Leonard’s Story:

Unknown Cemetery Becomes Known

 

As you now know, U.S. Army Pvt. Leonard J. Lippert, my uncle, died during the Nov 1944 WWII campaign in Germany. However, his body was not returned to the U.S. for burial until Sep 1948 … almost 4 years after his death. Where was his body for those 4 years?

When I started this website on the Lippert Brothers, solving this mystery became my highest priority and fueled my passion. It remained a mystery to the current family members until my discovery of the details in Feb 2011 … some 67 years later.

Yet, from reading “Leonard’s Story: Introduction”, you were informed that his parents knew all along where he was interred for those four years. However, this knowledge was not passed down over the decades. Although I found this out after completing my research on this mystery, I loved doing the research and found out a lot more details that I would like to share with you in this portion of Leonard’s Story … my time and energy was not wasted. The detective side of me came out.

As described in the previous “Leonard’s Story: The Nines”, I uncovered an uncanny link between Leonard’s life and the numbers 9 and 19. During this portion of my research, I uncovered even more facts of his destiny with these numbers. These are highlighted in RED below. Now, here is the rest of my mystery cemetery story.

The key to solving this mystery goes back to a phone call I made to the Army History Center at the Carlisle Army Barracks, Carlisle, PA. A senior researcher, a retired USAF MSgt, now a GS-11, answered the call and I stated the following to him: “my uncle died near Aachen Germany in November of 1944 but we do not know where his body was buried for four years before being sent back home for burial?” Replying very quickly, he said “I can help you. Let me have some details and I can find that out!”
Responding via email, he informed me that Leonard was temporarily interred at the Margraten Cemetery in Holland. My journey continued as I wanted to know how he knew where Leonard was buried. He informed me of a WWII document, called WWII-Roster of the Dead, and that Ancestry.com would probably have it.
Having access to Ancestry.com, I found this document online and found Leonard’s name listed; however, I could not interpret the hodgepodge of numbers for each name in the document. With further emails to this very patient and helpful researcher, I needed a source to unlock the numbered codes to document the Margraten story. Here is the Ancestry page from the Roster of the Dead … note the codes 3200 and 4650 for Leonard and 3200 and 4570 for Edward, which I have highlighted in red. What did these numbered codes mean?

I found out that the 1st column above was the code for the permanent burial location and the last column was the code for the temporary burial location. After further correspondence, the researcher sent me a file of all the numbered codes for the Roster of the Dead (go back to the email and open attachment “cemetery codes” to view all of the codes).
You will see that 3200 is Pennsylvania with no specific city or location. You will also see that 4650 is Margraten Cemetery, Aachen, Holland. Although Aachen is in Germany, it is listed here since it was the largest city closest to Margraten (about 13 miles). Thus, the mystery story has a very happing ending after so many years … a story now with two documented sources … a key element in good genealogy research.

 

But, the cemetery story does not end here. The Margraten Cemetery is a beautiful, untold story itself. I hope you enjoy the following visit to the Cemetery, its history, and the wonderful story of the people of Holland “adopting” each gravesite. My readings have shown that the people of Holland deeply appreciated the sacrifices made by American soldiers to free their country from Nazi tyranny, even to this day.
First, where is Margraten located?  This southeastern Netherlands (Holland) town of about 13,500 people in 2007 is located in Limburg Province. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

In Margraten is the Netherlands American Cemetery and Memorial, Europe’s third largest war cemetery for unidentified soldiers who died in World War II and where 8,301 soldiers are buried under long rows of white crosses and stars of David. There have been regular visits here by soldiers who survived the war to visit a former comrade, hoping he’s buried there somewhere. But now, there are few left of them, so the once massive tributes are growing thin.

President George W. Bush was the first American president who visited the cemetery, on 8 May 2005.

Please open the cemetery link above and read a very small, but poignant, portion of the President’s speech that day.

To read the entire speech, click here

To view some photos of the event, click here

Second, where is Margraten located from Leonard’s Death Site at Kinzweiler, Germany? The Margraten cemetery is only about 24 miles westerly from Kinzweiler.

