New-York tribune., 1917-07-28
Friends and Foe Are Buried
Side by Side on Battle6elds
Dropping Figure of the Madonna Looks Down on French
Britons and Huns Resting in Well Kept Graves in the
Ancre-Will Be Easily Found After the War

q pal who went West in the first of the
great pushes, that on the Somme last
year.
Tommies and Huns Side by Side
Take another graveyard, freshly
made, by the side of rail head. Here
are all kinds and conditions Of men,
but between the graves Of our gallant
empire Tommies are the graves of two
Germans. They are being carefully
looked after, and, if they had wives
and children, these will one day learn
where they are resting.
On slope, near Aveluy wood, there
/ is just little square piece of ground
cut out of the field. An artillery major,
a company sergeant major and fifteen
men of other ranks are here. And it
/ is so on through and through the
/ fronts of all the Allies. Sometimes
, there has been a handsome cross, made
! in the regimental workshops, some
/ times it is roughly fashioned one.
/ But the sentiment is all the same. The
! dead can be located after the war; and
/ who knows ?-it may be some relief
/ to those who have been left behind to
see where the husband, the brother, or
/ the son was revcrently committed to
? Mother Earth by his comrades and his
/ padre.
Graves, too, have been discovered
/ almost by chance by those who have
/ learned a chum or relative has stopped
| it." near where they have been fight
/ ing or working themselves. Take as
| an instance the discovery of his sons
/ grave by an officer friend of mine. A
/ little rough cross and affixed to 1t the
i tab of London tailor were all that
the father had to guide him. It was
enough. / knew him well. | once
/ played a game of straight poker
/ with him for q pump that belonged 70
. no one, but which we both wanted.
/ beat him, and / took tho pump. He
was sport-and man.
Tracing where a chum has been
I buried, though, is not always an easy
task during an advance. The burial
may have been q hurried one, made
under she'll fire, and the place can only
/ be located by a reference TO a map.
/ There was one particular instance of
I this that may be worth telling.
/ An officer learned that a friend Of
/ his had been killed and buried, and he
Z wished 20 send the location Of the ex-
act spot home to the parents Of the
| dead man. The death Of the officer
was recorded but not the exact place
OF the grave A careful search, made
when other duties would allow, led 20
nothing. A letter home 10 a mutual
| friend, however. secured the informa-
/ tion that the dead man had been buried
( by two brother officers in the corner
/ of an orchard near -.
Spot Located by Map
! Happily, that was sufficient. The
spot was located by means of the map,
a cross was made behind the lines a
small coil of wire and four short posts
carried up, and. after three attempts
4 (the first two failed, owing TO the
shclling being too heavy, the corner
/ of the orchard was made secure from
/ intrusion by any wandering cattle, .he
! fence erected. and the new cross fixed
/ in place of the old.
There was also something in connec-
| tion with this, too, that | might men,
ton. The officer who was making the
attempt 10 get 10 tho grave had told
/ his batman (servant) that he was
starting at certain hour in the very
early morning, and that he would like
n mug OF hot tea before he got away.
4 The tea was ready-and so was the
/ batman. "llullo." said the officer.
where do you think you're roing?"
well" was the batman's reply, you're
not going up by yourself, sir. Who's
goihg TO look after you II you get
hit"
And the pair went up and did tse
Job together.