The Washington Post published this Memorial Day-appropriate story a couple of days ago, telling of the discovery some months ago in rural France of the remains of an unknown American soldier, buried in an unmarked grave in a village cemetery for more than a century.
Plans call for a military funeral on June 7 and reburial with honors in the Oise-Aisne American Cemetery some 70 miles northeast of Paris where more than 6,000 U.S. troops who died during World War I already are buried.
Lucas County is represented at Oise-Aisne by the remains of Pvt. Fred A. Culbertson, which arrived there by a somewhat complicated route.
Fred was born in Chariton during 1895 and was a football hero before graduation with the Chariton High School Class of 1914.
Drafted during 1918, he was assigned to the Veterinary Medicine Detachment of the 605th Engineers and set sail for France with his unit aboard the U.S.S. George Washington from Hoboken, New Jersey, on Sept. 30, 1918. A few days later he came down with influenza and on Oct. 9 died aboard ship of pneumonia, one of its complications.
Fred's remains were embalmed aboard ship and delivered to U.S. authorities upon arrival in France, then buried in a temporary grave. After World War II ended, the remains of U.S. troops who had died in France were gathered to be repatriated, if that was a family's wish, or reburied in newly established American cemeteries.
Fred's survivors --- a brother and a sister --- decided during 1922 on burial in France --- at Oise-Aisne. I've written an earlier post here about Fred, accessible by following this link.
Among Fred's distinguished neighbors at Oise-Aisne is Joyce Kilmer (1886-1918), writer and poet mainly remembered for a short poem entitled "Trees."
No comments:
Post a Comment