US Army
Quartermaster Foundation
Fort Lee, Virginia
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US Army
Quartermaster Foundation |
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AT the present time there are eight American
military cemeteries in Europe. Six are located in areas fought over by the
American Expeditionary Forces, namely:
Two cemeteries are located outside the
battle area:
Following the World War, rights in
perpetuity were acquired in these cemeteries under authority of joint
resolutions of Congress April 1, 1922, and January 2, 1923.
Funds were also appropriated by Congress for developing, landscaping, and
maintaining these cemeteries. In drawing up the plans for this important work
the War Department was assisted by the War Memorial Council and the Fine Arts
Commission. The latter prepared the
initial plans for laying out and landscaping these cemeteries. Prior to approval
of same, a careful inspection of the sites, with their proposed developments,
was made by the Assistant Secretary of War, the General of the Armies, and The
Quartermaster General. Based on all
this preliminary work and checking of same, the Secretary of War early in 1922
gave his approval to these plans and directed The Quartermaster General to
carry them out. Under his orders,
Mr. George Gibbs and Major H. L. Green, Q. M. C., were sent to Europe, and
during the years '22, '23 and '24 put these plans in effect. Up to that time no
definite decision had been reached in regard to the permanent headstones which
were to replace the wooden crosses then erected over the graves of soldiers
buried in Europe. The War Memorial Council had as early as
1922 submitted recommendations to the War Department for the adoption of marble
headstones similar to those designed for the national cemeteries in the United
States. This recommendation was
approved by the War Department. Prior to its execution, however, opposition to the
replacement of the wooden crosses by marble slabs, largely on the part of
patriotic organizations, reached a point where the War Department agreed to
reconsider the subject. Certain
organizations, particularly the American Legion and the American War Mothers,
felt that designs of headstones similar to the wooden cross and the Star of
David would be more appropriate in the American cemeteries of Europe than the
slab type adopted in the United States. The
cross and the Star of David had already marked American graves in Europe for
more than five years, and a strong sentiment to retain these symbols of
sacrifice and remembrance had developed. At about that time the American Battle
Monuments
Commission was created by special act of Congress.
The Commission was charged with the construction of battle monuments, and
memorial chapels and works of art in the American cemeteries, also the
designing, subject to the approval of the Secretary of War, of the permanent
headstones for the American cemeteries in Europe.
Among its first undertakings was the careful reconsideration of the
designs of these headstones. Dr.
Paul Cret, Consulting Architect of the Commission, was called on to submit to
the Commission designs for a Cross and Star of David.
This he did, and his models, after careful study and slight changes, were
approved by the American Battle Monuments Commission and the Secretary of War. Soon thereafter The Quartermaster General was directed by
the War Department to procure and erect the marble headstones in the American cemeteries
in Europe. PROPOSALS AND SPECIFICATIONS By 1926 The Quartermaster General had
prepared and issued circular proposals and specifications for the procurement of
approximately 50% of these crosses and Stars of David.
The specifications called for a fine grade of white marble, durable, of
good, uniform texture and strength, free from cracks and defects
and any
mineral-producing stains
after weathering. This marble was to have a minimum bed crushing strength of
10,600 pounds to square inch. In
finishing, all edges were to be cut square, and all exposed surfaces to be fine
sand-rubbed. The dimensions, design,
etc.. were to conform to the blue print. The latter showed the cross and star to have a height of
approximately 47¼". The
cross arm on the cross was 20 7/8". The thickness of the cross was
approximately 3½”.
After erection, the
top of the
cross stood 39" above the ground. The
Star of David was designed with a similar upright but with the Star at the top
of the upright in lieu of the cross arm. The
inscription to be placed on each cross included the soldier's name in full,
rank, unit, division, state, and date of death, also the customary initials for
all decorations that may have been awarded him. The inscription used to mark the
graves of unknown soldiers were as follows: "Here
rests, in honored glory, "An
American soldier, "Known but to God." While
the circular proposal for these marble headstones was issued in the early
spring of 1926, final award was not made until December of that year, the
successful bidder being Fratelli Tonetti, Pietrasanta, Italy. A later circular proposal issued the following year resulted
in a second award being made Fratelli Tonetti
and a new award made S.
Henraux, Querceta, Italy. Considerable
difficulty arose in preparing the contracts for this work due to the great
divergence between American laws and Italian laws on contracts, particularly
with reference to hours of labor, age of laborers, and the laws on registration
of contracts and special taxes in connection with the completion of contracts.
In adjusting these difficulties the writer visited the plants of the contractors
and also the office of the American consul at Leghorn, a seaport nearby.
