The American Battle Monuments Commission (ABMC) oversees American cemeteries and war monuments, primarily on foreign soil. At the direction of eleven commissioners appointed by the president, the commission administers and maintains 24 overseas military cemeteries where almost 125,000 American servicemen, largely from World War I and the European Theater of World War II, are buried. The commission also maintains 25 monuments, memorials, and markers, and it has commemorated the names of more than 90,000 dead in Tablets of the Missing. The commission maintains a database of all soldiers buried in its cemeteries, which correspond to theaters of war in Mexico, the Philippines, Europe, North Africa, and Korea.
In the wake of World War I, in which thousands of American soldiers perished on foreign soil, Congress and President Harding enacted and signed legislation forming the American Battle Monuments Commission. The ABMC was originally charged with honoring American armed forces by controlling the design and construction of overseas markers and monuments. President Harding appointed General of the Armies John J. Pershing to the commission upon its inception, and his fellow commissioners elected him chairman, a role in which he served until his death in 1948. Seven chairmen, all former generals, have served since then.
The ABMC’s World War I commemorative program entailed the construction of nonsectarian chapels on each of eight World War I cemeteries, landscaping of those cemeteries, erecting a dozen monuments elsewhere throughout Europe, and constructing the WWI Allied Expeditionary Forces Memorial in Washington, D.C. Amid this activity in 1934 an executive order gave the ABMC full responsibility over the administration of the eight World War I cemeteries and charged it with overseeing all future overseas military cemeteries.
During the course of World War II, American soldiers were interred in a haphazard patchwork of burial grounds, and in 1947 the ABMC designated 14 sites for the establishment of permanent cemeteries. The World War II commemorative program entailed the construction of 14 military cemeteries, in addition to several monuments in the U.S. and on foreign soil. Most remains were transferred to the permanent cemeteries, and the temporary sites were disestablished. However, families had the option of repatriating remains or letting them rest in their original burial places, in which case next of kin assumed responsibility for care of the grave.
In addition to its primary responsibilities, the commission also oversees the design of both public and “private” overseas memorials - the latter defined as “a permanent war monument or marker commemorating the sacrifices of the American armed forces erected by any American person or entity.” With the exception of the East Coast Memorial (New York City), the West Coast Memorial (San Francisco), and the Honolulu Memorial, the commission is generally not responsible for memorials on U.S. soil or for memorials erected by any other government agency. It is not affiliated with monuments or cemeteries on U.S. soil, including Arlington Cemetery, the Vietnam Memorial, or markers at battlefields such as Gettysburg. ABMC oversaw the planning and building of the World War II Memorial on the National Mall, but handed over operation of the memorial to the National Park Service upon completion (see “Controversy” below). Memorials for American Expeditionary Forces and the Korean War, both in Washington, D.C., were handled similarly. (Most domestic cemeteries are administered either by the Department of Veterans’ Affairs or the National Park Service.)
The ABMC’s annual budget (click for the latest annual report (PDF)) funds the regular maintenance of the cemeteries and memorials under its care, including landscaping, repair and replacement of headstones, and occasional capital improvements, such as the Normandy Visitors Center. The majority of the commission’s budget is dedicated to wages for grounds crews. The commission retains architects as advisers and approves the design of facilities under its charge as well as private markers and memorials. It does not, however, contribute financial resources to private memorials.
The ABMC incurs few capital costs because in most cases land for the cemeteries has been granted in perpetuity by the host countries free of charge or taxation with the stipulation that, except in the case of the Manila American Cemetery, they house only the remains of soldiers who died overseas during wartime. All overseas cemeteries are closed to new burials, with the rare exception of remains of Americans that are discovered and were previously unaccounted-for.
The commission is based in Washington, D.C., and maintains regional offices in Paris and Rome. Its 24 cemeteries are located in eight countries: France (10), Belgium (3), England (2), Italy (2), Luxembourg, Netherlands, Tunisia, Mexico, Panama, and the Philippines.
Programs
AMBC maintains listings of all war dead buried in AMBC cemeteries as well as those of all servicemen killed in the Korean War and civilians killed during the construction of the Panama Canal. Databases also include listings of WWI and WWII soldiers listed missing in action who are memorialized on Tablets of the Missing and Vietnam MIAs who are listed at the Honolulu Memorial.
Although the American Battle Monuments Commission deals mainly with overseas facilities, it served as the lead agency in the establishment of the World War II Memorial on the National Mall in Washington, D.C.
