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American Military Cemetery Romagne-Sous Montfaucon
This 130.5 acre site is the final resting place of some 14,246 American soles lost to the Great War, most of which met their end during the Meuse-Argonne Offencive in the final year of the war. This magnificent and moving cemetery is located in to the east of the village of Romagne-sous-Montfaucon in France, 26 miles northwest of Verdun.
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The Pershings Doughboys, along with our good friends from the "Big red one commemorative
unit France", provided the historical detachment at the official ABMC ceremony at the
Romagne cemetery, Meuse Argonne France.
The ceremony itself, was staged 80 years to the day, of the opening of the Meuse Argonne
offensive. On the weekend of the 25/26th September 1998, members of the Pershings Doughboys
made the long journey to the Meuse Argonne France. The weekend, was exactly 80 years to the
day that the US army launched the largest offensive ever mounted by the US forces
(at that time) to re- capture territory around the Meuse Argonne region.
At Calais we met members the First division commemorative unit,
(Big Red One Frg) and travelled in convoy, to the Verdun region. The mayor of Fleville
had kindly provided accommodation in the town hall which was most welcome after our long
journey. | Over the weekend the Doughboys, numbering 15 in all, with our French comrades, would participate in theatrical historical performances for the public at the Montfaucon monument complete with two period WW1 trucks, and the band of the US 1st Division. More importantly, we provided the historical detachment at the official ABMC 80th Anniversary commemoration at the Meuse Argonne Cemetery. The Meuse Argonne is the largest American WW1 cemetery in Europe, with over 14 thousand Doughboys buried there. The Pershing Doughboys wore full field service packs, and uniform of the AEF. There were numerous speeches and wreath laying by senior representatives from the US Army, airforce, Marine corps and Navy along with several hundred distinguished guests, veterans and soldiers. The memorial service itself culminated in a low level fly past, over the cemetery monument, by fighters of the US Airforce, and French air force. After the ceremony, we were cordially invited to the official reception....where it was an honour indeed to meet with the many high ranking officers of the armed forces of France and America. The Pershings Doughboys, then presented a first edition signed copy of Martin Marix evans new book (Retreat .Hell we just got here), to the First Division headquarters representative, Captain Viney. The following few images capture moments from the day.
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