Episode 24: Wreaths Across America

This image of a snow-covered section of Arlington, with wreaths on every headstone, is the viral image from 2005 that thrust Wreaths Across America into the national spotlight and led to the formal creation of Wreaths Across America as a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization in 2007.

My own experience with Wreaths Across America, included a bitterly cold Saturday morning in 2017, where my family and I got to enter Arlington National Cemetery before regular operation hours, which let me witness a beautiful sunrise as dawn broke over Washington, DC

That morning I was able to lay a wreath at the headstone of Army Captain Michael Donald Groves, and speak his name aloud.

If you would like more information about Wreaths Across America and how you can get involved, check out their website: www.wreathsacrossamerica.org

 

 

Episode 23: Pallbearers of the Unknown

 

The pallbearers of the Unknown Soldier in Washington, DC November 1921

The flower laying event prior to the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier's centennial anniversary was fabulous and everyone who made it happen deserves huge props. I know several hundred people were able to pass by the Tomb while I was there and from the number of flowers, it looks like tens of thousands made it over the course of the two days.

It was also neat to see the Tomb Sentinels still on patrol, though behind the Tomb, as we were walking through their typical patrol zone on the Tomb Plaza.

 On Veterans Day, the actual centennial of the Tomb's dedication, it was a nice touch to see doughboys, foreign military VIPs, and aircraft flyovers - all things present 100 years ago as well.

Army Infantry Sergeant Edward Younger was completely overwhelmed when he was selected to choose America's Unknown Soldier from four candidates. After he left the Army in 1922 he returned to his native Chicago and went to work for the US Postal Service. 

After finding out he had not been able to afford a trip to Arlington to see the Tomb of the Unknown, The Washington Post paid for him to travel there for Memorial Day in 1930 where he placed a bouquet of roses on top of the tomb, just as he had placed them on top of the casket he designated in France nine years earlier.

After this trip to Arlington, many veteran and civic organizations asked Younger to come and speak about his connection to the Unknown Solider. Though never completely comfortable with his new-found fame, he did honor the Unknown and his many friends who fell in France, by telling their stories. He died at the young age of 44 of a heart attack in 1942. He is buried in Arlington National Cemetery in what was formerly known as the World War I section, Section 34, Grave 1918-B

Former POW and Navy Chief Gunner's Mate James Delaney retired in 1933 but returned to service during World War II. After his second world war, he returned to Beverly, Massachusetts with his wife and died of lung cancer in 1954, just days after Christmas. 

Belleau Wood hero, Marine Corps Gunnery Sergeant Ernest Janson remained in the Corps and served for several years as a recruiter. He retired in 1926 as a Sergeant Major. The native New Yorker returned to Long Island and died of an embolism just four years later at age 49. He is buried in Evergreen Cemetery in Brooklyn.

Army Field Artillery Color Sergeant James Dell was firing his field piece until the minute the armistice went into effect but managed to evade serious injury during the war. He retired a master sergeant and went on my manage national cemeteries in Kentucky, Nebraska, and Texas. He died in Florida in 1967, the longest-lived of the Pallbearers, at age 91. He is buried in St. Augustine National Cemetery.

Army Combat Engineer and Cheyenne Indian Corporal Thomas Saunders who survived one of the most dangerous jobs of the war without a scratch seemed to drop off the map after World War I. We know he crossed paths with James Dell in Texas but that is about it. The Native American hero died in 1947 at age 55 and is buried in Golden Gate National Cemetery just outside of San Francisco.

Even less is known about Navy Chief Water Tender Charles Leo O'Connor's post-war life. His headstone in Arlington, Section 17, Grave 22633 simply says he was from Massachusetts, served in the Navy Reserve, and died in 1934 at age 47.

Army Cavalry Trooper and member of the Wild West Brigade First Sergeant Harry Taylor also kept a low profile. He stayed in the Army until at least 1927. I don't know when he passed away or where he is buried.

Army Infantry Master Sergeant, and Medal of Honor recipient, Samuel  Woodfill who lost his officer's commission to stay in the greatly-reduced post-war Army retired in 1923 but joined back in at the outset of World War II. 

In 1942, he showed the troops at Fort Benning, where he was an instructor, that he still had the marksmanship skills that saved his life and earned him the Medal of Honor. 

Major Woodfill retired a second time in 1944 as a major - a rank he was allowed to keep this time. He died in 1951 at age 68. He is buried in Arlington National Cemetery, Section 34, Grave 642.

Army Master Sergeant and Coastal Artillery Corp gunner Louis Razga retired in 1935 after 30 years in uniform. In 1941, at age 52, he tried to return to service for WWII. Despite his excellent health, he was not given another opportunity to serve. He died in 1959 at age 69 and is buried in Longwood Cemetery in southeastern Pennsylvania.

Episode 22: The Top of the World, Part II

Matthew Henson, 1909 - after returning from the North Pole

Robert Peary and Matt Henson's chief rival Dr. Fredrick Cook emerged from the Artic in 1909, just a few weeks before Peary and his team returned, and claimed he had reached the North Pole in April 1908 - nearly a full year before Peary and Henson.

