Photo By Master Sgt. Douglas Roles | Command Sgt. Maj. Jeff Tracey, the command sergeant major for Headquarters Battalion,...... read more read more
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MOURMELON, France - Nearly 300 soldiers of the 28th Infantry Division, Pennsylvania Army National Guard had the unique opportunity today to honor the memory of their “Iron Division” predecessors on the ground where they fought and died in World War I.
The chance to visit the monuments of the Meuse-Argonne battlefield came as the soldiers wrapped up participation in a three-week NATO exercise in France. Stops on the informational tour included a wreath-laying ceremony at the Pennsylvania Memorial in Varennes and a tour of the Meuse-Argonne Cemetery and Memorial.
The citizen-soldiers also had the opportunity to visit a monument to the 28th that stands in the town square of Neuvilly, a small village whose battle-damaged church served as an aid station during the Meuse-Argonne offensive. Soldiers also visited trenches in the Argonne forest, at the site of the Memorial to the Defenders of the Argonne monument and ossuary.
More than 2,000 division soldiers were killed in WWI. Of that number, 557 are buried on the cemetery and memorial grounds.
“It gives me a lot of pride to see the French flag and the flag of the United States of America flying together here at this very special place,” Brig. Gen. John Gronski, division commander, said during the wreath-laying ceremony in Varennes-en-Argonne. “It is fitting that so many members of the 28th Infantry Division and so many friends are here today, 100 years after the start of World War I, to remember the sacrifice of our soldiers.”
“It is appropriate that we assemble here at this very hallowed place, at the beginning of a very special and solemn holiday weekend back in the United States, the Memorial Day weekend,” he added.
Gronski recounted the division’s operations in Argonne for an audience of local officials and townspeople and a formation of soldiers (mostly from the division’s headquarters battalion).
Commanded by Maj. Gen. Charles Muir, the 28th ID arrived in Europe in April and May 1918. Gronski said that when the Pennsylvanians landed in Europe, they noticed the lack of military-aged men from the crowds that lined up to greet them “and thus inferred the desperate position of their allies.”
“This war, known then as ‘The Great War,’ had been brutal,” Gronski said. “It did not take long for soldiers of the 28th Infantry Division to see action.”
The division gained fame as a result of its gallant stand on July 15, 1918, during the Champagne-Marne defense. As the division took up positions along the Marne River, east of Chateau Thierry, German forces commenced their attack with an artillery bombardment. When the German assault collided with the division main force, the fighting became bitter hand-to-hand combat. The 28th Division soldiers repelled the German forces and decisively defeated their enemy.
“After the battle, Gen. John Pershing, commander of the American Expeditionary Force, visited the battlefield and, after viewing the carnage all around him, declared the 28th Division soldiers were 'men of iron' and proclaimed that the 28th Division was his 'Iron Division,'” Gronski explained.
The division continued to fight through the summer and into the fall, in three significant offensive operations, including the final Meuse-Argonne offensive that ended the World War I on the 11th hour of the 11th day of November 1918.
“The cost was dear; 2,133 iron division soldiers were killed in action,” Gronski said. “They were citizen-soldiers, just like many of us assembled here.”
Exploring the trenches and seeing firsthand the still battle-scarred land was a sobering experience for the Guard soldiers, many of whom have deployed to Iraq and Afghanistan. One soldier used the tour to honor a family member.
Command Sgt. Maj. Jeff Tracey, of Halifax, Pennsylvania, found out several years ago he has a great-uncle interred in the cemetery, but he had never had the opportunity to travel to France. Today’s tour allowed him to place flowers and a unit coin at Pvt. George Vincent Tracey’s grave site. Pvt. Tracey served as a medic in the active Army’s 3rd Division. He was killed in action Oct. 23, 1918.
“It kind of connects the dots for me,” Jeff Tracey said as he stood next to the white cross marker. “He too was a medic.”
Gronski said 28th Infantry Division in WWI was part of a multi-national force that liberated a country and maintained liberty for a people. The soldiers in France now just concluded their role in the French-led NATO exercise Rochambeau 2014. The goal of the computer-simulated training exercise was to prepare a combined French and British division for command and control as a combined expeditionary force.
The educational tour and memorial service capped the unit’s annual training period. The soldiers will return to Pennsylvania on Memorial Day. Gronski said those present today and generations to come must remember soldiers who paid “that last full measure of devotion for our country.”
“For a country that forgets to honor its veterans will someday itself be forgotten,” he said.
Before the unit returned to their barracks at French military camp Mourmelon, Gronski commended his soldiers for their willingness to serve.
“Heroes are not just those who gave the ultimate sacrifice. Heroes are those, like you, who live a life of sacrifice,” he said. “If you want to wear this uniform, you have to be willing to live a life of sacrifice.”
More than 1.2 million U.S. troops fought during the 47 days of the Meuse-Argonne Offensive. About 117,000 were killed or wounded.
The 28th ID also saw action in World War II. Following the Normandy landings, the 28th had the honor of being the first American division to parade through Paris, before fighting across northern France and into Germany.
The 28th Infantry Division is the nation’s oldest continuously-serving Army division.
| Date Taken: | 05.24.2014 |
| Date Posted: | 05.24.2014 19:18 |
| Story ID: | 131020 |
| Location: | VARENNES, ARDENNES, FR |
| Hometown: | HALIFAX, PENNSYLVANIA, US |
| Web Views: | 840 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
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