Dem
47
GOP
53
Today's contribution is from reader D.R. in Cincinnati, OH, and it continues a theme that has already shown up in this series:
I meant to write this for Memorial Day, but got delayed, so it will instead be for D-Day.
This past Memorial Day, I visited the cemetery where my relatives are laid, and spent a lot of time looking for one grave in particular, that of a relative who was a staff sergeant killed in France in late 1944. He was listed in government records as D.O.W., meaning "died of wounds." I was curious as to the difference between D.O.W. and Killed in Action. Apparently, the difference is that if you were wounded in action and made it to a hospital of some sort, and died after arrival, then you are D.O.W. instead of K.I.A.
Three years ago, I had visited the grave of an uncle who was also killed in France and is buried in the Luxembourg-American cemetery, near General George Patton. I was very likely the first person in my family to ever visit his grave. Coincidently, both of these young men were paratroopers.
A couple of years after World War II, The War Department established a program to bring World War II soldiers' remains home if their family requested it. The government supplied a coffin, a headstone, and transportation, with a $50 or $75 allowance for the burial. It was up to the family to purchase a grave and make all arrangements for a funeral. Even in 1947, that much money probably didn't go very far towards a proper funeral. So, while the first paratrooper's remains, initially interred in France, were later brought home to be re-buried near his home, the second paratrooper's remains were not.
I would expect that some graves for fallen soldiers who were brought home were donated by local cemeteries, or veterans' organizations or towns, but the expenses to bring many, if not most, home were probably too much for poor families to bear.
There are a little over two dozen American military cemeteries in foreign countries. Most are in Europe, with two in the Philippines and one in Panama.
For Memorial Day, Veterans Day, and other days of remembrance: "All gave some, some gave all."
Thanks, D.R. More next week, of course. (Z)