November 11 marks the 100th anniversary of the conclusion of World War I. Fighting came to a close in Europe on the 11th hour of the 11th day of the 11th month in 1918 when Germany signed an armistice with the Allied forces. At the war’s conclusion, over 70,000 American soldiers lay scatted in graves across war-torn Europe.
In August of 1917, after the United States entered World War I, the government created the Graves Registration Service to provide assistance with handling and recording the growing number of soldiers killed in Europe. Soldiers were initially interred in temporary graves. Combat units typically undertook this duty; graves registration personnel provided assistance by locating, marking, maintaining, and registering the location of graves. The French government provided land for temporary cemeteries that were far enough away from the battle lines to prevent the graves from being disturbed. In reality, however, soldiers were often buried along the front lines, near where they fell, which led to isolated or small groupings of graves spread over wide areas.
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