American Battle Monuments Commission |
The American Battle Monuments Commission is a commission established to maintain foreign soil American cemeteries which contain the graves of American Soldiers who lost their lives in wars fought overseas. You can go the web site American Battle Monuments Commission and enter the name of a loved one who lost their life in WWI, WWII, the Korean War, and Vietnam to locate the actual cemetery. The Commission will furnish to family a framable color lithograph photo of the cemetery (aprox size 14 x 22) along with a photo insert of the individual grave of the soldier. Once you have established the plot, row and grave numbers and specific cemetery you can write to the Commission as follows: Thomas R. Sole Director of Engineering, Maintenance and Operations, The American Battle Monuments Commission, Courthouse Plaza II, Suite 500, 2300 Clarendon Boulevard, Arlington, Virginia 22201. Included in our mailing of our lithograph, we received a great booklet filled with historical information about WWI specific battles, memorials and cemeteries. In your letter to the Commission you must include the name and rank of the soldier, Date of death, plot, row and grave numbers (found on the web site) and the name of the cemetery. You can expect to receive your photos in about 8 weeks. The service is free! You can also request to have flowers put at the grave site. The cost as I recall is about 45.00. You would request this through the Commission address above. I believe that you can receive a photo of the grave site adorned with the flowers.
~contributed by Rachel Layman from information she obtained while researching the grave of her Great-uncle Hugh P. Kidder (see WWI Honor Roll)
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