The Lubbock avalanche. (Lubbock, Tex.) 1909-1922, 1919-10-02

VQf 0VeISGdS DEAD


the Graves Registration Service boy planting
hedges and ornamental shruhbery and laying
out flower beds All the cemeteries IN the bat
Gle areas are on the lawn plan-mounds over
the graves being eliminated 20 improve the APP
pcarance Flowers have been planted between
the graves, In line with the crosses which also
help In the scenic beauty of the places All
may ultimately be surrounded by a wall or
hedge and monuments erected in appropriate
spots, but this character of ornamentation de
ponds upon the action of Congress, which has
not decided whether the remains of the soldiers
will be returned to America, 10 be buried in
the family plots, or remain in the national Gene
teries in France.
AS TO FINAL RESTING PLACE.
In this connection Colonel Pierce has received
considerable correspondence from relatives of
the dead soldiers expressing deesre that the
bodies of their boys remain in France-the
Roosevelt family setting the precedent In this
line Protests have been received from rela-
tives even against the removal of remains to
concentration batte-area cemeteries, as com
PEELED by French laws declaring that they pre-
ferred that their boys be allowed to remain
wherever they fell and were first inferred
In the locating of battle-area cemeteries the
Graves Registration Service has attempted TO
preserve the historic connection as much as pos
or as near as possible to the actual battlefields.
Under the laws of France no ground can be
taken for cemetery unless the authorities APP
prove but during hostilites division COM
manders were empowered to requlsiton ground
for the burial of the dead and leave the settle
ment with the civil authorities in the hands OF
the G.. K. s. In many cases the sites tlrst Sc
ected have not proved suitable. The French
laws prohibit the laying out of a cemetery
within 100 metres of a dwelling, and TINS TACT,
too has necessitated concentration
Eventually every family having son or
brother buried i'm France will be furnished with
n photograph of their soldier boys last resting
place by an arrangement being worked out be-
tween the Red Cross and the G.. K. s. Photos
of individual graves are now being made TO
send to relatives.
The policy of concentration of the American
dead has not been carried out in the districts
behind the fighting lines because of the uncer-
tainty of the action of Congress in the disposal
of the bodies of the soldiers Concentration
was carried out on the battefelds because OF
so many isolated graves. In the Chateau
Thierry area, which has number OF cemeteries
containing from 900 to 200 dead, one Gene
terry had 200 isolated dead brought together.
The soldiers engaged in laying out this GENE
terry took great interest in beautifylng It as II
il belonged to them, surrounded it with a fence
the district and in many ways showed their
interest in constructing the cemetery as
monument TO their dead comrades.
Soldiers who died of disease or of wounds IN
hospitals are for the most part buried in the
civil cemeteries of French towns near which
they died. This policy has been practiced by
the French Government in the burylng OF It's
soldier dead There are number of these little
cemeteries or clusters of American graves inter-
mingled in the French civil cemeteries in the
district comprising the American S. 0. S. (Serv-
ice of Supplies), running from the Bay OF Bis
cay across France TO the Argonne.
All the soldiers who died in the operations in
Italy have been concentrated at Genoa, consld-
cred one of the most beautiful cities IN the
world plot has been set aside in the civil
cemetery there for the Americans There are
only 70 graves in this cemetery, constituting
the deaths in the A. L. f. that occurred in Italy.
The largest cemetery in England for A. L. f.
members who died there is located at Everton,
near Liverpool. There are several others IN
various parts of the United Kingdom, but only