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.
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.
