WW1 War Graves in USA

[Terry Denham]

The following two pictures illustrate the headstones of Commonwealth WW1 casualties buried in Arlington National Cemetery, Virginia, USA.

They are obviously of a local style and design with the second one being similar to the standard US Veterans style of headstone.

I thought that these 'different' war graves may be of interest to members.

The photos are posted with the kind permission of Gary Nelson and the British War Memorial Project http://www.britishwargraves.org.uk/ .

[Terry Denham]

And the second picture....

[andigger]

Both of these are standard issue head stones in Arlington. The first was probably contemporary to the Great War, but no later than WWII. The second is what is used today.

Andy

PS... Terry, I have since looked these men up on the site you referenced. Initially it was out of curiosity why two Brits would have been buried in Arlington. Not that that is unusual, but I was curious why the family would not have requested a burial closer to home. At any rate both of these men died a day apart in Oct 1918, one is identified as a private and the other a military attache at the Embassy. This makes the two different headstones a bit more unusal.

Presumably they died from the same cause... car accident? One dying the day of and the other the next day to injuries possibly????

Do you know any more? I also noticed the web site does not have pictures of their graves.

Andy

[andigger]

I know we've lost the images from this thread, but I thought I would add this link I've just found regarding the British nationals buried in Arlington. I think its odd that there is no cause of death for those who died during the Great War other than "On War Service".

http://www.stephen-stratford.co.uk/arlington.htm

[PhilB]

I find it very surprising that men who died in air crashes in Greece and Burma (inc Orde Wingate) are buried in Arlington. Any idea of the reason? Phil B

[andigger]

It appears it was all politics, "As the crash prevented establishing which remains were which person, the policy of the time were for the remains to be buried in the nation from which the majority of the victims originated. In this case, the country was the USA."

[PhilB]

But didn`t USA and Britain bury all casualties in the country where they died?

[andigger]

It doesn't indicate why they were moved from Imphal British War Cemetery 6 years after the crash. Maybe it had something to do with the politics in Burma at the time.

-If anyone has an interest in these graves, I can get a picture.

Andy

[Terry Denham]

The policy of CWGC in relation to mixed nationality unidentifiable casualties where some are non-Commonwealth is to bury them according to the custom and regulation of the majority nationality.

In the case of this air crash, the US men outnumbered the Brits amongst the unidentifiable and so US custom prevailed. The bodies were returned to the USA for burial as was the right of US next-of-kin - and so the British bodies had to go with them. It had nothing do do with where they died - which was a British colony at the time.

[PhilB]

So the next of kin could request the return of the body of any US serviceman killed anywhere abroad? Phil B

[Terry Denham]

As I understand it - yes.

However, I am not a US expert. Pehaps one of our American friends could elaborate on the US practice.