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.

OVER THERE

The US did not enter World War One until April 1917.  At the time, the Army was miniscule by European standards with only 127,000 men in the Regular Army and another 181,000 in the National Guard – the Guard was the American equivalent of European reserve units.  Shortly after war was declared, the American Congress allocated $3 billion dollars to raise an army of a million men – a figure which rose considerably by war’s end.

General John Pershing was a late choice to lead the American Expeditionary Force – AEF – in France.  He wanted to keep Americans fighting as an American-led unit from army-level down.  Pershing fought a continuous battle against his Allies who wanted to use American units to plug into their own armies as reserves.  To build Pershing’s army needed time.  He demanded troops not be sent overseas until they had been trained in the basics of being a soldier.  This took time.

It was not until 1918 that American soldiers began showing up in France in significant numbers.  Initially, Americans were used on smaller scales in the fighting emergencies of the late Spring of 1918.  As an army-level unit, it was not until the late summer before the AEF was ready for its first campaign.

ST MIHIEL BULGE

The St Mihiel bulge existed since early in the war – 1914 – when a German offensive had tried to pinch off French fortifications at Verdun further to the north.  The offensive did not gain the Germans Verdun, but did create a large salient blocking direct communications between Nancy and Verdun.  To counter, the French launched several attacks – especially in 1915 – against the Germans with little gain besides longer casualty lists.

Pershing and his staff viewed the reduction of the bulge as a first step before a larger scale offensive aimed towards Metz, the heart of German Lorraine.  Such a capture would jeopardize German positions in northern France further to the west.

PRELUDE TO ST MIHIEL

Pershing drew his forces – 550,000 men with the AEF plus several French (110,000 men) divisions – together in anticipation of the St Mihiel reduction in early September. The Germans were aware of what was coming – the timing and duration of the preparatory artillery barrage had already been published in newspapers.  Lacking sufficient men to launch a spoiling attack of their own and in response to defeats they were suffering further to the west, the Germans decided to withdraw from the salient beginning 8 September to shorten their lines.  Defenses were already prepared at the base of the bulge.

THE ATTACK BEGINS

On 12 September, two American corps plunged against the south side of the bulge. Montsec, where the ABMC St Mihiel monument is located was one objective and Thiaucourt, where the ABMC cemetery lies was another. Another corps attacked from the northwest towards Hattonchatel.  The French 2nd Colonial Corps kept the Germans at the apex of the bulge tied down while the Americans pinched them off from behind.

The Germans only had eight divisions in the salient at the time of the attack. One the divisions was Austro-Hungarian recently re-deployed from the Italian front. They would see more action against the AEF in the coming days.  They had been in the process of withdrawing from the bulge beginning on the day before the attack.

Artillery, air superiority, a massive manpower advantage and an enemy already withdrawing from the ground led to the reduction of the salient after only two days of battle.  The battle ground on until 16 September. American units were then pulled out for the upcoming Meuse-Argonne offensive further to the northwest.  Even with the success of the AEF there were still some 8,600 American casualties with 4,500 dead from the five-day offensive. German casualties numbered 22,5000, though only 2,000 were killed – 10,500 became prisoners.

An interesting side story relates to a chance meeting between Douglas MacArthur and George Patton at the start of the offensive. Both men have different accounts of their encounter.

AFTERMATH

Americans who fell during the Spanish-American War of 1899 – 5,931 – were all brought back for burial in the United States following the end of the war at government expense.  Secretary of War Newton Baker promised the government would do the same with the war in Europe.  One problem was the high number of American dead for the short time within the scope of the war – 74,770 – and the sheer cost of such a project.

The War Department sent out a form to the next of kin asking them whether they wanted repatriation of their loved ones or burial in France.  Two camps of thought appeared – one to bring the boys home and the other to leave them be, where they fell to remind the World of what they had accomplished.  61% of the next of kin chose to bring their loved ones home to the US leaving 29,265 bodies to remain in Europe.

THOSE LEFT BEHIND

Great Britain allowed for no repatriation in contrast – almost no repatriation, anyway.  The British left their dead buried close to where they died.  The War Department took some of the British examples to heart, but decided to concentrate they burials remaining into one of eight large cemeteries. The cost and so many cemeteries – over 23,000 different sites – at such a great distance – US-Europe – was simply too much.  It was also better for visitors to find their loved ones.

