Wednesday, November 02, 2005
HOW NOT TO FORGET
It being another November 2, I thought it appropriate to include this. It is a relatively longish excerpt, but I think it's worth reading. It's from John S. D. Eisenhower's "Yanks" -- his excellent book on a war so far away in time and space that today few of us really think much about it any longer:
Today, all over Europe, and in various locations in the Pacific and elsewhere, there are nearly 125,000 American dead in graveyards administered by the American Battle Monuments Commission. Most of the dead are from World War I and World War II. And there are many memorials also. (On wars of the 19th century, there is even a cemetery in Mexico, and a monument in Cuba.)
Many of the hundreds of thousands of visitors to those far-flung locations each year are of course Americans. However, many are also locals, as well as others who are simply curious. When visiting any, it is impossible not to come away realizing the significance of what had happened to them; they lie there forever, as hundreds of thousands of ever-present reminders of the mayhem that had occurred, and what had been required to end tyranny.
To the present. By now, we've all heard about this. Reuters:
But today, every American soldier killed is usually returned to the U.S. Indeed, that makes perfect sense, given that unlike the case 60 or 90 years ago, we are fortunately not seeing hundreds of thousands of American killed, and can therefore easily repatriate the dead. Certainly, quickly removing American remains for permanent burial in quiet corners of the U.S. is what we presume now to be most appropriate.
Yet given precedents one can't help but wonder also. It is still not quite the right time, for the campaigns continue. But has anyone bothered to think that after victory, it might be an idea to ask the democratic Iraqi and Afghan governments what they might think of, if not permanent cemeteries for U.S. and coalition killed, at least some memorials to the slain?
For the likes of this should not be allowed to be forgotten -- if both are to become better places than before:
It being another November 2, I thought it appropriate to include this. It is a relatively longish excerpt, but I think it's worth reading. It's from John S. D. Eisenhower's "Yanks" -- his excellent book on a war so far away in time and space that today few of us really think much about it any longer:
...Inevitably, since this was the first combat the Americans had participated in, certain milestones were passed: at 6.05 A.M., October 23, 1917, the first shot from an American manned gun was fired from Battery C, 6th Field Artillery. On the same day the first American infantrymen were wounded and treated in an American field hospital at Einville. Two days later the first American officer was wounded, and on October 27 a battalion from the 18th Infantry captured the first prisoners taken by American troops. All this was routine activity in a quiet sector.
The calm was shattered on the night of November 2-3, as each 1st Battalion was in the process of being relieved by the 2d Battalion. The early part of the relief went well, encountering only the normal confusion that accompanies such activities, but at about 3:00 A.M. the doughboys were hit with a "blinding flash and a crash and a roar that seemed to upset and to blot out the very earth itself. It was a major incoming artillery barrage, laid down to protect a German raid being conducted into American lines.
After the initial blast of the front line, the barrage concentrated on a single platoon of the 16th Infantry, making it impossible for that platoon to withdraw and equally impossible for the battalion commander to reinforce it. A German patrol crept forward with Bangalore torpedoes, long, snakelike devices filled with high explosive to clear out barbed wire, and blew gaps in the protective wire. They rushed the isolated platoon with grenades, pistols, trench knives, and bayonets. Within a few minutes the firing ceased and the Germans made off with eleven American prisoners, one of them a sergeant. Behind lay the bodies of Corporal James B Gresham, Private Thomas F. Enright, and Private Merle D. Hay. One of the men had had his throat cut. They were the first Americans killed in combat in an American unit in the First World War...
...The next day the three Americans were buried in the small town of Bathelemont, just behind the lines where they had fallen. General Bordeaux himself conducted the service with some solemn remarks:
The calm was shattered on the night of November 2-3, as each 1st Battalion was in the process of being relieved by the 2d Battalion. The early part of the relief went well, encountering only the normal confusion that accompanies such activities, but at about 3:00 A.M. the doughboys were hit with a "blinding flash and a crash and a roar that seemed to upset and to blot out the very earth itself. It was a major incoming artillery barrage, laid down to protect a German raid being conducted into American lines.
