double Medal of Honor winner here at Meuse-Argonne ABMC Cemetery is Sergeant Matej Kocak.  Kocak, like many of the men buried here, was an emigrant to the US.  He was born in a village in Slovakia, then part of the Kingdom of Hungary, itself part of Austria-Hungary of the Hapsburg realm.  He came to the US as a 24-year-old to New York from where he enlisted in the Marine Corps in 1907.  Before World War One, Kocak served on the East Coast taking part in the intervention in Veracruz, Mexico – temporarily assigned to the Army – for seven months.  He spent the last six months of 1916 in the Dominican Republic intervention.

return to europe

With the US joining the war in Europe, Kocak, now a sergeant, was serving with the 5^th Regiment of the Marines who were part of the US 2^nd Division.  The 2^nd Division fought in the long battle at Belleau Woods in June 1918.  In the ensuing Second Marne campaign, the division fought further to the north alongside French colonial soldiers southwest of Soissons.  On 18 July, a German machine gun hidden from their view held up his unit.  Kocak snuck forward in between the German positions and drove off the machine gun crew with his bayonet.  Later the same day, he came upon a group of French colonials separated from their company.  He organized them and led them in another attack on a machine gun nest, also successful. 

For his actions, Kocak gained the Medal of Honor. Being cited in General Orders, he would also eventually be awarded a Silver Star.  Both awards were given posthumously, however, for on 4 October, Kocak fell during the 2^nd Division actions at Blanc Mont Ridge to the west of the Argonne forest.  Foreign decorations included the Médaille militaire, the Croix de guerre with bronze palm and the Croce al Merito di Guerra.  A Maritime Prepositioning Ship, a ship used to preposition US military cargo for the Marines and Air Force took on the name of the Marine sergeant. The ship active still since 1984.

FLYING TO THE LOST BATTALION

Erwin Russell Bleckley was a bank teller at the start of America’s war.  He enlisted in the Kansas National Guard and joined an artillery battery of the 35^th Division given a commission as a Second Lieutenant.  Wanting to become a pilot but honoring family objections to the inherent danger, he became the next best thing, an airborne observer.

He was part of the 50^th Aero Squadron which flew 16 DH-4 “Liberties” – “Liberty” for the US origin of the engines.  The squadron flew missions at the start of the Meuse-Argonne Offensive in support of the 77^th Division.  When part of the 308^th Regiment became isolated. the squadron was asked to locate and resupply the “Lost Battalion”.  Bad weather and heavy ground fire made the task difficult with three planes shot down on 6 October. 

to save the ‘lost battalion’

Flying a second sortie out on the 6^th, Bleckley sat in the back of the DH-4 piloted by First Lieutenant Harold Goettler.  They dropped supplies at a spot where they thought the isolated American soldiers were at.  The problem was the Germans were there.  They gathered up most of the resupply efforts and directed intense fire at the low-flying plane.  The plane crashed inside Allied lines when Goettler died from a bullet.  Thrown from the plane, Bleckley, severely injured, died before his French rescuers could get him to a hospital.

Both Bleckley and Goettler received Distinguished Service Crosses posthumously.  In 1922, the awards upgraded to the Medal of Honor, two of seven such awards issued in the “Lost Battalion” incident.

JEWISH-AMERICAN HERO

William Sawelson was a 23-year-old sergeant with the 312^th Regiment – “Newark’s Own” – of the 78^th Division.  On 26 October, near Grand-Pre, Sawelson heard a wounded man calling for water from a shell hole nearby.  Leaving his own shelter, he crawled through machine gun fire to give the man what he had in his canteen.  Returning to his hole, Sawleson got more water, but on his way back to the wounded man, the machine gun killed him.

Sawleson is one of five Jewish-Americans to receive the Medal of Honor during the war.  The only one to die in action.

