|
Peter Lagerberg introduced our speaker, Dan Vermilya (pictured above) from the National Park Service. Dan joined us via Zoom to tell us some history on the Gettysburg National Cemetery. The National Cemetery system arose from the need to bury the dead from the fighting during the US Civil War. As anyone who has heard the story of the Battle of Gettysburg knows, the burial of the dead soldiers was a major issue during and immediately after the battle. Most of us know that there were many temporary burials made around the battlefield before the cemetery was consecrated by the famous Gettysburg Address. How does this compare with other wars that were fought overseas? During World War I, many of the dead American soldiers were buried near the battlefields in Europe. Some families were given the choice of whether they wanted the bodies of their loved ones disinterred and brought back to the USA or not. Teddy Roosevelt lost his son in WWI and when given the choice, he decided to let his son rest in peace at the original grave. He was buried by the Germans near the village of Chamery in France. There were several American cemeteries created in Europe after WWI, including Aisne-Marne and Meuse-Argonne. A Gettysburg native, who was killed during WWI, named Andrew Mickley is buried at Meuse-Argonne. World War II had four times the casualties as WWI and they were scattered all over the world, on several continents. Many were buried in Belgium. the National Cemetery in Normandy has over 10,000 American soldier's bodies. In 1947, there was a variance made to allow the reburial of bodies from the battles of WWII to be buried at the Gettysburg National Cemetery. There was an overwhelming response. There were 288 requests that came in immediately for such an interment. The officials soon surmised that there would not be enough room if the requests continued at that pace, so they limited the number to just less than 600.. There were no more deceased buried there after 1972. Dan went on to tell several stories about the fallen soldiers who are buried at Gettysburg. Some of them were originally from this area. Some had a connection to the area because of their education at Gettysburg College. Many of them were from other parts of Pennsylvania, but Gettysburg was the closest National Cemetery to their homes and loved ones. He told of some of the families who would come to the gravesite of their late sons or brothers and have a picnic lunch on the grounds of the cemetery. This was our second visit (via Zoom) by Dan Vermilya to tell us some history about the Gettysburg National Military Park (he was with us in September of last year), and he hopes to join us in person the next time. |