At the latter office assistance in translating the contract and obtaining
legal advice on the Italian laws governing the contract were generously
furnished. The Italian government
through its Department of Commerce also offered every possible assistance in
translating these contracts. On its
recommendation all taxes in connection with registration of contract, export
duties, etc. were graciously suspended. Government
officials as well as the contractors showed by their actions that furnishing
marble headstones for the graves of their former allies in France was a matter
of sentiment as well as business. PREPARING
THE MARBLE At
the time these contracts were being prepared, the writer also inspected the
various quarries from which the marble was to be obtained.
Both Pietrasanta and Querceta are within or adjacent to the famous
Carrarra district. The quarries lie
just west of these towns in the ranges of the Apaune Alps, the altitude of the
average quarry being about 3500 feet. Many
of these quarries have been worked for over eight hundred years and are still
being worked largely by the methods which were employed when marble for the
Leaning Tower of Pisa and the historical buildings of Rome were taken from
them. In securing a ledge or platform from which quarry operations could be
carried on, an initial blast of many pounds of black powder was set off.
This forced a great mass
of marble forward and thus gave a
quarry floor from which further operations could be conducted. Naturally a large
percent of the marble thus detached was squared up into blocks for
transportation to the manufacturing plants far below. Additional blocks were
cut out by hand method of drilling holes and forcing wedges in same or by
use of an endless wire saw. The
latter was electrically driven, and for its cutting qualities depended on a hard
sand which is constantly fed into the groove as the wire cuts down through the
marble block. These blocks,
averaging from two to ten tons, were assembled on cribs at the edge of the
mountain side. The cribs were
formed like huge skies, but were constructed from solid oak 4" to 6"
square. The cribs themselves slid
over rough rollers made from small tree trunks. No machinery was employed in
handling either the huge rough blocks or the cut blocks at the quarry. Large hand jacks, however, were used by men who worked in
pairs and easily rolled these blocks over by operating the jacks against small
notches or rough projections in the marble blocks. When approximately ten tons of blocks had
been assembled on these cribs at the mountain edge, two cable ropes were
attached to same. These ropes were
played out from stakes or winches as the crib and its load slowly slid down the
mountain side. To lower this load
approximately 3000 feet required the services of eight laborers six hours. In transferring the blocks from the crib to
the ox cart or railroad, no derrick or hoisting device was employed.
The jack alone was used. Occasionally
a tractor hauled the heavy marble blocks in lieu of ox team.
On finally reaching the marble plants, old methods are replaced by new.
Every modern device for handling, transporting, cutting and shaping
marble is found. The plants of both contractors were models in efficiency and
equipment. The blocks intended for the American
headstones, on reaching such plants, were first carefully examined to see
whether or not they might fulfill the specifications for the marble required.
In many instances an accurate determination of the interior of the block
could not be obtained from external appearances.
If a block, however, passed this examination, it was placed in line for
the first shop operation in connection with its transformation into a cross or
Star of David. This first step
required cutting of this five or ten-ton block into marble slabs of
approximately
4" thickness to correspond with the thickness of the headstone. These slabs
were cut by huge gang saws, with toothless steel blades, which swayed backward
and forward, unceasingly, carrying sand and water, and thus slowly grinding
their way through the large marble blocks.
These saws cut, on an average, an inch in depth an hour every 24 hours of
a day. The water and sand must be so distributed that the steel blade does not
burn the marble. From 20 to 40
parallel blades, all equidistant, cut the block at the same time, and when the
operation was finally over, the output for two days incessant sawing was quite
remarkable. The next step in the operation required a
careful inspection of the four inch marble slabs to determine whether or not the
quality, texture, graining, and strength of the marble would meet specification
requirements. At this inspection approximately 30% of the slabs were rejected.
The accepted slabs were spread out in the plant and a templet or pattern
of the cross or star was placed upon same, with a view of cutting the greatest
number of crosses or stars from the slab being worked on. In placing these templets no part of the design of the cross
or star was brought closer than 1½"or 2" to the design of another.
By a crude chisel and hand mallet operation, parts of the slab,
containing the several embryo crosses, were roughly hewn apart.
These parts, each containing the marked outline of a cross, were then
lifted into a scalpine machine where the sides and ends were squared. FINISHING
TOUCHES The next operation carried them to a machine
specially designed for drilling four circular holes at the same time, thus
shaping the curved intersection of the cross arms with the upright of the cross.
