Belleau Wood Memorial Service

Aisne-Marne American Cemetery

25 May 2008

On Sunday, 25 May, 2008, about 300 Marines joined other U.S. servicemembers, their French counterparts, veterans and family members to honor the men who died in Belleau Wood and the others buried at the Aisne Marne Cemetery, 50 miles east of Paris in the French countryside.

The cemetery holds the graves of 2,289 Americans who died during World War I. In the chapel above the cemetery are the names of 1,060 Americans whose remains were never recovered or identified.

The Battle of Belleau Wood (June 1-June 19, 1918) occurred during the German 1918 Spring Offensive in World War I, near the Marne River. The battle was fought between the U.S. Second (under the command of Major General Omar Bundy) and Third Divisions and an assortment of German units including elements from the 237th, 10th, 197th, 87th, and 28th Divisions.

The Marines at Belleau Wood

Then...

 

Now...

Williams drinks from theTradi Tradition...Marine drinks from the Belleau Wood fountain following a Memorial Day ceremony. Legend has that a Marine who drinks from the fountain, whose bull mastiff shape led to the Marines adopting the bulldog as a mascot, will live an extra 20 years.

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