Counted!

I kinda fell into this rabbit hole thru absolutely no fault of my own...... Yeah, I wouldn't be buying that, either :-)  

But seriously. It never consiously registered that the Unknown Soldiers and those on the Walls of the Missing were still actively persued. I mean, I knew if remains were found, they would be looked at, and identification would be attempted, but that was pretty much the extend of my knowledge and I'm "blaming" my new friend David Zimmerman for enlightening me, and setting me on this path, of wanting to know the stories behind the markers that so heartbreakingly read: 

Comrad in Arms  Known but to God.

You see, he started making memorials for all these soldiers on Find a Grave, and he hit my radar when he entered Henri Chapelle aka my neck of the woods.  I took on the challenge of taking pictures of the markers, and started researching the X-numbers he mentioned on 3 of the markers.  

Aaaaaand that brings me to the rabbit hole! 

In talking to the office at Henri Chapelle, I learned things.... and when I learn things, it's like there's a trapdoor attached, because I want to learn more :-)  So I went to the DPAA website, armed with the list of the Wall of the Missing for Henri Chapelle, to see if the recoveries would mention the grave the now "accounted for" soldiers had occupied. That's when I found out, this particular rabbit hole has junctions, lots of them! :-)

The good part is, that I'm finding more and more websites to share, and ways to research Military records and Soldiers, as well as units.... and I hope that finding all this out, will help me with his next project.... David is putting memorials up for the almost 800 Unknowns in Ardennes Military Cemetery.  I'm doing this happily and voluntarily, with full understanding that it's going to take a lot of time, and I'm quietly freaking out about the scale of it.....  (I have 3 days planned, so far, trying to get as many days in as possible before Fall, since my little slip of a car does not do well on slick (mountain) roads, and the old lady driving it, sometimes does not do well driving in the dark on backroads :-) So I'll be taking a break starting when the sun sets around 5 until spring....  The upside of winter? Lights inside come on early, enhancing the cozyness and the possibility of doing research online and working on putting it in some what of an order :-)

I'm sure if you spent any time on the blog at all, you're already aware....  I get sidetracked easy, sorry.  Back to what you came for :-)

I discovered that a lot of the "accounted for" are from accidental finds. I thinks it's awesome, and completely over the top, that they are identified and brought home after more than 80 years. But it also made me realise how many places don't see a whole lot of human traffic and with 1409 people per square mile in The Netherlands,  1006 in Belgium and 625 for Germany, it all starts to make sense.....  and compared to the US ( 57/Iowa and 94 in general), this continent feels crowded :-) 

So, as a start, I'm trying to findout where the x-numbers are kept, and what information is available for the Unknown Soldiers buried in "my" cemeteries, so I can keep an eye on the accounted for and pass the information on to David to update the memorials, or slip the information in as part of the posted picture.... If you know, PLEASE share your knowledge in the comments, otherwise it will hit this page if I ever find out :-)

I found out about a file that covers A LOT of information on a persons military service. I've seen it called the "death file" and some acronym that made so much sense that I can't remember, so I'll be googling "death file" soon and hope I find the site I found it on the first time.. Pretty sure everyone has had this happen... you follow one thread, thru so many website, you have no clue where you came thru and somewhere in the travels was a very interesting website you want to get back to, but there is no way to retrace your steps.... Yeah, that's what happened there too.

And there is, of course the DPAA website where the first notification of an Accounted for Soldier is made. Sometimes they give everything in the first sitting, sometimes it's a bit of a search to find it all, but overall, it's interesting and SO good that the soldiers are still coming home.  Whether done by volunteers of paid employees, I can't help but think "Thank you" every time I find a memorial... 

In a small way, I like to help families that do not have the chance to come see where their loved one was being cared for. There's that absolute thrill when you can put the Soldiers' story together from enlistment, thru his campaigns, his death and the places that were part of his travel before ending up in a Military Cemetery...  I enjoy that as much as when I find family, because I KNOW that by me putting those loose ends together, a family member has a chance to fill in the story of the Soldier that didn't come home.

The reason I'm hunting down the x-numbers, is that sometimes in the announcement, the x-number is given, but not the cemetery the soldier was buried at, or if the cemetery is mentioned, there is no mention of the grave site... Now I'm (most of the time, because things DO slip thru the cracks while entering/collecting information) about the details in my research, and it just seems like there's a bit missing that way..... It feels to me like the place where the Soldier was resting before he was identified, is just as important to his story, as his service and his ultimate place of burial. The file atached to the x-numbers, also should have his "in between" resting place and where he was initially found, and, again.... that is important to his story :-)

Going to Ardennes soon to get a start at the Unknown markers, meanwhile, while it's too hot  to move, I get to play and do the research :-)