The cross next passed to carborundum disc saws, which cut the cross arms
nearly to the four circular holes and similarly the upright from the top of
the cross to the two upper circular holes at the junction of the cross arms. On
the same machine the more difficult cutting of the base of the upright was
affected. This difficulty was due
to the fact that the large base of the cross prevented the employment of
carborundum disc saws cutting directly along the sides of the upright. The cut was, however, initiated between the base and the
upright and carried to near completion against the two circular holes on the
lower side of the cross arm. Owing to the pressure developed in employing the
drilling and sawing machines, it was impracticable to complete the operation
with these machines. In other
words, the four holes could not be bored entirely through the marble or spalling
would result. To avoid this danger, the crosses were turned over, and hand or
compressed air tools were used to complete the cutting of the outline of the
cross. The next operation was the rubbing of all
surfaces and edges of crosses with fine, dry sand and a block of marble.
The machine to the left, as shown in illustration, is the carborundum
disc saw, the four holes having been already partly drilled with diamond
drills just prior to that operation. The cross in the center foreground, resting
on a small narrow gauge truck, shows its completion so far as machine tools are
concerned, the remaining work is done by hand and pneumatic tools. Following this fine surface finish a careful
inspection by the contractor's foreman was made, after which all surfaces and
angles not meeting specifications as to finish, etc. were gone over by expert
marble workers who rubbed them with fine sand and. stone pumice.
The stones were then ready for the engravers. Great care was necessary in
preparing the tracing of the different inscriptions.
This work was done by the contractor who used a specially manufactured
set of "Spacerite." These
letters were easily set up in a form accurately designed to hold same, and a
tracing was then secured. Transfer paper was next placed on the cross arm
selected for the inscription and the tracing accurately placed over same.
Each engraver, by ruler and freehand, transferred the inscription to the
cross. Prior to this operation,
however, the inscription was carefully checked and verified by the inspectors of
the contracting officer. A good
engraver could cut from two to three inscriptions daily. The engraving operation was one of the most difficult the
contractor had to contend with, as an error in the lettering or the chipping of
centers of such letters as O, R and A caused rejections of the practically
completed cross. The manufacture of the Star of David
differed materially from the crosses. The design of these Stars of David, together with the much
smaller number to made, did not warrant the contractor in purchasing special
machines for the work. The base and the upright were cut by methods similar to
the cross. The star itself stood
out from the upright a full half inch and this fact, coupled with the design of
the star, required slow hand cutting throughout.
The preparation and cutting of inscriptions were also much more difficult
than for the crosses-- due to the limited space or inscription on the Star of
David. The packing and crating of the headstones
for truck, rail, and water transportation was very important, as the design of
the cross made it very liable damage in shipment.
While the specifications for wrapping, boxing, etc. were very explicit
and detailed, experience proved that slight departure from same reduced the
breakage enroute. Under the
specifications
the cross, after wrapping, was placed flat on the bottom of the box. An
experiment was made of placing two small wooden cleats under the upright, one
8” from the top, and the other 8" from the bottom, and two additional
cleats of the same thickness about 6” from either end of the cross arm. This
experiment SUPERVISING THE WORK In supervising the work of the two
contractors, the "Office of the American Graves Registration Service in
Europe established an Italian branch at Pietrasanta, Italy.
This office was maintained there for a trifle over two years supervising
the production of the marble headstones. During
the first year Captain Daniel J. Canty, Q.M. C., was in charge.
During the second year Captain Robert B. Field, Q. M. C., was assigned.
In addition to the commissioned personnel, two marble inspectors, obtained from
the United States, were on duty there. Both
of these inspectors spoke Italian, as well as English, and had had experience
in the marble business in Italy prior to coming to the United States. There
were also a transportation clerk and an additional clerk and messenger. The
writer, under whose direction this work was carried on, made frequent visits
to the Italian branch office to keep himself informed of the progress of the
contracts and to make final decisions in regard to the rejections of crosses on
which difference of opinion arose between the contractor and the officer in
charge of the Italian branch office. Owing to the early and late hours of labor
carried on in Italian marble plants, as well as the volume of work to be done,
the American force, on duty there was called upon to put in unusually long hours
of work. This force deserves great
credit for the efficient and hard work it did there, and the high average
quality of the headstones obtained on all contracts. The duties of the office
force included inspection of marble at quarries, inspection of each step of the
manufacture and inspection of the inscriptions on the finished cross, the latter
including careful checking of each letter of the inscription, spelling of names,
spacing, etc. In addition, this supervision of all details required
considerable tact and judgment in dealings with the contractors who were not
accustomed to having outside inspectors in their plants and who on certain
occasions felt the interpretation of specifications was stricter than justified.
