hen190782 Posted 13 December , 2014 Share Posted 13 December , 2014 I am hoping that someone will be able to point me in the direction of an online resource similar to CWGC to identify the burial location of United States service personnel who died during the Great War. Thanks Nigel Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hen190782 Posted 13 December , 2014 Author Share Posted 13 December , 2014 Found the American Battle Monuments Commission website Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
4thGordons Posted 13 December , 2014 Share Posted 13 December , 2014 Be careful The AMBC website ONLY details graves under their care and, unlike the CWGC, this represents only a fraction of US war dead. Although precise figures vary, it appears well over half of US casualties' remains were repatriated. If they were buried in a private lot in the US, they may have a marker plaque but there are no comprehensive national records of which I am aware. Because of the Federal nature of the US system some states compiled and kept separate records (although vary in comprehensiveness and reliability) which can be useful. Chris Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kenmorrison Posted 13 December , 2014 Share Posted 13 December , 2014 Nigel - be aware that this is not a register of all casualties. As it says at https://www.abmc.gov/about-us/history Final disposition of World War I and World War II remains was carried out under the provisions of Public Law 389, 66th Congress and Public Law 368, 80th Congress, respectively. These laws entitled the next of kin to select permanent interment of a family member’s remains on foreign soil in an American military cemetery designed, constructed and maintained specifically to honor in perpetuity the dead of those wars, or to repatriate the remains to the United States for interment in a national or private cemetery. Chris - SNAP! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ph0ebus Posted 13 December , 2014 Share Posted 13 December , 2014 ABMC is good for overseas burials. The National Veterans Gravesite Locator (http://gravelocator.cem.va.gov/) is good if they are buried in National Cemetery in the US. Otherwise, if they were buried in the US in a regular cemetery you can try Find A Grave or in some cases, specific graveyard burial databases, which you would need to check one at a time. Do you have an obituary for the person in question? That might narrow your search considerably... Daniel Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hen190782 Posted 13 December , 2014 Author Share Posted 13 December , 2014 Hi Guys and thanks for the information and advice. I should have pointed out that all these people have a connection with County Antrim. I have located the burial locations for four of the five people (although I was disappointed that the ABMC records do not include service/army numbers). The outstanding person is a Roberta S Smith, United States Army Nursing Corps - any advice on how to locate her burial place would be appreciated. Any advice on how to identify service/army numbers for the other four: Private John Carson (315th Infantry Regiment, 79th Division), died on 05/11/1918 Private Bernard McGarry (315th Infantry Regiment, 79th Division), died on 29/09/1918 Private 1st Class Samuel McCrory (109th Machine Gun Battalion, 28th Division), died on 22/01/1919 Private 1st Class Thomas Smyth (361 Infantry Regiment, 91st Division), died on 09/10/1918 Thanks Nigel Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
4thGordons Posted 13 December , 2014 Share Posted 13 December , 2014 I just had a look at Lettie Gavin's book US "American Women in WWI" which has a pretty good listing of women who died in service (drawing on a number of sources) and I do not see Roberta S Smith listed as a USANC casualty (either killed, Died Oversea or Died at Home) do you have any additional details on her (which state she entered service from etc). I will now have a more careful look! Chris You might check with Jim Strawbridge who has a lot of research on US nurses. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hen190782 Posted 14 December , 2014 Author Share Posted 14 December , 2014 Chris This is all I have "SMITH, Roberta S., US Army Nursing Corps, formerly of Broughshane" from http://www.freewebs.com/snake43/virtualmemorialnw.htm Would you have contact details for Jim? Nigel Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jim Strawbridge Posted 14 December , 2014 Share Posted 14 December , 2014 Jim is here. I do not have a Roberta S. Smith either. I am confident that my list is virtually complete. There were three deaths to American serving women called Smith. They were Fay Carter Smith (student Army nurse), Ruby Smith (American Red Cross) and Ruth E. Smith (American Red Cross). Indeed, no US woman with the name of Roberta was a casualty. I can only suggest that the name was taken off a memorial roll rather than a Roll of Honour. That is, a Roll that commemorates all those that served from an area listing both those that lived and survived as well as those that died. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hen190782 Posted 14 December , 2014 Author Share Posted 14 December , 2014 Thanks Jim As she is recorded as a fatality on the Ballymena 1914-1918 website, I will need to contact Des Blackadder to identify his source, Does your list include people who had been discharged and subsequently died or just those who died in service? In my experience, at least for Presbyterian Churches in Belfast, Rolls of Honour were mainly used to record all who served. Nigel Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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