The Washington herald., 1921-04-07
DENIED BURIAL,
YANKS' BODIES
LIEIN ARGONNE
Former Army Surgeon
Reveals Condition to
War Department.
THOUGHT MEMBERS
OF SECOND DIVISION
u. S. Moves to Find Re-
mains and Give De-
layed Honors.

where they fell.their bones and
rusty. tarnished metal of their
equipment. CHASTITY testimonial
to their sacrifice.
These men, apparently members
of the Second Division. fell among
the routd Germans they and their
comrades killed, a few steps from
the massively barricaded dugout of
the former Crown Prince Rup-
precht, of Bavaria.
These unknown soldiers died not
long before the armistice on No
vembr IL, 1918; today, more than
two years afterward they are prob
ably listed as missing" in War
Department records.
Revealed by Surgeon.
These startling assertions were
made here yesterday by DR.. L, Yer
non Briggs. OF Boston, a noted eK-
pert on mental diseases and a form
er chairman of the old Massachu-
setts Board of Insanity, who served
as a lieutenant colonel with the
army medical forces in France.
DIR. Briggs, previously by cor
respondence and yesterday by a per-
sonal visit. has taken the matter up
with the cemeterial division of the
War Department, and with the It'd
Of maps and him diary pointed out
the approximate location of the re-
mains. The entire machinery of the
War Department will be used to
locate the bodies. see that they are
identfied. If possible! and at least
that they receive burial as United
states soldiers with all the honors
that can be given.
The armistice went into effect
on November II. 1915" said DIR.
Briggs, yesterday. In January.
1919, or about two months after
ward, another oficer and / hap
pened to pass through that part
of the. forest, which is heavily
wooded. and there I~e came across
the bodies of American soldiers ly-
ing with German dead.
search Unsuccessful.
Il reported the facts to the proper
authorities and it was fot until
long time after l learned that,
while search had been made, 10 was
unsuccessful and that it was not
believed any bodies were there.
Last year. in August, Mrs.
Briggs. my son and l were in
France and We went over much of
the ground travelled by our armies.
/ learned that the French, in their
work of reconstruction, were pay
ing their first attention to the fields
and little towns. which probably
explains why the French did not
find these bodies. Thoughts of them
constantly came to me. and one
day ! obtained a private automo-
bile and with Mrs. Briggs and a
French chauffeur set out from Paris
and with the aid of maps and nv
diary, nally located the spot.
Distinguished BY Equipment.
Except for the changes wrought
by time, everything there seemed
exactly as l remembered seeins
them in January. 9l9. There were
the remains of the American SOL
diers, distinguished from the Ger
man dead by what was left of their
accouterments. Since my last visit
however, trenches in which other
dead had evidently been buried hast
lily, had given way and more Bones
were above ground. Therewas the
dugout of the former crown prince
Of Bavaria, exactly as 1 had last
seen 1t, with q massive iron curtain
and an iron hammer, evidently used
for sounding a gas alarm.
IT counted the bodies of seven
American soldiers, all, evidently, of
the Second Division. There were
undoubtedly others near there. The
scene. was too CHASTITY for descrip-
ton. searched without success
for Identification tags. Determined
to have some evidence of what I
had3reported. I gathered up the re-
mains of one body. with the re-
msfnder of the uniform, and de-
spite the protests of the French
driver. did it up in bundle and
placed it on top of the automobile.
Barred from Hotel.
1--WE reached Paris late at night
and I was refused permission to
take the bundle into the hotel, but
finally, through a porter, had IL
placed in the cellar. The next day
I took 1t to the Paris, bureau of the
cemeterial commission and told nv
story.
"On returning to this country /
communicated the facts to the ceme-
terial division of the War Depart
ment. Later / was sent a battle
map and a communication to the
effect that search had been made
but in vain.s I discovered on ex-
amining the indicated parts of the
map that the search. through some
official error, had been conducted in
the vicinity of a dugout once occu,
pied by the former Crown Prince OF
Germany, miles from the dugout
used by Rupprecht. former Crown
Prince of Bavaria. In fact, the par
ticuIar part of the Argonne Forest
where these bodies are was not in.
dicated on this map.
with the aid OF maps and nv
aiary am confident it will not be
long before representatives in
France of the cemeterial commits
sion can find these remains And ac-
cord them at least the .honors long
due and Delayed thern.s IS