The Americen Cemetary of Romagne sous Montfacon - Meuse-Argonne-Sector

[JensF.]

Hi gentlemen,

I just returned from another trip to Verdun and I also visited parts of the Argonnen-Forest including the huge American Cemetary of Romagne sous Montfacon. 14246 US soldiers who died in WWI in this sector are buried here. The most of them died in the offensive in fall 1918 just before the end of the war. Here are some pictures made today in the morning:

[JensF.]

Another view of a small part of it:

[JensF.]

This guy died one day before the end of the war...

[JensF.]

If I see things like this, I ask myself about the sense of the sentence "They died for their country".

[JensF.]

The hall of the large building at the cemetary. It is open each day for 24 h and can be visited whenever you want.

[JensF.]

Here one of the two colored windows of the chapel. It shows the crests of all divisions who fought in this area.

[JensF.]

The left window. It also shows the crest of the 33. Inf Div. (third row from above, #1). The "Lost Bataillon" was part of it.

Edited January 16, 2006 by JensF.

[JensF.]

Build in 1930.

[Guest Rick Research]

Whoever came up with the design or the alignment of those crosses was a genius-- and could have taught Albert Speer a thing or too about stagecraft.

I wish now I had a scanner when I had a US WW1 fatality group (sold it) some years back--

among the things was a photo (sent home to the grieving mother!) of her son's then temporary grave-- a section of tree trunk with his dogtag nailed to it-- and rows on rows of tree sections with dog tags nailed on them, awash in rainy mud... with members of Graves Registration moving around in the near background!

Too many, so many.

But that's what these "parks" looked like in 1918-19 before they were all neatened up.

[JBFloyd]

Jens,

Thanks for the images. The American Battle Monuments Commission does an outstanding job in maintaining these cemeteries.

While not the usual tourist sites, these are well worth visits by folks who do not have a background in military history. The enormity of the losses in the World Wars are rarely better illustrated to the ill-informed than standing at the entrance to one of these cemeteries and contemplating the numbers of men and women represented, and the contributions they could have made to the world had they not died at such any early age.

It's also interesting to compare the cemeteries of the various nations. I find them all moving and impressive, but in very different ways.

[JensF.]

Yes, and I fear the most of them haven't been older than 20 years. They were children and thought it could be a nice adventure but they ended up here, far away from home.

[Daniel Murphy]

Jens,

Thank you for posting this, it reminded me of when I visited in 1991. I have always been impressed with the care taken of the American cemetaries in Europe. I will never forget the imposing view from the ruined abbey and the bunkers in the area made from the stones of the abbey. Do you have a photo of the painting in the ceiling of the chapel, that you could post? My photos are put away somewhere.

Dan Murphy

[Bob Hunter]

They were just kids Jens, and so it seems in all wars.

[JensF.]

Sorry, I don't have a pic of the ceiling, but I will make one the next time. I am quite often in this area...

Jens,

Thank you for posting this, it reminded me of when I visited in 1991. I have always been impressed with the care taken of the American cemetaries in Europe. I will never forget the imposing view from the ruined abbey and the bunkers in the area made from the stones of the abbey. Do you have a photo of the painting in the ceiling of the chapel, that you could post? My photos are put away somewhere.

Dan Murphy

[joe campbell]

jens-

much appreciated.

i've seen the cemetery at colville

with a similar feeling.

God bless them.

joe