Special Memorial Day Edition: Remembrance across the Atlantic​

By Admiral James G. Foggo, U.S. Navy (Ret.)

For the Maritime Nation podcast, Admiral James Foggo interviews two members of the American Battle Monuments Commission, LTG (ret.) Mark Hertling and Master Chief (ret.) Raymond Kemp, to discuss how we can remember the service and sacrifice of those lost in battle and those who serve today. Below is a lightly-edited transcript of their conversation in the Maritime Nation episode “Veterans Day: Remembering Those We Lost,” where LTG Hertling and Master Chief Kemp share their first-hand accounts of how Europe honors U.S. servicemembers’ and civilians’ sacrifices during World War I and World War II.

ADM James Foggo: Today, I am delighted to have the Chairman of the American Battle Monuments Commission, LTG (ret.) Mark Hertling and Commissioner fleet Master Chief Raymond Kemp. As the Chairman and Commissioner, can you tell our listeners about the Commission: what it is and what it does?

LTG Hertling: We oversee a total of about 450 civilians who maintain the 26 cemeteries and 32 monuments in 17 countries and on 5 continents all over the world that really are in honor of our service men and women who have died on foreign soil. It is a true honor to be a part of the commission that oversees those individuals who manicure those places…The main purpose was to address the challenges of reinterning over 116,000 veterans and civilians who had died in World War I. Congress didn’t quite know how to address that. There were literally thousands of burials overseas during the great battles of World War I, and the U.S. had never faced the challenge of bringing that many soldiers back home from foreign lands. After a great debate in Congress, from 1921 to 1922, addressing the kind of monuments that should go up and how those grave sites should be maintained and how family members had choice to allow their loved ones to be buried in overseas sites are brought home to either veterans cemeteries in the U.S. to private cemeteries in family plots, about 40% of families decided to leave their soldiers in overseas resting places. That was the start of the American Battle Monument Commission. During World War II, those gravesites expanded even more. Today, as you said earlier, we have 26 sites and 32 major monuments that address campaigns and wars at different places around the world.  There are a few that are specifically geared towards the United States Navy. Having been to one, at Gibraltar, it is just a fabulous monument.

Figure 1. Naval Monument at Gibraltar. Photo from Agricultural Digest.

Master Chief Kemp: I had the chance to go back to Europe and visit Florence, Italy – just amazing grounds – and had the opportunity to talk to the grounds keepers and those who are visiting and to express our level of thanks maintaining such a high level of quality. When I was in Florence, there were family members, including a daughter and granddaughter who traveled from Washington state, see the resting site of a family member. Once I became part of the commission, there were funds set aside for families to go over and see their family members. What a great opportunity to have a moment of closure for some or celebration with family members, depending on your beliefs, and an opportunity to really see the countryside and what that particular host nation may offer.

Figure 2. The national anthem sung during the 2018 Memorial Day Ceremony at Florence American Cemetery in Italy. Photo from the American Battle Monuments Commission.

ADM Foggo: You reminded me of the famous battle of Belleau Wood. In the cemetery where you have been before, where U.S. Marines are buried. During that famous Battle of Belleau Wood in World War I, the Marines were labeled “devil dogs” by the Germans – can you tell us more about that battleground and cemetery and U.S. Marines’ final resting place?

Master Chief Kemp: I’d love to. I gotta give a shoutout to my brother-in-law who was a Merchant Marine who went to the New York Merchant Marine Academy. Our sites also recognize all of the Merchant Marines who lost so many ships and sailors during convoy operations and getting resupplied. But going to the battle of Belleau Wood. I got to go to a few cemeteries in France on Memorial Day, one where a lot of soldiers and Marines are resting there; a beautiful site in the French countryside, away from the big city. There is nothing but farmlands around, but it is an absolutely gorgeous location. Every year, it is either the Commandant of the Marine Corps or Deputy Commandant who go to that memorial on Memorial Day and pay a huge tribute to those who gave their lives there. After the cemetery visit was over, we went to the local village where there were hundreds of French people who really see that cemetery as their own. They care for it. It’s not just Americans and members of the commission who care for that cemetery. But you’ll find, in a lot of our cemeteries, it’s the local population that also come on and volunteer and adopt graves for generations. But I had a chance to talk to the commandant of the marine corps. The first time the Commandant visited that cemetery, he was as a young major. He was so impressed with not only the upkeep but the surrounding area that he wanted to take this contingent of marines on a staff ride of the battle of Belleau Wood where the Marines gained their now famous name of “devil dogs.” It was a tremendous event to be with so many Marines, to see the Commandant emphasize the heraldry of the Marine Corps at that one site.

ADM Foggo: Mark, jumping to World War II, with all the background you gave us. Mark, you told me a story about visiting the Netherlands American Cemetery and Memorial on Christmas Eve in 2011. Would you mind sharing that story and your trip to Normandy with a few US veterans with our listeners?

LTG Hertling: We had a formal program in US Army Europe – but I think all of our forces signed in Europe have opportunities – to do staff rides, and usually, those staff rides end at one of our cemeteries as a reminder of the heraldry and the traditions that are our military and that what we fight for today was fought for by others. One year, while I was commanding in Europe, I got a call from one of our Sergeant Majors in what we called the Benelux, held by one garrison. The garrison commander called and said, “Hey sir, I know your kids aren’t coming over for Christmas this year so it will just be you and the Mrs. Why don’t you come up and attend midnight mass at one of our caves up here.” “What are you talking about, sir?” I said. He said, “Sir, I gotta tell you, it’s really a once in a lifetime experience.” So Sue and I got in our car and we drove up on Christmas Eve morning. As we were checking in our hotel, Sue said “did you know there is a cemetery near here?” And I said, “yeah, I did, it’s the Netherlands American cemetery which has about 18,000 remains”. It was raining, a horrible European day. We drove to the site at about 3 PM on Christmas eve afternoon. When we walk into the cemetery, there were probably 400 people walking around the cemetery and cleaning graves. These were the locals. They took care of the graves. We went up to one, a couple with two twin boys who were cleaning one grave marker and another star of David grave marker. And we asked them what they were doing. They said “these are the graves we have adopted. They have been in our family for over 50 years. We’re passing them from generation to generation. We have our two children who are helping to clean the graves, too, because that’s what we all do from the local town.” What I found out later was that later, every single one of the thousands of graves, had been adopted by a local from the relatively small town. And there was a waiting list for those graves to be adopted. It was simply amazing.

Figure 3. The Netherlands American Cemetery hosting its annual Dodenherdenking Ceremony in 2015. Photo from the American Battle Monuments Commission.

That night, we went to mass in the cave. Inside that cave was a big room where, in 1944, soldiers from Bradley’s army had held a Christmas Eve midnight mass before they went to the front to fight in the Battle of the Bulge. And on the wall of that cave was signatures of over 300 soldiers who had spent midnight mass in that cave. And of the 300 soldiers, almost 290 of them had died in the Battle of the Bulge. The priest saying the mass that night had been an altar boy in 1944 and told us of the unbelievable emotions: on one side of the cave, there was the joyful celebration of liberation by the Dutch citizens and on the other side of the cave, there was the anxiety of the American soldiers going back to the front to fight against the German army. It was just an unbelievable memory from my time at US Army Europe.

Listen to the full episode of Maritime Nation here to hear more.

The Center for Maritime Strategy dedicates this post to the memory of fallen U.S. service members.