American Battle Monuments Commission
_seal.jpg) | |
| Agency overview | |
|---|---|
| Formed | 1923 |
| Headquarters |
2300 Clarendon Blvd., Suite 500 Arlington, Virginia 22201 Coordinates: 38°53′25″N 77°05′12″W / 38.89028°N 77.08667°W |
| Employees | 395 (2014) |
| Annual budget | $63.2 million USD (2014)[1] |
| Agency executive |
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| Website |
abmc |
The American Battle Monuments Commission (ABMC) is a small independent agency of the United States government that administers, operates, and maintains permanent U.S. military cemeteries, memorials and monuments both inside and outside the United States.[2]
As of 2015, there are 25 sites under the care of the ABMC. There are 124,905 U.S. servicemen and servicewomen interred at these sites, and more than 94,000 missing in action, or lost or buried at sea, whose names are individually carved into monuments. The ABMC also maintains an online database of names associated with each site.[3]
History
The ABMC was established by the United States Congress in 1923. Its purpose is to:[2]
- Commemorate the services of the U.S. armed forces where they have served since April 6, 1917;
- Establish suitable War memorials; designing, constructing, operating, and maintaining permanent U.S. military burial grounds in foreign countries;
- Control the design and construction of U.S. military monuments and markers in foreign countries by other U.S. citizens and organizations, both public and private;
- Encourage the maintenance of such monuments and markers by their sponsors.
The United States Department of War established eight European burial grounds for World War I. The ABMC's first program was landscaping and erecting non-sectarian chapels at each of the eight sites, constructing 11 separate monuments and two tablets at other sites in Europe, and constructing the Allied Expeditionary Forces World War I Memorial in Washington, D.C.[3] For those buried who could not be identified during World War I, a percentage were commemorated by Star of David markers, rather than a cross; this practice was not continued for those who could not be identified during World War II.[4]
In 1934, President Franklin D. Roosevelt signed an executive order transferring control of the eight cemeteries to the ABMC, and made the commission responsible for the design, construction, maintenance and operation of all future permanent American military burial grounds outside the United States.
The ABMC has been the caretaker of cemeteries, monuments and memorials for World War I, World War II, the Korean War, the Vietnam War and the Mexican–American War. In 2013, Clark Veterans Cemetery in the Philippines became the 25th site under the control of the commission. Clark Veterans Cemetery dates back to the Philippine–American War at the turn of the 20th century.[5]
Structure
The agency has its headquarters in Arlington, Virginia, and its Overseas Operations Office in Garches, France.
The authorizing legislation for the American Battle Monuments Commission (36 U.S.C., Chapter 21) specifies that the President will appoint the chairman, up to 10 members to the commission (who serve indefinite terms and who serve without pay)[1] and an officer of the Army to serve as the secretary.[6]
Chairmen of the ABMC
- General of the Armies John J. Pershing (1923–1948)
- General of the Army George C. Marshall (1949–1959)
- General Jacob L. Devers (1960–1969)
- General Mark W. Clark (1969–1984)
- General Andrew Goodpaster (1985–1990)
- General Paul X. Kelley, (1991–1994, 2001–2005)
- General Frederick F. Woerner, Jr. (1994–2001)
- General Frederick M. Franks, Jr. (2005–2009)
- General Merrill McPeak (2010–present)
Board of Commissioners
- Cindy Campbell
- Barbaralee Diamonstein-Spielvogel
- Darrell Dorgan
- Larry R. Ellis
- John L. Estrada
- Rolland E. Kidder
- Richard L. Klass
- Thomas R. Lamont
- Constance Morella
Secretary
Operations
The American Battle Monuments Commission employed a full-time staff of 395 people around the world in 2014. All ABMC sites are open from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m., seven days a week, with the exception of Christmas Day and New Year's Day. Cemeteries are not closed for national holidays. When the sites are open to the public, a commission staff member is available to escort visitors and relatives to grave and memorial sites or to answer questions.
Cemeteries and Memorials of the ABMC
Monuments of the ABMC
| Monument | Location | Country | Dedication | Battle | Web |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Spanish–American War | |||||
| Santiago Surrender Tree | Santiago de Cuba |  Cuba |
Site of the negotiation of the Spanish Gen. José Toral's surrender of Santiago de Cuba on July 13, 1898 | Siege of Santiago |
Details |
| World War I | |||||
| Audenarde American Monument | Oudenaarde | .svg.png){kind=small} Belgium |
37th and 91st Divisions | October–November 1918 | Details |
| Belleau Wood American Monument | Belleau |  France |
5th and 6th Marine Regiments | Battle of Belleau Wood | Details |
| Bellicourt American Monument | St. Quentin | France |
27th and 30th Divisions | Battle of St. Quentin Canal | Details |
| Cantigny American Monument | Montdidier | France |
28th Regiment of the First Army | Battle of Cantigny | Details |
| Château-Thierry American Monument | Château-Thierry | France |
U.S. and French soldiers | Aisne-Marne Offensive and Oise-Aisne Offensive | Details |
| Chaumont AEF Headquarters Marker | Chaumont | France |
American Expeditionary Forces led by General Pershing | Headquarters of the AEF, September 1, 1917 to July 11, 1919 | Details |
| Kemmel American Monument | Ypres | Belgium |
27th and 30th Divisions of the II Corps | Ypres-Lys Offensive August 18 to September 4, 1918 |
Details |
| Montfaucon American Monument | Verdun | France |
First Army and Second Army | Meuse-Argonne Offensive September 26, 1918 to November 11, 1918 |