In conjunction with a separate 12-member Memorial Advisory Board convened by President Clinton, the commission was directed to choose a design, and raise $100 million in donations for its construction (eventually $197 million was raised, $16 million of it from federal funds). The commission selected a design by architect Friedrich St. Florian and chose a site on the National Mall. The site was dedicated in 1995. Ground was broken in 2000, and the memorial was completed in 2004.
Despite its unimpeachable mission, the World War II Memorial roused significant controversy and scorn from citizens and design experts for both its site and architecture. While proponents laud it for its prominence and heroic beaux arts design, opponents, including Save Our Mall, claimed that it cluttered the Mall and obscured the iconic view and formerly unobstructed view from the Lincoln Memorial to the Washington Monument. They also claimed that it took up space that had often been used for demonstrations and other public gatherings.
Architectural critics have derided its design, specifically its heavy use of neoclassical elements such as marble pillars and arches. They contend that the iconography of classicism had long been corrupted and co-opted by Fascists, among others, and that its un-ironic use was inappropriately naïve and melodramatic. Supporters argue that the memorial maintains an appropriate degree of grandeur and that modern memorials such as the stark Vietnam Memorial are morbid, vacant, and unsettlingly abstract. Furthermore, the design competition roused suspicion for an unusually swift selection process. Backers of the memorial responded that time was of the essence in order to honor the nation’s dwindling ranks of living WWII veterans.
Although the AMBC was the lead agency in the memorial’s inception and construction, it no longer has any formal connection to it. The World War II Memorial is currently administered by the National Parks Service’s National Mall and Memorial Parks unit.
Hon. David H. Leroy - 3/27/2009 8:46:36 AM
Mr. Leroy has had a long and distinguished career of public service at both the state and federal level and has just completed directing the erecion of a monument to Abraham Lincoln in Boise, Idaho. He would abley represent the interest of the western states on the Commission. Tel# 208-342-0000.
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Founded: 1923
Annual Budget: $42 million
Employees: 391
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American Battle Monuments Commission
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President Obama’s choice to be in charge of the American Battle Monuments Commission is a grievously wounded Vietnam veteran, twice decorated for bravery. Former U.S. Senator Max Cleland, who lost his Senate seat in an ugly and controversial re-election campaign in 2002, is the first non-General and first Vietnam combat veteran to chair the commission. The Commission, which was established after World War I, administers, operates and maintains on foreign soil 24 permanent American burial grounds, and 25 separate memorials, monuments and markers, including three memorials in the United States.
Born on August 24, 1942, in Atlanta, Georgia, Joseph Maxwell Cleland earned his B.A. in History from Stetson University in 1964 and his M.A. in History from Emory University in 1965. An ROTC cadet at Stetson, Cleland began active duty in the Army in 1965 as a Second Lieutenant, eventually rising to the rank of Captain. In 1967 he volunteered for duty in Vietnam, where he was awarded the Silver Star and the Bronze Star for valorous action in combat, including during the Battle of Khe Sanh on April 4, 1968. On April 8, 1968, Cleland, a Battalion Signal Officer, was sent to set up a radio relay antenna on a hilltop. As he left the helicopter that had transported him and two other soldiers, he reached for a fallen grenade. It exploded and Cleland lost both his legs and half of his right arm. After spending 18 months at Army hospitals, Cleland was discharged and returned to Georgia.
In 1969, Cleland testified before the U.S. Senate Committee on Veterans’ Affairs to describe the difficulties veterans were experiencing returning home from Vietnam. The following year, Cleland began his lengthy career in public service by winning election to the Georgia State Senate. As the youngest member of the Georgia Senate at age 28, he wrote the state law making public facilities in the state accessible to the elderly and the handicapped. After four years in the State Senate, Cleland relocated to Washington, DC, to take a job with the Senate Committee on Veterans Affairs, where he worked from 1975 to 1977. While Cleland was in the State Senate, he formed a close political alliance and personal friendship with Georgia’s governor, Jimmy Carter. In 1977, when Carter took over as president of the United States, he appointed Cleland Administrator of the Veterans Administration, which was not a Cabinet-level department at that time. Cleland served in that position until 1981, when Republican Ronald Reagan defeated Carter in his bid for re-election.
In 1982, Georgia voters elected Cleland Secretary of State, the youngest in the state’s history. In that position, Cleland fought for tougher campaign finance laws and cracked down on securities and telemarketing fraud. In 1995, he implemented the National Voter Registration Act (“motor voter”) in Georgia, which added almost one million new voters to the rolls. In 1995, he resigned his position as Secretary of State to run for the U.S. Senate seat being vacated by retiring Senator Sam Nunn. Despite being out-spent three to one, Cleland won the race, eking out a narrow 30,000-vote victory. He was sworn-in to the United States Senate in 1997. While in the Senate, Cleland became known as a moderate Democrat, voting for President George W. Bush’s tax cuts in 2001 and the Iraq authorization of the use of force resolution in 2002, yet generally supportive of abortion rights and environmental issues.
In 2002, Cleland ran for re-election against Republican Saxby Chambliss, who had avoided military service thanks to a football-related knee injury. Nonetheless, Chambliss aired a TV attack ad that challenged Cleland’s commitment to defending the United States against its enemies by accusing him of voting against the formation of the Department of Homeland Security (DHS). Cleland had voted to give DHS employees civil service protection, which Bush opposed. The ad failed to point out that Cleland supported the creation of a Department of Homeland Security before Bush did, and that Cleland’s “no” votes were on procedural questions. The Republican attack ads made it look as though Cleland was voting against Homeland Security itself, and one TV ad morphed Cleland’s face into Saddam Hussein’s while suggesting that Cleland was indifferent to the safety of the American people. The ad was so controversial that Republican Senators Chuck Hagel and John McCain both protested, leading the Chambliss campaign to stop airing it. The race was consider a toss-up, but on Election Day Chambliss won handily, 53%-47%. Nevertheless, Cleland’s loss raised him to martyr status within Democratic Party circles, where he has remained popular ever since.
The year following his election loss, Cleland became increasingly concerned about the course of the War in Iraq, and wrote an influential and deeply
critical
article about the Bush administration’s war policies, which compared Iraq to Vietnam and concluded by taunting Bush, who did not serve in the military in Vietnam, with the words, “Welcome to Vietnam, Mr. President. Sorry you didn’t go when you had the chance.” Cleland was appointed to the
9/11 Commission
, but resigned because he believed its ability to do a thorough job was being hampered by what he called the Bush administration’s
“Nixonian” efforts
to conceal important evidence about the government’s failures in the weeks before the attacks. In 2004, Cleland was active in Democratic Senator John Kerry’s failed Presidential campaign. Also in his post-Senate years, Cleland became a distinguished adjunct professor at American University’s Washington Semester Program, where he also served as a fellow at the
Center for Congressional & Presidential Studies
. Between 2003 and 2007, Cleland served on the
Board
of the
Export-Import Bank
. Cleland has written three books:
Strong at the Broken Places
,
Going for the Max!: 12 Principles for Living Life to the Fullest,
and the soon to-be-published
Heart of a Patriot: How I Found the Courage to Survive Vietnam, Walter Reed and Karl Rove.
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Franks, Frederick
Previous Chairman
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A respected military strategist and decorated veteran of two wars, General Frederick M. Franks Jr. graduated from the U.S. Military Academy at West Point in 1959 and most recently saw action in combat as the commander of the Gulf War coalition VII Corps before retiring from the service in 1994. Franks fought with the 11th Armored Cavalry Regiment in the Vietnam War and received multiple medals, including the Silver Star, Distinguished Flying Cross, and two Purple Hearts. One of Franks’s injuries resulted in the amputation of his lower left leg. Despite his disability, he successfully lobbied to remain in a combat unit before transitioning to administrative and command duties.
After Vietnam Franks served as a member of Army Staff at the Pentagon and earned the rank of brigadier general in 1984. He assumed command of Corps VII in 1988. Under his command, Corps VII’s five armored divisions used his noted “left hook” maneuver to defeat 14 Iraqi divisions in the land battle to free Kuwait from Iraqi occupation in Operation Desert Storm. Corps VII mounted a furious assault that spanned less than five days, in which fewer than 100 of the Corp’s 146,000 troops were lost to hostile fire. Franks recounted his career and success in Iraq in “Into the Storm: A Study in Command,” co-authored with Tom Clancy.
Franks concluded his active-duty career by leading the Army Training and Doctrine Command. Since retirement he has worked with Gulf War veterans groups and teaches in the Army’s Battle Command Program. Appointed by President Bush to the ABMC in 2001, he served until 2009.
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