The Meuse-Argonne American Cemetery, forgotten by the American public, yet...
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- čas přidán 14. 07. 2017
- Have WWI and the Meuse-Argonne American Cemetery and Memorial in northeast France been forgotten by the American public? Superintendent David W. Bedford speaks about the significance of this site in Romagne-sous-Montfaucon. A France Revisited Film by Gary Lee Kraut (c) 2017. All rights reserved. www.francerevisited.com. Filmed with permission from the American Battle Monuments Commission (ABMC).
I visited this cemetery on November 11th 2018, so many dead in what is now a beautiful place.
I have been here 3 times to visit my Grandmother's brother. His brother stepped over his body to continue the assault. He was buried in a makeshift grave outside Cheppy France.
I just read Andrew Carroll's book "My Fellow Soldiers." There is a very touching description of how one American doughboy (Lt. David Arthur Thompson) went in search of his brother's makeshift burial site (then later buried at this cemetery) and then wrote home to his parents. Especially touching was how a young French girl began looking after the grave. May we not forget the men and women, soldiers and civilivans, whose lives were impacted or extinguished during that Great (Terrible) War.
My grandfather's brother was killed near the end of the war and buried at the Meuse-Argonne American Cemetery.
I’ll never forget
In no way forgotten by at least some Americans. Near Bladensburg, MD, in the USA, there is a giant cross commemorating the Americans they lost in Europe who never returned. It is a local landmark to this day for their families. It was all they had and we never forgot that, or where their loved ones were buried. It is, in fact, about to undergo restoration.
I have volunteered as a ranger/docent not just at this cemetery, but also at some of the other parts of this historic park, including the trenches, foxholes, and related locations. One of my great-great uncles(One of my great-grandfather's brothers) is among the many casualties laid to rest there. Some visitors actually ask me how this and similar sites were treated during the WWII German Occupation, and it turns out that the Wehrmacht actually went to great lengths to not only respect them, but also take care of and maintain them
I'm not sure of what's being taught to the school kids today. I vaguely remember going over WWII in school in the '70s. I would think it would be easier to teach about the wars now, with the internet and all of the videos, like this one, available to watch. I was in Europe in the '80s for 4 years, and never knew about this cemetery, or I would have loved to visit it. One of the tours available took us to see where the Battle of the Bulge was fought, and I guess WWI just seemed too far distant, even then, to offer to take people on tours of where battles were fought then. I suppose that my answer to the question above is that probably most of the American people don't know that this cemetery even exists...unless they see videos about it. In the town I recently moved to, one of the native residents died 100 years ago in WWI, and is buried at this cemetery; that is how I came to know about it.
Thanks for your comment. Even the United States World War One Centennial Commission, tasked with making Americans aware of the significant of this period in our history, has done a poor job of it.
I wouldn't blame the WWICC too much --- they didn't have much of a budget until 2018 itself and were also tasked with building a memorial in Washington. Blame the government for not giving them money to fulfill their purpose.
History is important
Drive through any small village in France and there is a statue with the names of dozens of their neighbors who died in the Great War.
Drive through any UK or Belgium village and you will see the same
September and October 1918 were deadly for American Doughboys. 800 killed on average every day. It’s questionable whether Americans would have continued to support the war in the spring of 1919 if the Germans could have held out through winter.
Lest we forget. Thank you.
Forgotten implies that they knew about it to begin with. Americans today barely know anything that happened more than 50 years ago. If they are taught older history, it seems to be very cursory and filled with an agenda and little or no respect involved.
Depends on where you go to school.