Details |
| Montsec American Monument | St. Mihiel | France |
First Army Second Army |
September 12–16, 1918 November 9–11 |
Details |
| Naval Monument at Brest | Brest | France |
the naval forces of the United States and France during World War I | Headquarters of the United States and French navies | Details |
| Naval Monument at Gibraltar | Straits of Gibraltar |  Gibraltar |
U.S. Navy and British Royal Navy for major victories | August 1917–November 11, 1918 | Details |
| Sommepy American Monument | Sainte-Menehould | France |
70,000 troops who drove the German army back north of the Aisne River: 42nd Division 369th, 371st, and 372nd Infantry Regiments 2nd and 36th Divisions 36th Division |
July 15–18, 1918 September 26-October8 September 29-October 28 October 11–October 27 |
Details |
| Souilly American Headquarters Marker | Souilly | France |
Marking the headquarters of the First Army during the last few months of the war | Meuse-Argonne Offensive | Details |
| Tours American Monument | Tours | France |
24,000 civilians of the Services of Supply and 645,000 soldiers of the American Expeditionary Forces | *Constructed almost 1,000 miles of railway tracks;
|
Details |
| World War II | |||||
| Cabanatuan American Memorial | Cabanatuan City |  Philippines |
U.S. and Filipino victims of the Bataan Death March and Cabanatuan internment camps | Details | |
| East Coast Memorial for the Missing | New York City |  United States |
4,611 U.S. sailors and service members lost in the Atlantic Ocean during the war | Battle of the Atlantic | Details |
| Guadalcanal American Memorial | Guadalcanal |  Solomon Islands |
U.S. soldiers and allies who died in the Battle of Guadalcanal | Guadalcanal Campaign | Details |
| Honolulu Memorial | Honolulu, Hawaii | United States |
Dedicated to the 18,096 U.S. World War II soldiers missing from the Pacific (excluding those from the southwest Pacific) and 8,200 missing from the Korean War | Details | |
| Pointe du Hoc American Monument | Saint-Laurent-sur-Mer | France |
Second Ranger Battalion members who on June 6, 1944, scaled the 100 ft (30 m) cliff of Pointe du Hoc and seized German artillery that could have fired on the U.S. troops landing at Omaha and Utah beaches. | D-Day | Details |
| Papua American Marker | Papua |  Papua New Guinea |
U.S. soldiers who fought in Southwest Pacific theatre | South West Pacific theatre of World War II | Details |
| Saipan American Memorial | Saipan |  Northern Mariana Islands |
U.S. marines and soldiers (24,000) and Chamorro who died during the liberation of the Mariana Islands during World War II | Mariana and Palau Islands campaign | Details |
| Utah Beach American Monument | Ste-Marie-du-Mont | France |
VII Corps members who liberated the Cotentin Peninsula | Battle of Cherbourg | Details |
| West Coast Memorial to the Missing | San Francisco | United States |
417 U.S. sailors and service members lost in the Pacific Ocean theater | Pacific Ocean theater of World War II | Details |
| Western Naval Task Force Marker | Casablanca |  Morocco |
U.S. Western Task Force soldiers who made the first transoceanic amphibious operation | Operation Torch | Details |
| Korean War | |||||
| United Nations Memorial Cemetery | Busan |  South Korea |
U.S. service members who fought in the Korean War | Korean War | Details |
See also
- American War Memorials Overseas
- Register of Culturally Significant Property
- National Register of Historic Places
Other national war graves commissions
- Austria – Austrian Black Cross (Austrian War graves on the Vienna Central cemetery are still looked after by German War Graves Commission.[7])
- France – Ministère de la Défense[8]
- Germany – German War Graves Commission
- Netherlands – Oorlogsgravenstichting[9] (Netherlands Wikipedia)
- Russia – Association of War Memorials
- United Kingdom, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, India and South Africa – Commonwealth War Graves Commission
References
- 1 2 "ABMC Annual Report" (PDF). American Battle Monuments Commission. Retrieved March 1, 2015.
- 1 2 "About". American Battle Monuments Commission. Retrieved 2011-11-21.
- 1 2 "History". American Battle Monuments Commission. Retrieved March 2, 2015.
- ↑ Richard Rubin (21 May 2013). The Last of the Doughboys: The Forgotten Generation and Their Forgotten World War. Houghton Mifflin Harcourt. p. 227. ISBN 0-547-84369-0.
- ↑ "ABMC to Assume Control of Clark Veterans Cemetery". American Battle Monuments Commission. December 16, 2013. Retrieved 2 March 2015.
- ↑ "ABMC Commissioners". American Battle Monuments Commission. Retrieved 1 March 2015.
- ↑ Österreich betreut Kriegsgräberstätten. In: Stimme & Weg, 2/2011, p. 24.
- ↑ Ministère de la Défense, SGA Sépultures de guerre (File of French soldiers killed in action)
- ↑ Website of the Oorlogsgravenstichting in Netherlands
- Nishiura, Elizabeth, editor (1989). American Battle Monuments: A Guide to Military Cemeteries and Monuments Maintained by the American Battle Monuments Commission. Detroit, Michigan: Omnigraphics Inc. ISBN 978-1558888128. OCLC 20504222
- Hallowed Grounds (2009). PBS video of 11 America's overseas military cemeteries in eight different countries.
Bibliography
- American Battle Monuments Commission (1938). American armies and battlefields in Europe: a history, guide, and reference book. U.S.G.P.O.Selected photos available online through the Washington State Library's Classics in Washington History collection
- American Battle Monuments Commission (1938). American armies and battlefields in Europe: a history, guide, and reference book. U.S.G.P.O. Maps available online through the Washington State Office of the Secretary of State's Washington History collection
- Sledge, Michael (2005). Soldier Dead: How We Recover, Identify, Bury, and Honor Our Military Fallen. Columbia University Press. ISBN 0-231-13514-9. OCLC 81452881.
External links
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