Cook's fame was short-lived. Once his evidence was examined, it was determined that he did not get anywhere near the North Pole. In fact, he never lost sight of solid land during his trip and was soon revealed to be a fraud.

Cook's alleged photo at the North Pole

Cook's other supposed arctic achievement, becoming the first person to summit Mt. McKinley (now Mt. Denali) in Alaska, was also proven to be a hoax. His famous summit photo was actually taken at a location still known as Fake Peak today. At just over 5,000 feet, Fake Peak is nearly 15,000 feet below the summit of Mt. Denali.

Promoted to Rear Admiral in recognition of his many years of service in the US Navy, Robert Peary was buried in Arlington National Cemetery. Initially laid to rest in Section 3, he was moved to Section 8, Lot 15 two years after his death so a monument could be placed over his grave. Today, the large globe monument is just behind two simple markers over Robert and Josephine Peary's graves.

After being denied many of the same accolades as the white members of Peary's 1908-1909 Arctic Expedition, expedition member Donald MacMillan did much to make sure Henson got the recognition he was due before his death at age 88. In 1954, Henson was honored by President Dwight Eisenhower at the White House on the 45th anniversary of the North Pole expedition.

In 1988, about 30 years after his death, Henson and his wife Lucy's remains were moved from Woodlawn Cemetery in the Bronx, where they will rest beside Bert and Jo Peary for all time, in recognition of Peary and Henson's equal partnership.

Marie Ahnighito Peary, the first child of Robert and Jo, born in the arctic to much fame back in America, is also buried at Arlington. She is near her parents in Section 8, Grave 5190-6. She happened to be eligible for burial there because her husband, William Stafford, served in the Coastal Artillery Corps during World War I. In 1932, she traveled to the arctic to dedicate a monument in Greenland to her father and his expeditions.

We may never know if Peary and Henson actually made it all the way to 90 degrees north latitude, but we think they at least got pretty close. I personally think that arctic adventurers are absolutely crazy, but I do admit that if I was given a chance to visit with the dangers of an overland over-ice trek, I would go in a heartbeat.

Copyright: Leifur Örn Svavarsson (not me!)

And one final picture, because I think it's a neat one. On March 17, 1955, the USS Skate became the first submarine to breach through the ice at the North Pole.

Episode 21: The Top of the World

 

Robert Peary, 1909 - after returning from the North Pole

There are a few different definitions as to what constitutes the arctic region. The widely accepted definition is the lands laying north of 66.5 degrees latitude north, but as at least one of the maps below notes, some consider the arctic anywhere the warmest month's average temperature is below 50 degrees Fahrenheit (10 degrees Celsius)  

During the International Polar Year in 1881, American Adolphus Greely built Ft Conger on Ellesmere Island, Canada, just across from Greenland. Many future arctic expeditions started wither on Ellesmere Island or northwestern Greenland. Though abandoned by the Peary expeditions, Peary used Ft Conger as the basecamp for one of his later trips and had eight toes amputated there.

Today, Fort Conger is part of Ellesmere Island's Quttinirpaaq National Park

Fort Conger soon after construction in 1881

Fort Conger's interior. I imagine it was not this well furnished when Peary had his toes amputated after the fort was abandoned... but maybe it was. The government probably didn't take anything with them after closing down operations

A few of Fort Conger's buildings can still be seen today

Many western Arctic explorers used clothing, equipment, and methods they were familiar with, but which were wholly unsuited for the conditions on ground. Peary recognized the superiority of wearing native furs, which trapped a layer of warm air between the skin and furs, and using dogs to pull sledges, instead of having members of the expedition pull and push their own.

He also adopted the use of Inuit igloos which lightened the load of the dog sledges since tents and sleeping bags did not need to be brought along.

For Peary's final three or four expeditions, he was given use of the SS Roosevelt, named after President Theodore Roosevelt. Even though it was built to sail in the Arctic weather and waters, it still had to undergo significant repairs after every expedition.

Josephine Peary accompanied her husband as a member of his second and third expeditions and also came to visit during his fourth and fifth trips. This made her the first woman to be part of an arctic expedition and the first western woman to winter over in the arctic. 

Peary's third expedition started when Jo was eight month's pregnant with their first child, so a nurse was brought along to help with the birth. Marie Ahnighito Peary was born in 1893, less than 13 degrees longitude from the North Pole. Her middle name was given to her by the local Inuit for her light hair and pale skin and means Snow Baby.

Peary and Jo would round out their family with a son, Robert Peary, Jr., born in 1903 in the District of Columbia.

When Peary reached the North Pole in 1909, he planted a flag Jo had made him several years earlier, the same flag he had brought on most of his polar expeditions.

Each time Peary would gain a new "furthest north" record, he would plant this flag and then cut out a piece to leave behind; Jo replaced these pieces with white cloth. The diagonal cut was what Peary left at the North Pole. The flag was sold at auction in 2015 for $18,450.