It is to the credit of these contractors, however, that notwithstanding the
difficulties of procuring suitable marble and living up to all requirements of
manufacture, they met the contracting officer more than halfway and showed
their willingness and desire to produce crosses which were in every way
satisfactory to the United States, even though in doing so they were compelled
to stand an 8% to 10% rejection loss. PREPARING
THE CEMETERIES While these crosses and Stars of David were
being produced and shipped from the contractors in Italy, the Graves
Registration Service at Paris was busy in preparing the cemeteries to receive
these crosses as shipped. This
preparation involved the construction of 41 miles of reinforced concrete
foundation, the construction of over 60,000 reinforced shoulders between which
the crosses were cemented. and the cementing in place between the shoulders of
over 31,000 bronze dowels. By far the most difficult part of this work was the
securement of perfect alignment and an elevation of crosses which would give the
most pleasing effect over the rolling grave areas.
This work was carried on jointly with the production of crosses, and as
the carloads of crosses were received at the cemetery they were taken by motor
truck to that section of the cemetery to which they pertained, immediately
unboxed, inspected for damage enroute, and placed at the grave for which
intended. By use of small wedges
they were temporarily secured in position there. The next step in their erection included a
final checking of the dowel pin alignments and also corrections in elevations,
where necessary. Experience had
proved that it was impracticable to establish by instrument and corresponding
grade stakes the exact position and elevation of each cross.
It was found practicable, however, to establish control points and grades
throughout any given grave area, say every fifth cross and fifth row.
This method gave four control points, for every 25 crosses. Prior to
establishing these control points, however, it was necessary to make use of
the wooden crosses then marking the graves by slightly varying their elevation
so as to give a pleasing and appropriate curve to the marble crosses when
permanently installed. As it was
necessary to move the temporary wooden crosses just back of the graves prior to
the construction of the concrete foundation for the new crosses, an opportunity
was offered, while relocating these wooden crosses, to give them an elevation
which would prove effective and practicable. ENGINEERING AND
CONSTRUCTION WORK The engineering work in connection with
laying out and construction of the concrete foundations, the construction of
shoulders, and the cementing in position of the dowel pins, was under the
technical supervision of Mr. Charles Moginier and Mr. J.. F. D. Brady. They were
assisted by inspectors who were in general developed from employees of the
Graves Registration Service. Prior
to the final operation of cementing these crosses in position, a careful study
had been made of the effect of concrete on marble.
It was a well. known fact that marble was a stone extremely sensitive to
coloring matter of any kind with which it came in contact. However, marble as a
building stone or even for outside monuments had not been used to any great
extent in France, and no specially manufactured white cement had been used by
French masons and builders in cementing marble. It was, of course, known that
poor grades of cement should not be used and that especial care should be taken
in regard to the sand and water used in mixing the cement. There were also
reports from certain French architects to the effect that slight discolorment of
marble was liable to follow the use of any cement applied; directly to marble.
In England it was found that the true Portland cement of strength of about one
part cement to two parts sand was successfully used in cementing marble. At
Brookwood Cemetery in England, the writer carefully examined the marble
monuments
which had been cemented in place by Portland; cement for periods from 50 to 60
years. He found only slight traces
of discoloration not sufficient for comment. In cementing the headstones at the
different cemeteries, different cements were used, including the Portland
cement, quicksetting cement, and so-called "white cement".
Some discolorations of marble did occur in one cemetery, namely, St.
Mihiel. In other cemeteries little,
if any, discoloration has developed; However, the cement used did not account
for the' discoloration, as the same cement used in the St. Mihiel Cemetery
produced no discoloration in other cemeteries. It is believed the character of
marble the amount of iron or coloring in the soil and the cement including the
sand and water used with same all have a bearing on the discoloration of the
marble It was found by experiment,
that the mixing of slacked lime with the soil where it came in immediate contact
with the upright of the cross reduced the discoloration and in many cases
removed it entirely. Following the final erection of crosses in
each cemetery. it became necessary to regrade the grave areas and in many cases
slightly change the position of trees and massives.
This work was carried out promptly and today all the cemeteries are
complete so far as the erection of marble headstones are concerned and also the
replacement of lawn areas, flowers and massives. RESULTING
COST OF THE WORK The cost of the entire work amounted to approximately $18.50 per headstone. This amount include initial cost of the headstone F. O B. contractor’s plants, varying from $11.50 to $12.50, transportation to various cemeteries, which varied with the distance to cemeteries, construction of reinforced concrete beams, and cementing in place of crosses averaged $2.50 per headstone. Regrading, construction of new lawn areas, replacing flowers and massives, average 90 cents per cross. Overhead, Paris and Italian 0ffice, 60 cents per headstone. The cost of $18.50 headstone would have been $20.50 except for the generous action on the part of the French government in remitting the normal customs on marble transportation from Italy, which in this case amounted to $2.00 per headstone. This was a particularly gracious and liberal act on the part of France-not only for the money involved, but for the kindly sentiment all appreciation that it evidenced.
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