Third, have you visited the Netherlands American Cemetery and Memorial at Margraten website and studied its history? Go to http://www.fallennotforgotten.nl/  The site is worth perusing when you have some time. Be sure to click on the “cemetery” link on the home page, then visit the Mar46, the Map Recent, and the More links.
It is the only American cemetery in the Netherlands and currently, there are 8,301 American soldiers buried there, which is 43% of those originally buried in the cemetery (equates to about 19,000 graves initially … the other 10,700 bodies were eventually removed and sent home to families at their request … some families requested that their loved ones remain buried at Margraten alongside their fellow soldiers).
Ironically, the cemetery grounds (where he was interred for over almost four years) was liberated on 13 Sep 44 by Leonard’s own 30th Infantry Division troops (U.S. 1st Army). This battlefield cemetery was one of the 1st to be used for the internment of American soldiers who fell on German soil. It was formally established on 10 Nov 44 by the 9th Army with the first soldier buried there. Again, ironically, Leonard died 9 days later on the 19th.
The city of Margraten created an “adoption” program, whereby Hollanders made a commitment to “adopt” all 19,000 graves. This wonderful program still exists today. The website explains this in more detail … a moving story. You must also read the moving and heartfelt story of the 1st Memorial Day celebration of the cemetery in 1945, where people came from all over in many modes of transportation to pay tribute to the “fallen but not forgotten” soldiers.
Interestingly, there are 40 sets of brothers buried at the cemetery; and, 311 are from the 30th Infantry Division. New York has the most with 1076; Pennsylvania, where Leonard was born and raised, is second with 1017.

Again, the story of the Margraten cemetery does not end here … another story unfolds. It is the story of the cemetery commander who had the task and responsibility to manage the cemetery from the start. He was Army Maj. James Shomon, chief of the 611th Quartermaster Graves Registration Company. He wrote an interesting book after the war in 1946, called Crosses in the Wind.
Intrigued by finding this book, I researched the internet and found only one copy was available for purchase … and that for over $300 for its rarity … soooo, I did more searching and found the book was available at the CA State Library here in Sacramento. Not being a State worker, I could not check it out so I spent a few hours sitting at the library reading and taking some notes. To my surprise and amusement, I found out that the book had only been checked out four times since 1946: 18 May 46, 20 Jan 48, 26 Jun 50, and 21 Sep 05.
The book details Maj. Shomon’s perspective on the war, how his company followed behind the battle fronts to retrieve bodies, their identification and processing of all the bodies from the battlefield, and their burials at the cemetery … a somber story with many intriguing angles. He left Boston late May 1944 on SS John Erickson heading for England and became part of Operation Overlord, better known as the D-Day Invasion.
Maj. Shomon states that the selection of initial overseas grave sites was bad and that not enough importance was given to the graves registration sites/process before D-Day. He stressed the awesome responsibility they felt to identify all bodies and process all personal items found on the bodies, especially money. He stressed that the “dog tags” and the “soldier’s pay book”, which they normally carried in their back pockets for receiving pay, were crucial items in identifying a body. Bodies were marked with an “X” if not identified, then fingerprints, dental records, and x-rays, etc. were used.
Assigned to Maj. Shomon was an all black company assigned to dig graves and bury the dead. “They were loyal and hard working, as long as well fed”, he stated. He discussed the difficulty in even digging a grave and placing the frozen earth back into the grave. He talked about how American soldiers took advantage of French women. During the horrendous Battle of the Bulge, he described “a stripping line, corpses frozen stiff, ground frozen, excising skin from ball of each finger, tents to thaw bodies, workers exposed to infections as they could not wear gloves, and personal effects tents.”
As of 30 Jun 46, the American Graves Registration Service maintained a total of 209 sites throughout the world. On memorial day of 1945, he described the outpouring of grateful Hollanders as the road from Maastricht to Margraten Cemetery was filled with people on foot, on bicycles, in carriages, on horseback, and in autos to pay homage to the “FALLEN BUT NOT FORGOTTEN” American soldiers.
The WWII casualty figures he presented at the end of the book were these:

 

  • 98,812      Killed in Action
  • 15,140      Died of Wounds
  • 373,018    Wounded
  • 24,783      Prisoners
  • 42,279      Missing

For additional information and links to the European Theater of WWII, click here.