Evening journal., 1919-07-19
AMERICAN BODIES
TOREMAININFRANCE
y. S. Dead Won't be Moved
at Present, Says Graves
Bureau Chief
FRENCH PLANNING
NEW LEGISLATION

NEW YORK. July io-That the bod
les Of American heroes buried In Franc,
will not be exhumed 10 be transported
home for some time TO come was the
loplnion expressed this afternoon by Col.
onel Charles c. Pierce, chief OF the
graves reg siratiOn service OF the Amer
lean eXpeditionary forces, upon his ar
rival here on the transport kaiserin
Auguste Victoria The colonel has or
ders To proceed at once TO Washington
tn confer with officials on this matter,
but he hopes 30 have a short stay at his
hone. Eighteenth street and Girard
avenue, Philadelphia, before returning
TO France.
"The present indications are" the
c0lcna said. that the bodies Of Amerl-
can soldiers buried In France VIII not
/ be removed for transportation home at
| the present time. Before ! left my Of
| nce "a. TO Irs, prior 10 my departure
for the conference in Washington, the
French officials made this fact very
plain 10 me. In fact, there Is a bill
pending now in the Chamber Of Depu-
ties which, believe, will be acted upon
shortly, TO prohibit the removal OF the
bodies Of any Of the Allied troops in
terred there
"Of course. the French do not desire
to hold the bodies but It must be kept
in mind that there are more than 4,5O0,-
900 dead In the field, and if every ma
tion. including the enemy, were 10 begin
gigantic upheaval which OF course
would be necessary, the French in |
habitants would be greatly inconveni- !
A. D. L. l.fI
posed, which would prevent the bodies |
from being eNhumed for a period Of |
three years beginning January last. In |
addition from the verbal message given |
me by the French in which they stated
they would not countenance the ship
ment or entry Of bodies. IL appears that
any definite opinion must be held In
abeyanoe until the matter is discussed
by The army authorities in Washing
ION. The action, however, was not
laken without consulting the Allies, for !
he decision was reached after CORE
'pondence through the regular diplo-
matt cchannels."
Colonel Pierce has been awarded the
Service Medal by this
government and the Legion Of Honor by
he French
Already the concentration Of Ameri-
AN graves has almost been completed.
he colonel said His men have been
lctiye since the signing Of the armis-
lice in locating the bodies Of Amer
cans in isolated points along the lines,
and the work has been fairly success
full This, OF course, Is only the COM
pletion Of the salvage operations, and
now the organization is entering upon
a new phase invilying the fixing up Of
the graves and determining their def |
mite location for record here.
I'm this respect there Is stlll CON |
siderable work TO be done" he said /
There are still some bodies that have |
not been discovered and a few bodies |
are unidentified The names that are |
received by my men from the chaplains |
" officers who were at the front when
the men were killed and noted the bur
al point must be compared and rec
)nciled with the records I'm Washing
on.
But we trace every available clue \
o that when we are compelled TO say
hat it Is impossible 10 find grave We J
an candidly state that no stone was G
'ft unturned in the search At pres I
mt there are i've cemeteries In France !
ne in Belgium where the American
cad are concentrated. Three thousand v
'Ooden crosses at Thlacourt mark the I
'catlons Of as many heroes that feu ;
J the st. Mihiel offensive. The largest u
smetery, where there are from 25Ool o
, 10000 buried, is at Romagne. which
Dot now commemorates the historic V
tack Of the American army In the Ar :
Dnne.
The third Is at Beaumont where the n
oys who sacrificed their lives in from, h
Sedan lay and then there are two n
ther burial grounds. one at Chateau ii
hierry and the other at Belleau q
ioodsH r.