Historically Speaking
Our Honored Dead, Overseas
Am. Battle Monuments Comm.
May 2012 ■ ARMY
85
Am. Battle Monuments Comm.
M
civilians and dependents who died in
emorial Day will find many of us at
By BG John S. Brown
Panama.
cemeteries and monuments, honorU.S. Army retired
As grand as the late 19th-century leap
ing fellow Americans who died for their
country. In an earlier article we spoke about the evolution overseas was, it was dwarfed by the demands of World
of Memorial Day and of our robust network of national War I. Russia was destroyed, and Great Britain and France
cemeteries, most of which are now administered by the De- were on the brink of destruction. Almost 5 million Ameripartment of Veterans Affairs. Across the entire United cans mobilized, of whom more than 2 million served overStates, they attract millions of visitors a year and provide fi- seas. Almost 117,000 died, of whom 30,921 are buried overnal resting places within a few hours’ drive of almost any- seas in American cemeteries and 4,452 are honored on
one who resides in our country. Our commitment to honor Tablets of the Missing. Their sacrifice turned the tide. Gratefallen soldiers, sailors, airmen and marines does not stop at ful allies ceded us land for burial of our dead, and in 1923 a
the water’s edge, however. There have been more than 140 grateful Congress established the American Battle Monumillion man-years of military service since World War II, ments Commission to commemorate the service, achievements and sacrifices of American armed forces.
perhaps a third overseas.
The first order of business for the commission was an unDuring the 18th and much of the 19th centuries, all but
a few of the Americans who died for our country or precedented effort to build cemeteries and monuments worits Colonial predecessor did so within the boundaries of thy of those who had served. The first chairman, GEN John
what is now the United States. Our first truly distant, ma- J. Pershing, vowed, “Time will not dim the glory of their
jor military expedition—too distant to adequately recover deeds.” To that purpose he inspired cemeteries now famous
bodies with the technology of the
time—was to Mexico City in 1847. In
1851, Congress arranged to have the
remains of 750 American soldiers
from numerous burial sites on different battlefields brought together in
what has become the Mexico City National Cemetery. Here, about a mile
from our Embassy, a beautifully landscaped garden surrounds their monument. Over the years, about 800 of
their countrymen, mostly diplomatic
and military personnel and their families, have joined them.
Following the paroxysm of the
American Civil War and a generation
committed to opening the American
Above, 5,301
West, American servicemen again deAmerican veterans
and others who
ployed overseas in large numbers. Excontributed to the
peditions took them to Hawaii and the
construction, operPhilippines. The Santiago Surrender
ation and security
Tree in Cuba honors the sacrifices of
of the Panama
Americans and Cubans alike in achievCanal are buried at
ing Cuba’s independence from Spain.
the Corozal cemeAn alliance with Panama brought with
tery, north of
Panama City. Left,
it the mammoth task of building, and
more than 1,500
then maintaining, the Panama Canal
Americans are
through an isthmus then teeming with
buried in this
tropical diseases. The Corozal Americemetery outside
can Cemetery and Memorial honors alMexico City.
most 5,500 American servicemembers,
Am. Battle Monuments Comm.
U.S. Marine Corps
U.S. Army/SGT Fay Conroy
Clockwise from top, the cemetery in the Paris suburb of Suresnes contains the graves of 1,541 Americans
who died in World War I and 24 unknown American war dead from World War II. The Aisne-Marne Memorial commemorates 1,060 unidentified or missing Americans killed in France in a 1918 battle. French and
U.S. flags honor more than 1,400 soldiers at the Meuse-Argonne American Cemetery on Memorial Day.
for their beauty, landscaping and mixtures of elegant headstones with appropriate architecture. Their locations track
the war itself: Brookwood, Suresnes, Flanders Field, Somme,
Aisne-Marne, Oise-Aisne, St. Mihiel and Meuse-Argonne.
