The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1920-07-16

/ more Cndn Lne ldcC CIldL Cle AHeli-
can government is now removing
the bodies. After all they have done
to beautify the grounds, he says the
French consider it unkind, and
!. some expressed the view to him that
had the story been reversed, and
French soldiers fell in battle on A
merican soil by thousands France
: would have considered it sacred
honor to let her sons rest in the
land where they made the supreme
sacrifice.
The Unknown Dead
Col. Carpenter, in speaking with a
reporter for The Herald last night,
said that a writer for a Chicago
paper had stated there were $4,000
graves in France with remains of
American soldiers marked Gun
known" but that personally he be-
lieves there are more than that
number. There is no way of posi-
lively indentifying the remains and
a body shipped to family may be
the son or brother of some other |
family. When the battles subsided |
those who cleared the fields wrap !
ped the bodies Mn blankets and buri-
ed them three and four in a hole.
Later when these bodies were re-
moved to the cemeteries, though |
they were taken up with extreme
care the Identification tags often
became mixed. The remains of three
or four soldiers would be taken up,
skull and trunk first, then the
limbs. The bones of each would be
laid side by side, and then the iden-
tification tags would be laid with
them, but to what set of bones did !
John Smiths belong? Col. Carpen-
ter says those in charge of the work |.
did the best they could, but it was a
task in which there could not help
but be many errors made.
A Waste of Money
Col. Carpenter says at one hotel
at which he stopped there were
three of these superintendents of
exhumation, each receiving a
salary of about 5000 francs per
month. "The sa0,OOo,oOO appro-
priation," he declared, ''in going up
in wine, song and women" Col.
carpenter said that he could not
help but loathe these "grave dig
gers" and said that he told them
face to face that as an American
citizen he was ashamed of them. He
says if the mothers and fathers in
America could but know how tend
erly the graves of their sons are
kept they would rise up in their
righteous indignation in remains of
heroes which is being carried on be-
cause of the money the undertakers
and casket makers and a hoard of
others are making out of it. Col.
Carpenter says that the facts have
been misrepresented to the parents,
that they have been led to believe
the graves of their sons on foreign
soil have been englected when there
never was a more malicious lie cir
culated beneath the sun.
Visit to Soissons
Il will never forget my visit to
Scissors cemetery" said COL. Car
penter. "At the entrance of the
beautiful grounds there hung the
largest American flag I have ever
seen. 1 was met by the officer in
charge; he was an American from
Mississippi. 1t did my heart good to
see how we'll the graves of our SOL
uiSlS dlS hSpI. 1AS Sldoo was Sut
closely till it looked like green
carpet. The graves were kept ex-
- ceedingly clean. Thousands of graves
were there, with the crosses bearing
the name and the unit to which the
soldier belonged. / asked the
Mississippian how many graves in
Scissors cemetery were marked un-
unknown, and he replied between
seven and eight hundred"
"For these graves to be dis
turbed is an outrageous thing. If
the parents could see them they
would not stand for it moment