CALIFORNIAN TANKER

Harold William Roberts was almost 23 when he died on 6 October in his Renault FT17 tank.  Growing up in San Francisco, Roberts enrolled at University of California at Berkeley before joining the Army in December 1916.  He shipped out for a year to the Philippines before returning to the US only leave again in March 1918 to France.  Once in France, Roberts, a cavalryman, volunteered for the newly formed Tank Corps.  His battalion at the AEF Light Tank School was commanded initially by Lieutenant Colonel George Patton.

He became a tank driver with Sergeant Virgil Morgan assigned his gunner.  After participating in the St Mihiel Offensive, they transferred on 4 October to take part in the Meuse-Argonne.  After about a mile from their jump-off point, they noted a disabled tank.  One of the crewmen from the tank crawled over and pointed towards bushes ahead where a German machine gun fired out of.

Roberts plunged his tank straight ahead through the bushes, but a ten-foot-deep water-filled crater lay hidden into which the tank slipped.  The tank started filling as Roberts kept the machine going in reverse to try and keep the rear above water.  “Only one of us can get out and out you go.” Roberts told Morgan as he gave him a push.  The tank quickly filled, and Roberts drowned.  His body was recovered two days later. 

A large military training center near Paso Robles remembers the tank driver – Camp Roberts.  It was a large training center during World War Two and is home to the California National Guard today.

COLORADOAN LEADS HIS MEN

Marcellus Holmes Chiles was studying at Colorado College in Denver when the US declared war in April 1917.  He attended an officers’ training course and gained a commission in August.  As a First Lieutenant, he went to France with the 356^th Regiment of the 89^th Division.  After taking part in the St Mihiel action, his unit went to take part in the Meuse-Argonne Offensive.  Promoted to captain, on 3 November as a battalion commander, Chiles advanced his men through a waist-deep stream near Le Champy Bas against German machine guns.  Wounded as he crossed the stream, he gathered up his troops before turning over command.  Evacuated to a hospital, he died on 5 November.

For his actions, Chiles gained the Distinguished Service Cross, upgraded to a Medal of Honor the following year.

MOUNTED GUARD TAKES THE NEXT STEP

Oscar Franklin Miller, like Chiles, was born in Arkansas.  He did a three-year enlistment in the Army serving as a company clerk and interpreter – he had learned Spanish in Texas earlier – with the 28^th Infantry Regiment in the Philippines.  Returning to the US, he worked with the Mail Service for awhile before joining the Mounted Watchmen of the US Department of Commerce and Labor, a group formed to enforce the Chinese Exclusive Act.  He worked as a border patrol officer from 1907 until 1917.

Graduating from reserve officers’ training in California in 1917, he was one of two students promoted to major for the 361^st Regiment of the 91^st Division.  He was in France by July 1918.  The division was one of the first to open the Meuse-Argonne offensive with his 3^rd Battalion ready to attack 28 September from Epionville.  Many of the men fell as they went over the top.  Miller, hit in the right leg, dragged himself further before suffering another wound.  He exhorted his men on before being evacuated to a dressing station. That night, he died.

BEFORE THE LOST BATTALION

Fred Eliphaz Smith graduated in 1894 from the University of North Dakota.  Working as a clerk out of school. Smith also enrolled in the North Dakota National Guard and became the regimental sergeant major 16 May 1898.  With the Spanish-American War, the North Dakotan regiment went to the Philippines arriving in July.  The war with Spain ended in February 1899. But now the American forces in the Philippines faced the local insurrection movement the Spanish before them had faced.

Smith took an exam and passed gaining a commission in the Regular Army as a Second Lieutenant near the end of February.  He stayed on in the Army after his Philippine tour rising in rank to captain. By the time the US got into World War One.