After the initial blast of the front line, the barrage concentrated on a single platoon of the 16th Infantry, making it impossible for that platoon to withdraw and equally impossible for the battalion commander to reinforce it. A German patrol crept forward with Bangalore torpedoes, long, snakelike devices filled with high explosive to clear out barbed wire, and blew gaps in the protective wire. They rushed the isolated platoon with grenades, pistols, trench knives, and bayonets. Within a few minutes the firing ceased and the Germans made off with eleven American prisoners, one of them a sergeant. Behind lay the bodies of Corporal James B Gresham, Private Thomas F. Enright, and Private Merle D. Hay. One of the men had had his throat cut. They were the first Americans killed in combat in an American unit in the First World War...
...The next day the three Americans were buried in the small town of Bathelemont, just behind the lines where they had fallen. General Bordeaux himself conducted the service with some solemn remarks:
The death of this humble Corporal and these Privates appeals to us with unwonted grandeur. We will, therefore, ask that the mortal remains of these young men be left with us forever. We will inscribe on their tombs, "here lie the first soldiers of the United States to fall on the fields of France for justice and liberty." The passerby will stop and uncover his head. The travelers of France, of the Allied countries, of America, and the men of heart, who will come to visit our battlefields of Lorraine, will go out of their way to come here to bring these graves the tribute of their respect and gratitude. Corporal Gresham, Private Enright, and Private Hay, in the name of France I thank you. God receive your souls.
Today, all over Europe, and in various locations in the Pacific and elsewhere, there are nearly 125,000 American dead in graveyards administered by the American Battle Monuments Commission. Most of the dead are from World War I and World War II. And there are many memorials also. (On wars of the 19th century, there is even a cemetery in Mexico, and a monument in Cuba.)
Many of the hundreds of thousands of visitors to those far-flung locations each year are of course Americans. However, many are also locals, as well as others who are simply curious. When visiting any, it is impossible not to come away realizing the significance of what had happened to them; they lie there forever, as hundreds of thousands of ever-present reminders of the mayhem that had occurred, and what had been required to end tyranny.
To the present. By now, we've all heard about this. Reuters:
...The U.S. military death toll reached 2,000 last week, and more than 15,000 troops have been wounded since the March 2003 start of the war...
But today, every American soldier killed is usually returned to the U.S. Indeed, that makes perfect sense, given that unlike the case 60 or 90 years ago, we are fortunately not seeing hundreds of thousands of American killed, and can therefore easily repatriate the dead. Certainly, quickly removing American remains for permanent burial in quiet corners of the U.S. is what we presume now to be most appropriate.
Yet given precedents one can't help but wonder also. It is still not quite the right time, for the campaigns continue. But has anyone bothered to think that after victory, it might be an idea to ask the democratic Iraqi and Afghan governments what they might think of, if not permanent cemeteries for U.S. and coalition killed, at least some memorials to the slain?
For the likes of this should not be allowed to be forgotten -- if both are to become better places than before:
...Wood -- a regular Army officer assigned to command the 1st Battalion, 184th Infantry Regiment, a National Guard outfit from California -- was directing his men on a road that had been a bombing site moments earlier.
He was giving orders when his luck ran out. A secondary explosion killed him, blowing him backward into one of the canals.
At the time of his death, he did not know that he was about to be promoted -- from lieutenant colonel to colonel.
Wood was the highest-ranking U.S. officer to die in combat in Iraq.
¶ by Robert, Wednesday, November 02, 2005He was giving orders when his luck ran out. A secondary explosion killed him, blowing him backward into one of the canals.
At the time of his death, he did not know that he was about to be promoted -- from lieutenant colonel to colonel.
Wood was the highest-ranking U.S. officer to die in combat in Iraq.