By the end of 1920, five cemeteries were decided on, but three more – including St Mihiel ABMC Cemetery – were added in August 1921 when it was better known how many burials would take place.  Of the eight cemeteries – another added recently to the mix with the ABMC takeover of the cemetery for those of the Lafayette Escadrille – seven are on the actual battlefields where the AEF fought.

ST MIHIEL CEMETERY

The cemetery here at St Mihiel, located just outside the town of Thiaucourt, holds 4,153 dead – 117 unknown graves.  There are 46 Stars of David memorializing Jewish soldiers among the mostly Latin crosses.  Some of those headstones were damaged by German occupiers during World War Two.  Many who died during the St Mihiel battles are here, but the majority were brought in from other cemeteries when the many burial sites were concentrated.  There are as many, if not more, who died from the Spanish flu as from battle by looking at the entries on the Find-a-Grave site.

American authorities gave families an opportunity to place a short personal inscription on the back of headstones. This is similar to the British custom allowing families to include an inscription on the front of their headstones. The opportunity was taken up by very few families at any of the ABMC cemeteries. At St Mihiel, only two headstones have extra inscriptions.

Interestingly, there are two German military cemeteries  roughly a mile away from the American cemetery – one to the southeast, German Cemetery of Thiaucourt; and one to the southwest, German Cemetery of Bouillionville.  The cemetery of Thiaucourt holds the remains of 11,685 soldiers from not only WW1 but also the Franco-Prussian War of 1870-1871.  The Bouillionville cemetery holds 1,364 bodies from WW1. The German graves from the Great War are from earlier campaigns in the war.

JOHN HUNTER WICKERSHAM

At the St Mihiel ABMC Cemetery, one Medal of Honor winner lies buried – 2nd Lieutenant John Hunter Wickersham.  Wickersham grew up in Denver, Colorado, chosen for the first Officer’s Training Course – OTC. This was a program which supplied the bulk of the AEF’s junior officers during the war.  He led his platoon during the first day of the offensive. The blast of a German artillery shell wounded him in four places. He gave aid to his orderly also wounded by the same blast.  Wickersham continued to lead his men forward even though he had lost the use of his right arm by this time.  Eventually, he collapsed from loss of blood and died.  The Medal of Honor posthumously awarded in 1919.

NORA EMILIE ANDERSON

While many of the dead here came out of the battle, many also died of the Spanish flu.  I remember one nurse included among the fallen – Nora Emilie Anderson.  She was the last of five nurses to die from Base Hospital #68. The hospital established near Mars-sur-Allier was one of several American hospitals in the area.  Mars-sur-Allier is a small hamlet about 25 miles north of Vichy.  There is an American flag and an explanatory tablet at the parish church remembering the hospitals.

HOSPITALS OF THE AEF

Base Hospital #68 laterdesigned for 1000 patients, but quickly expanded to 3,500 with an emergency capacity of 4,000.  The hospital was only in operation from 2 August until 20 November 1918, caring for 7,021 patients in its time.

The hospitals had a capacity of 40,000 and room for another 5,000 convalescing men in over 700 buildings. 438 people lie in the hospital cemeteries – soldiers and hospital staff.

Nora, born of parents who emigrated from Norway, was from Rock Dell, Minnesota near Rochester.  She joined the Army Nurse Corps in 1918 and worked in BH #68.  As the war concluded, she contracted spinal meningitis. The diagnosis could just as easily been the Spanish flu since symptoms are very similar.  There is a very bittersweet story her meeting with an Army Lutheran pastor with her gravely sick in the hospital.  Buried initially in the cemetery of BH #68, Nora’s body later transferred to St Mihiel.

15 other nurses buried at St Mihiel besides Nora.  Most of the 15 died from the flu.  One, Sabra Hardy, died a week after arriving in France. She contracted the disease from soldiers on the boat over the Atlantic.

ESTHER AMUNDSON

Another nurse buried here at St Mihiel – there are fourteen nurses and one YMCA female worker interred here – is Esther Amundson.  Like Nora, served in one of the military hospitals around Mars-sur-Allier – Base Hospital #35.  Also, like Nora, Esther was of Norwegian descent from Minnesota – Montevideo about 60 miles west of Minneapolis.  She died in October 1918 of the Spanish flu at the age of 30.  Her fiancé had died at Ypres two years before, fighting with a Canadian regiment from Manitoba.  His remains are unknown, his name among thousands of others on Menin Gate.