Fourteen independent monuments complement the cemeteries. The results are breathtaking. Interwar visits by Gold
Star mothers sponsored by the U.S. government provided
one grateful testimonial after another acknowledging the
tasteful homage paid to their fallen loved ones. At MeuseArgonne American Cemetery, for example, they could view
more than 14,000 headstones in flawless array watched over
by a magnificent chapel amid reflecting pools and luxuriant
but carefully groomed vegetation. Nearby, from the MontBG John S. Brown, USA Ret., was chief of military history at
the U.S. Army Center of Military History from December
1998 to October 2005. He commanded the 2nd Battalion, 66th
Armor, in Iraq and Kuwait during the Gulf War and returned
to Kuwait as commander of the 2nd Brigade, 1st Cavalry Division, in 1995. He has a doctorate in history from Indiana
University. His book, Kevlar Legions: A History of Army
Transformation 1989–2005, was published in 2011.
86
ARMY ■ May 2012
faucon Monument, they could scan across the vastness of
the largest battle Americans had ever fought. The message
was clear: their sons and daughters would not be forgotten.
W
orld War II required even greater sacrifices. More
than 16 million Americans served in uniform, of
whom more than 405,000 died. Of the dead, 93,238 are
buried in American Battle Monuments Commission cemeteries overseas and 55,862 are honored on Tablets of the
Missing. The scope is worldwide: two World War II cemeteries in Belgium, one in England, six in France, two in Italy,
one in Luxembourg, one in the Netherlands, one in the
Philippines and one in Tunisia. Perhaps the most famous is
Normandy American Cemetery, perched on the bluffs above
Omaha Beach and more than once visited by our Presidents
on the June 6 anniversary. The World War II cemeteries are
complemented by 11 independent monuments.
By far the largest cemetery is Manila American Cemetery.
Here 17,201 are interred, including 570 Philippine scouts.
An astonishing 36,285 appear on Manila’s Tablets of the
Missing, testimony to the perils of combat across the vast expanse of the Pacific.
Am. Battle Monuments Comm.
Am. Battle Monuments Comm.
Above, overlooking Omaha Beach, the Normandy American
Cemetery and Memorial contains the graves of 9,387 U.S.
servicemembers, most of whom died on D-Day, June 6, 1944.
Left, the names of 18,096 American servicemembers missing
from the Pacific during World War II; 8,200 from Korea; and
2,504 from Vietnam are inscribed in courts flanking grand
stairs leading to the Honolulu Memorial in Hawaii.
S
ince World War II we have returned our dead to the
United States rather than burying them overseas. Although new cemetery responsibilities have largely migrated to the National Cemeteries and the Department of
Veterans Affairs, the American Battle Monuments Commission still has the mission of commemorating the service, achievements and sacrifice of American armed forces
where they have served overseas. Its Honolulu Memorial,
for example, has pavilions adding 8,200 from the Korean
War and 2,504 from the Vietnam War to the Tablets of the
Missing. More monuments are planned.
Memorial Day will be honored overseas as it is at home.
Those attending events overseas will include locals, allies
we fought alongside, peoples we defended or liberated,
and their descendants. Former enemies who are now our
friends and their descendants may well be there, too.
Many will be children. In places like Normandy and
Manila, it can sometimes seem that the local schoolchildren know even more about the sacrifices of our servicemembers than our own schoolchildren do. They routinely
visit our cemeteries and monuments, a family or a classroom at a time. This is all to the good. Whether in the
United States or overseas, we can find splendid venues to
help us achieve Pershing’s lofty goal.
✭
Recommended Reading:
Frost, Helen, Memorial Day (Minneapolis, Minn.: Pebble Books, 2000)
Hartzog, William W., American Military Heritage: U.S.
Army (Washington, D.C.: Center of Military History,
2001)
Stewart, Richard W., American Military History, Volume
1: The United States Army and the Forging of a Nation,
1775–1917 (Washington, D.C.: Center of Military History, 2005)
American Battle Monuments Commission Web site
(www.abmc.gov)
May 2012 ■ ARMY
87