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Flanders Field American Cemetery and Memorial



The cemetery contains 411 graves of American soldiers killed in World War I

Lt. Colonel John McCrae M.D. wrote "In Flanders Fields" after the 2nd Battle of Ypres during which the Germans used chlorine gas on the Canadian line April 22, 1915

In Flanders fields the poppies blow
Between the crosses, row on row,
That mark our place; and in the sky
The larks, still bravely singing, fly
Scarce heard amid the guns below.

We are the Dead. Short days ago
We lived, felt dawn, saw sunset glow,
Loved and were loved, and now we lie
In Flanders fields.

Take up our quarrel with the foe:
To you from failing hands we throw
The torch; be yours to hold it high.
If ye break faith with us who die
We shall not sleep, though poppies grow
In Flanders fields.

http://www.greatwar.co.uk/places/ypres-salient-monuments.htm
In the Ypres Salient battlefields there were approximately 90,000 British and Commonwealth soldiers fallen whose remains could not be identified for burial in a grave marked with their name.

Henri Chapelle American Cemetery, Belgium contains the graves of 7,992 members of the American military who died in World War II.



American Battle Monuments Commission
http://www.abmc.gov/cemeteries-memorials#.VVf6JY3bL5o

It's hard to believe that all the WWI vets are gone. The last one passed not too long ago in Australia. I can remember talking to many when I was young, even though they were usually in their late seventies or eighties.

Ken61,
Very sadly, we are also losing WW2 Vets at a staggering rate, some of which are very dear to many of us.
Mike

Yes, truly.

All the one's in my family are gone, they were my Grandfathers and Great-Uncles. I do miss them. There's no Korea or Vietnam Vets in my family. I'm a Vet of the First Gulf War, one of my First Cousins is a multiple-tour Vet of Afghanistan.

Ken

The last WWI vet I knew lived a few houses down from me. He bore the effects of a gas attack for the rest of his life which ended over 20 years ago.

My wife�s paternal grandfather was an artillery officer in WWI serving in France. He befriended a woman in France who played a big role in a post WWII experience. Wright�s brother's son was shot down over France in a P-47 Thunderbolt. His body wasn�t recovered after the plane went down in German occupied territory near a small village. Wright wrote the woman after WWII ended and asked her to go to the village and obtain whatever information she could about Phillip�s ("Sonny") crash. She found a young man who told the story of removing Phillip�s body from the parachute and townspeople burying him in a grave under a false name so that the Germans couldn't recover his body. The young man recovered the personal belongings, dog tags, and watch. He gave them to the woman who sent them back to Georgia and Phillip�s parents. Based on this information, the body was exhumed and reburied at a National Cemetery in France. Afterwards, his parents supported the young Frenchman through college in France. An irony was that a member of Graves Registration involved in the re-burial was from the same small town in Georgia that Phillips had lived. Less than 10 years ago, the French town dedicated the town square in memory of Phillips and relatives from the US attended. There was a parade of WWII re-creators dressed in WWII US Army uniforms and drove old vehicles from that era. Both French military and USAF participated in the event.
http://www.leatherneck.com/forums/archive/index.php/t-24181.html

Gil

GLS,
That is a very moving story.
Mike

The �young man� who recovered Sonny�s body and the flag is where he recalled finding him. Sonny�s sister.

The dedication of the plaque. His last name is misspelled. The military added the extra �t� to Abbot. The town is Tresson and the flag bearers are mayors from surrounding villages.

Great story Gil. Glad you took the time to share it.

Great story.

In French, "Abbot" would be pronounced "Ab-bo". If the typical english pronunciation was used by the French, it would require the second "t" for sounding similar. At least that's my theory, I did speak French somewhat many years ago.

When Sonny enlisted a clerk-typist for the USAF screwed-up the spelling, added the extra "t" and it followed him the rest of his career. Similarly, once the military decides what your first name is despite one's preference and what it was pre-military, that's your official first name. That's what happened to my grandfather USN in WWI and WII; my nephew USAF, Afghanistan.