Every evening, Wilmington daily commercial., 1920-10-12

relatives have peltod the same office with
not ore but dozors Of kilograms inquiripg
as to the Homecoming of their dead.
As to the bodies returned and buried,
at the Arlington National Cemetery
the figures speak for themselves. One
thousand of the eight thousand bodies
: returned have been sent to Arlington.
No figures are available as to the number
of relatives who have attended the ccre-
monies il cidcnt to their re-lnterment. 1T
is true, however, that the larger part OF
the thousand have beSr laid to rest with
| out the prcscrcc of relatives or friends.
Coming 10 the matter of the recep-
ton given the dead by the general pub
lie, it is difficult to dismiss ore. way
or the other with sweep of the hand.
There have been Instances numerous,
too. where all busir css has been suspended
in small towns and villages to do honor
to the dead of the A. +. +.
There have been Instances, alas, too,
and many legion posts know 1T, where
only a handful of ex-scrvico and over
seas folks have shown the least concern
as to the manner in which A. r. f. dead
were welcomed home.
IF | had know of the hesrtless in
difference of those who were his friends
and neIghbors," writes one sorroWing
mother. 'I would never in the world
have asked that my son 5 body be brought
home.
"They would have them brought
home. let them bury them, was the un-
feeling remark | myself overhead on
the street one day in the nations capl-
tai when some kindly person was re-
bn eli of tho 1ffHp6ancp at
an ex-soldier burial.
Once home and safely in their graves
even then the troubles of the A. +. +.
dead cease not Relatives Of men buried
in Arlington have made a discovery.
Officers and enlisted men are rs rlg1dly
separated in death as even the most IN
tense martinez could wish. Plots for
officers only stand out all through the
great national cemetery of the greatest
democracy on earth.
The graves, too. are marked with
scrupulOus conformity tn rank. There
Is uniform marker for all enlisted
men. while markers OF different sizes,
increasing in dimension as the rank in
creaSeS. stand over the graves Of officers
There is not hing new about this. 10
has always existed rs one of the curious
and paradoxical customs of demo-
cratic government. There Is intense
indignation about it just the same, and
gold-star mothers are preparing a Wig
orous protest to the War Department
on the subject Those who want 10
see officers and enlisted men buried
and their graves marked without dis
tinction to rank point out that the War
Memorials Council has already recon-
mcnded that in all overseas field OF honor
"headstones and markers be vigorously
uniform and erected by the government,
and that in the making Of permanent plots
there be no segregation into distinctive
/ locations on the basis of rank. II tins
is to be done overseas, why should II not
he done here, they ask.
MANY months will intervene before
the last of the more than forty thou
sand dead vet to be brought back from
the A. T.. +. are at peace IN their new
made American graves. Ii VIII take
at least ten months at the rate
the work is now proceeding. and II Is not
considered desirable 10 speed It up. OPP
erations looking To the return Of the dead
have practically been completed IN Great
Britain. are wellsbegun around the French
base ports. commenced in the zone OF the
armies on September Is, and Will start IN
Belgium thls,month,
Attention should ts CAtit1 tN tiit
fact that so far practically all bodies re-
turned have been taken from sections
Of the 4 + F other than the battlefield
area When the Graves Registration Ser
vice entered the old battle zones and be
gan the exhurnatlon Of bodies on Septem-
Der Is. il became easily apparent that,
difficult as It's task had hitherto been, Il
had now more than doubled. This Is due
in Dart 10 the distance the bodies must be
conveyed to ports and in part 10 the m
finite pains that must be taken IN the
matter of exact identification.
somehow | can never write OF the
dead of the A. T. F and the return
Of the fftv thousand bodies to tins coun-
try without thought Of the twenty-five
thousand who are To sleep forever close
to the frontiers Of freedom on the other
side. At a recent meeting Of the War
Memorials Council in Washington, deif
mite decision was made To retain tour Gem
eteries in France as permanent heids OF
honor for these dead-Romagne, Suresnes
Belleau Wooa and Bony; TO concentrate
in these four cemeteries the dead that
are to remain In France as quickly as
possible: to preserve the straight align
ment of graves: TO make no distinction
of location in the graves of officers and
men reburied; to have a uniform marker
for all graves regardless OF person or rank,
and to allow memorials to be erected IN
the cemeteries commemorative only OF
engagements and organizations, not OF
individuals.
When one thinks of the A. f. F. dead,
after all. one thinks of them as a whole
of rows and rows of weathered white
crosses Oh some hillside that Gods sun
and rain and flowers seem TO love, and lit
tie does it matter by what name the
country goes Wherever they shall be