Posted on Fri, Mar. 07, 2008
Grave talk
A couple of months ago, I found myself wandering around Fort Benning looking at cemeteries. If you've ever spent much time on Fort Benning, you know that the original land included a number of cemeteries belonging to small communities or private people. The extended family of a cousin actually owned some of the post before it was Fort Benning. So when family of family asked me to help them find their relatives, I said sure.
It really is amazing to walk through some of those old cemeteries. I don't know the total count, but the numbers run into the 50s. Some are in areas where no one can go without clearing it with the people who schedule ranges because the cemeteries are in live fire danger zones. I didn't know that until we bumped into a Fort Benning guide taking a woman and her son from out of town through the post while they searched for relatives.
We did succeed in finding several long-lost relatives. Along the way we also stumbled across a number of graves of Confederate veterans, including several who had served in John Pemberton's cavalry unit. Pemberton was the Columbus resident who fought in the Civil War and later developed the original Coca-Cola formula. Finding those graves was unexpected but understandable. These were old cemeteries.
All of this talk of dead relatives does bring to mind one story of mine where I really excited my four daughters. My parents encouraged me years ago to be squared away for my funeral. You'd almost think they were planning my demise a bit early. Regardless of the reasoning, my wife and I purchased a plot with four spaces in Parkhill Cemetery near the replica of the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier. After I retired and moved back here, we visited Parkhill with all four daughters to show the girls what we owned. While we were solemnly standing around the plot I couldn't resist the moment. I told the girls to lie down side by side so I could see if four of us would fit. The screaming and yelling was absolutely hysterical. Maybe you have to be a soldier to see the humor, but it sure was funny to me. My wife thought so, too.
Of course, the local cemeteries aren't the only ones I've dragged my family to see. On my first tour in Germany my wife and our oldest two daughters traced Operation Market Garden in Holland. There are lots of cemeteries along that route. On my second tour, Marilyn and I took our four daughters to visit my Uncle Jesse's grave in the Meuse Argonne American Cemetery in France. We're the only members of the family who have had the chance to visit his grave since he died in World War I.
A lot of history resides in cemeteries. Much of the early history of the land of Fort Benning is tied to the families who have relatives permanently on post. I try not to poke around cemeteries too much, but a visit every now and then can be interesting.
John M. House is a retired Army colonel who lives in Midland, Ga. His e-mail is housearmylife@aol.com.
