Graves
Sommerance Ridge Cemetery, Sommerance, France
History of the 328th Regiment of Infantry
During the war, American soldiers who died in service typically were buried as soon as possible, often in makeshift cemeteries near where they fell, such as this one (shown in the snows of the first post-war winter). After the war's end, the soldiers' remains usually were given proper burials in permanent cemeteries.
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How Many Times Should A Man Be Buried?
Americans felt two ways about where the war dead were buried. Some longed to be near the graves of their children or spouses, and thus wanted them to be buried in hometown cemeteries, close to their families. Many people, perhaps most (and certainly the Federal government), believed instead that it was more appropriate for those who died in France to remain there. But in actuality, the dead would not be allowed to lie where they were. The American Battlefield Monument Commission was building a number of American Cemeteries in France, to which the remains of the nation's war dead all would be moved for yet another burial. Despite this fact, the Commission argued publicly that to exhume a loved one's remains in order to send them home for reburial would be cruel.
A compromise was reached: families were given until 1923 to decide whether or not the remains of loved ones should be repatriated at government expense. For families that so wished, the remains were disinterred, disinfected, and placed in simple wooden coffins, which were enclosed by sturdy purpose-built shipping crates. The crates, draped with flags, were loaded into boxcars or canal boats, to the outside of which large American flags were affixed. The trains and convoys of boats were blessed by French priests, and then traveled to ports. The vessels onto which the remains were loaded all arrived in Hoboken. From there, the remains were sent across the country by rail, to the hometowns of the soldiers' waiting families.
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A Quiet Journey Home
In the spring of 1921, Walter Wheeler and Charles Wagner were disinterred, and together their coffins were sent back across the Atlantic. They arrived at the Hicksville railroad station several days before Memorial Day. As was customary, the coffins were taken to the homes of the soldiers' respective parents.
On the following Saturday, Cpl. Wheeler was buried at Plainlawn. The pallbearers were members of his old Fire Department unit, the Volunteer Engine and Hose Company. The next day, Pvt. Wagner was buried at St. Brigid's in Westbury. Each man was buried with full military honors, with the Charles A. Wagner American Legion Post attending and firing a salute.
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A Quiet Journey Abroad
The repatriation matter may have been settled by 1923, but the mourning did not go away. Thanks to the efforts of the Gold Star Mothers organization (see 1806/hixtory.htm) in 1929 the government polled mothers and widows about their interest in making "pilgrimages" to the graves in which their children and husbands were buried. From 1930 to 1933, many of these women were able to travel in escorted groups to France, at public expense.
Joseph Barry's remains are buried at Suresnes American Cemetery, less than four miles from the Eiffel Tower. Fifteen hundred other doughboys are buried in the same cemetery, including two other members of the 416th Motor Supply Train (one of whom, like Barry, died of meningitis).
Unlike Maria Wagner and Mary Wheeler, Ellen Barry could not take comfort in knowing that she and her son would someday be buried in the same family plot. But like them, Mrs. Barry had her chance - although only too briefly - to stand peacefully beside the grave of a first-born son while she prayed and pondered.
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