Over 36,000 names cover the Walls of the Missing at Manila ABMC Cemetery. The men unaccounted for during World War 2 all over the southwestern Pacific. Most serving on ships sunk at sea or planes never coming home. There are plenty of others, bodies never found in the jungles of the Solomons, New Guinea, the Philippines, Burma or other locations.
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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.
Continue readingThe 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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