SOLDIER’S MONUMENT

On the west side of the cemetery, a statue of a young doughboy stands with an inscription above reading, “Il dort, loin des siens, dans la douce terre de France” – “He sleeps, far from his own, in the sweet soil of France.”    The monument sits, the only privately donated piece of art in an ABMC cemetery.  Private art was one of the strict no-no’s of the ABMC.

The statue completed in 1928 by Paul Manship, a well-known American sculptor. Finished at the bequest of Harriet Blaine Beale. Her son Walker Blaine Beale rests here in the cemetery.  He died of his wounds 18 September 1918 serving as a lieutenant from Maine with the 78th Division.  The name of her son did not appear on the monument though the doughboy was his likeness.

ABMC AND THE GIFT

In keeping with their policy of declining personal gifts for the cemeteries, the commission rejected the donation.  General Pershing still headed the commission.  He did not, at the time realize who the gift was from – Mrs. Beale was the daughter of James G. Blaine, a secretary of state for Presidents Garfield and Arthur; a senator from Maine; the Republican nominee for President in 1884 and someone whom Pershing admired.  When Pershing was able to make the connection, the matter changed.  Allowing the gift – 1930 – was made on grounds of such an outstanding work harmonized well with the features of the cemetery. Plus such an offer might not come again.

Even so,  the realization of bending the rules made Pershing and others nervous.  Mrs. Beale was contacted in early 1935, “as it is very probable she has been talking.”  If the “talk” spread to any great extent, the Commission would be forced to remove it.

WALKER BLAINE BEALE

Walker Beale attended Harvard University in 1914.  Two years later, he attended the Plattsburgh Officer’s Training Course.  At the time of the St Mihiel offensive, he was acting commander of Company I, 310th Infantry Regiment of the 78th Division.  Blown apart with two other lieutenants by an artillery shell on 18 September, Beale lived until the evening dying in a nearby field hospital.

Not only was his grandfather James Blaine, but his paternal grandfather had been in charge of the survey for the original Transcontinental Railway.  His father had been ambassador to three different countries at the same time.

OTHER FEATURES OF THE CEMETERY

The eagle

There are four separate graves sections to the cemetery.  In the middle is the sculpture of an eagle acting as a sundial.  On the base of the eagle is an inscription from General Pershing, “Time will not dim the Glory of their Deeds”.

the peristyle

A peristyle – a porch surrounded by columns – is in the rear of the cemetery with a small chapel on one side and small museum on the other.  Within the museum is a map of the actions of the AEF during the battle – of the eight ABMC WW1 cemeteries only the cemetery at Oise-Aisne contains a battle map – you have to find such maps on nearby ABMC monuments unlike what you find at ABMC cemeteries from WW2. Above are bronze plaques with the names of 282 men missing in action from the events of St Mihiel. Six of the names marked with rosettes – the bodies later found and identified through the years.

In the center of the peristyle is a sculpture representing an ancient funerary vase. On the vase, a Pegasus carved represents the immortal soul’s voyage to the afterlife.

MONUMENT ATOP MONTSEC

One of the main reasons for the ABMC to control the story of the AEF. A quick flux of monuments were placed in different areas of France by various groups – especially individual units – right after the war. The ABMC wanted the story of the AEF to relate in a unitary whole and not disparate pieces.

Here in the St Mihiel Salient, are several of the individual divisional memorials – 1st Division and 2nd Division. In counterpoint, the ABMC erected a colonnaded memorial atop the lone butte of Montsec, about 12 miles west of St Mihiel ABMC Cemetery and 10 miles east of the town of St Mihiel. From atop, there is a great view out over the landscape of the former battlefields. Inscribed on the outside of the memorial, villages liberated in the offensive. Inside you find the units which took part. A large raise relief map of the battlefield placed in the center of the colonnades shows the fields of action.

The monument was damaged during WW2 when Germans set up a defensive point among the memorial. American artillery damage needed to be repair after the fact.

NEXT

This is the first of several visits to the WW1 ABMC cemeteries and monuments. I have visited most on more than one occasion and there is always something new to learn. One thing leads to another in the larger scheme. The veterans of the Great War are gone now. You have the sites to yourself many times. Quiet reigns. So many young men and women, so far from home.