With a lack of leaders in the quickly expanding army, Smith became a Major 3 August 1917 and Lieutenant Colonel 29 August.  Sailing to Europe with the 15^th Infantry Regiment at the end of April 1918, he transferred to the 308^th Regiment of the 77^th Division on 12 July, in time for their move to Fismes during the latter stages of the Second Marne.

before the ‘lost battalion’

The Division next went to the Argonne and made up the left flank of the AEF force at the beginning of the Meuse-Argonne Offensive.  Smith took command of the regiment on 27 September as the men lost their way wandering through the dense undergrowth of the Argonne Forest.  In order to re-establish contact with some of the elements of the regiment and bring in supplies, Smith led a small party in against small German groups which had infiltrated with machine guns. 

Running into one of these groups, Smith ordered his men to take cover.  Pulling out his pistol, he opened fire.  Wounded, he continued to offer cover fire until most of his men reached safety.  Instead of seeking first aid, he grabbed a couple of hand grenades to take out the nearest machine gun nest where he died.

Smith, earning the Medal of Honor posthumously, also gained a Croix de guerre with bronze palm and given the degree of Officer in the Frenchy Legion d’honneur as well as a Croce al Merito di Guerra from Italy.

The 308th continued to be separated as they fought through the jungles of the Argonne after Smith’s death, units of which would become the famous “Lost Battalion”.

MEDALS IN A SEGREGATED ARMY

Freddie Stowers was a corporal in the 371^st Regiment of the 93^rd Division.  The grandson of a slave, the Army drafted Stowers in 1917.  Before the war, he had worked as a farmhand in South Carolina.

The US Army was very segregated at the time of the Great War reflecting the nation as a whole from President Wilson on down.  Stowers belonged to a ‘colored’ division split up and given to the French – white American officers had no use for the division.  His regiment served with the 157^th French “Red Hand” Division – the French had no qualms about using men who were ready to fight.

On 28 September 1918, during an assault on Hill 188 near Ardeuil-et-Montfauxelles, a couple miles west of the Argonne Forest and nearby a present-day French airbase, command of his platoon fell upon him.  He led his men to take the first German trench line and re-organized his force to attack the second line.  Struck down twice, his men continued, inspired by his example, and forced the Germans off the hill.  Stowers had died, however.

Recommended for the Medal of Honor, his recommendation was never processed.  The official line was his paperwork was misplaced which could have been the case. Many others – not just because of racial prejudices – deserving of attention received a similar fate.  His recommendation rediscovered in 1990 led to his award of the medal in 1991.

THE BALLOON BUSTER

Frank Luke Jr was only 21 at the time of his death 29 September 1918. His father was a German immigrant coming to the US in 1874.  Growing up in Phoenix as a part of a large family of eight, Luke excelled in sports.  With the war, he enlisted in the Aviation Section of the Signal Corps becoming a Second Lieutenant in March 1918.  In July, he joined the 27^th Aero Squadron which deployed as a pursuit squadron.

Luke was a loner who liked to go after German observation balloons, heavily defended by ground anti-aircraft guns.  Along with his friend Joseph Wehner, they strung together a bunch of victories until Wehner was killed 18 September in a dogfight with Fokker D.Viis attacking Luke.  Luke shot down two of the Fokkers, two balloons and another German plane. Wehner’s body was returned to his hometown in Massachusetts after the war.

a quick flash of the meteor

Like’s career was short lasting from 12 until 29 September.  He shot down 14 balloons, four airplanes achieving the 18 victories in just ten sorties during eight days, a feat unsurpassed by any other aviator in the war.

Near Dun-sur-Meuse on 29 September he found three German balloons.  After alerting a nearby American balloon company he shot down the German balloons.  Severely wounded bringing down the balloons, Luke landed in a field west of Murvaux behind German lines. He died after firing a few rounds about 200 meters from his plane in a skirmish with German infantrymen.  Initially, the Balloon Buster lay in the Murvaux cemetery. His body was recovered two months later by American forces.

He was the second leading ace of the AEF after Eddie Rickenbacker.  Besides the Medal of Honor, Luke gained two Distinguished Service Crosses for separate actions and an Italian Croce di Guerra.  The Luke Air Force Base near Phoenix is named after the aviator.