Location: United Kingdom

Burials: 3,811

Missing in Action: 5,127

It took 3 train, 1 tube, and 1 bus ride to get to the Cambridge cemetery. They’ve built a nice visitor center there. An absolutely huge number of MIAs.

While I was walking about, for some strange reason, a P51 flew by the neighborhood. Video of the black dot in the sky below.

Location: United Kingdom

Burials: 468

Missing in Action: 564

Took a combination of a bus and train to get to Brookwood from London. WW 1 graves. Next door are allied graves from WW 1 & WW 2, including some German war dead — looks like German pilots killed during the Battle of Britain.

Location: France

Burials: 51

Missing in Action: 5

WW 1 Americans who volunteered to fly for the French before the USA entered the war.

No burial sites. Instead the guys are entombed in an underground crypt.

Under the arch — Washington & Lafayette:

Location: France

Burials: 1,559

Missing in Action: 974

Quite a few “odd” burials — civilians, members of the YMCA, Red Cross nurses, etc. The vast vast majority are WW 1 burials. There are a few dozen WW 2 burials.

Prime real estate, a hill overlooking Paris.

Location: Italy

Burials: 4,392

Missing in Action: 1,409

This is an “unknown” grave. Notice the square cuts in the soil in front of the stone? The US Military is attempting to ID the “unknown” by DNA analysis. So, they exhume the bones and take samples. They are going to be at this for decades. (They aren’t doing WW I unknowns, evidently the DNA is too degraded.)

Huge number of MIAs:

Location: France

Burials: 851

Missing in Action: 294

So, that’s how ya make pointy trees:

The MIAs:

The 27th and 30th Divisions came to the vicinity after fighting Belgium earlier in September 1918. The St. Quentin Canal Tunnel passes beneath Bellicourt and Bony. It was part of the Germans’ formidable Hindenburg Line, which was broken by the American troops in a brilliant offensive in September 1918. The Bellicourt Monument lies above the tunnel.

The 30th and 27th Divisions went into the line in adjoining zones of action on September 24 and 25 respectively, under tactical control of the Australian Corps. After actions in succeeding days, they participated in the main Allied offensive beginning on September 29.

Both the 27th and 30th Division engaged in heavy fighting with many casualties. Australian troops passed through the American divisions and continued the offensive. The 27th and 30th divisions were relieved from the vicinities of Bellicourt and the area west of Bony on September 30, 1918. American casualties from fighting in this region are interred at the Somme American Cemetery near Bony, a mile to the northwest.”

Location: France

Burials: 1,844

Missing in Action: 333

WW 1 helmets at the base of the flagpole:

With the exception of Flanders, the grounds at all the cemeteries are kept in an exceptional manner. (I suspect Flanders is battling some bad soil.):

The doors to the memorial are 2″ thick bronze, they are very very heavy: