LIHONS FRENCH NATIONAL CEMETERY
Somme
France
Location Information
Lihons is a village and commune in the Department of the Somme on the road from Amiens to Nesle. The French National Cemetery is on the north side of this road and on the west side of the Bois Crepey.
History Information
It was begun (as the Cimetiere des Pommiers) in January, 1915, add enlarged after the Armistice by concentrations from the battlefields and from other Military Cemeteries. It contains the graves of 6,581 French soldiers (many of whom fell in August, 1914), and five soldiers from the United Kingdom and one from Canada who fell in March and August, 1918. Two of the British graves are unnamed.
Total Burials: 6,587.
French Individual Burials: 4,949.
Ossuaries: 1,638.
Identified Commonwealth Burials: United Kingdom 3, Canada 1. Total 4.
Unidentified Commonwealth Burials: 2.
Lihons is a village and commune in the Department of the Somme on the road from Amiens to Nesle. The French National Cemetery is on the north side of this road and on the west side of the Bois Crepey.
History Information
It was begun (as the Cimetiere des Pommiers) in January, 1915, add enlarged after the Armistice by concentrations from the battlefields and from other Military Cemeteries. It contains the graves of 6,581 French soldiers (many of whom fell in August, 1914), and five soldiers from the United Kingdom and one from Canada who fell in March and August, 1918. Two of the British graves are unnamed.
Total Burials: 6,587.
French Individual Burials: 4,949.
Ossuaries: 1,638.
Identified Commonwealth Burials: United Kingdom 3, Canada 1. Total 4.
Unidentified Commonwealth Burials: 2.
Images in gallery below © Johan Pauwels
Alan Seeger
4th July 1916, aged 28.
Ossuary No. 1
American poet Alan Seeger is best remembered for "I Have a Rendezvous with Death," a poem that foreshadowed Seeger's death in battle during World War I.
Seeger lived a bohemian (unconventional) lifestyle in New York's Greenwich Village before moving to France in 1912.
When war broke out in 1914, he was one of the first Americans to enlist in the French Foreign Legion (a branch of the French military open to foreigners). In letters to his family and to American periodicals, he expressed the idealism and courage of many young men of his generation who answered the call of duty in World War I.
On the Fourth of July 1916, nearly a year before the United States entered the war, came Seeger's own death, as he fell in battle while trying to liberate a French village from the Germans.
A collection of his works, Poems, was published in 1916 and included several dozen lyrics, odes, and sonnets. "I Have a Rendezvous with Death" is the only one that is well-known today.
4th July 1916, aged 28.
Ossuary No. 1
American poet Alan Seeger is best remembered for "I Have a Rendezvous with Death," a poem that foreshadowed Seeger's death in battle during World War I.
Seeger lived a bohemian (unconventional) lifestyle in New York's Greenwich Village before moving to France in 1912.
When war broke out in 1914, he was one of the first Americans to enlist in the French Foreign Legion (a branch of the French military open to foreigners). In letters to his family and to American periodicals, he expressed the idealism and courage of many young men of his generation who answered the call of duty in World War I.
On the Fourth of July 1916, nearly a year before the United States entered the war, came Seeger's own death, as he fell in battle while trying to liberate a French village from the Germans.
A collection of his works, Poems, was published in 1916 and included several dozen lyrics, odes, and sonnets. "I Have a Rendezvous with Death" is the only one that is well-known today.
I Have a Rendezvous with Death
I have a rendezvous with Death
At some disputed barricade,
When Spring comes back with rustling shade
And apple-blossoms fill the air--
I have a rendezvous with Death
When Spring brings back blue days and fair.
It may be he shall take my hand
And lead me into his dark land
And close my eyes and quench my breath--
It may be I shall pass him still.
I have a rendezvous with Death
On some scarred slope of battered hill,
When Spring comes round again this year
And the first meadow-flowers appear.
God knows 'twere better to be deep
Pillowed in silk and scented down,
Where Love throbs out in blissful sleep,
Pulse nigh to pulse, and breath to breath,
Where hushed awakenings are dear ...
But I've a rendezvous with Death
At midnight in some flaming town,
When Spring trips north again this year,
And I to my pledged word am true,
I shall not fail that rendezvous.
At some disputed barricade,
When Spring comes back with rustling shade
And apple-blossoms fill the air--
I have a rendezvous with Death
When Spring brings back blue days and fair.
It may be he shall take my hand
And lead me into his dark land
And close my eyes and quench my breath--
It may be I shall pass him still.
I have a rendezvous with Death
On some scarred slope of battered hill,
When Spring comes round again this year
And the first meadow-flowers appear.
God knows 'twere better to be deep
Pillowed in silk and scented down,
Where Love throbs out in blissful sleep,
Pulse nigh to pulse, and breath to breath,
Where hushed awakenings are dear ...
But I've a rendezvous with Death
At midnight in some flaming town,
When Spring trips north again this year,
And I to my pledged word am true,
I shall not fail that rendezvous.
The 6 Commonwealth War Graves scattered among the French graves in the Cemetery
(Images © Johan Pauwels)
283138 Private
Emerson Waldo Gates
85th Bn. Canadian Infantry
10th August 1918, aged 22.
Son of Silas L. and Mary E. Gates, of Port Williams, King's Co., Nova Scotia.
His headstone bears the inscription "He Died For Others"
Private Gates enlisted with the 219th Battalion and trained at Aldershot. He sailed for England in October 1917 and spent two months trining at Bramshott, England. He arrived in France on December 16, 1917 and was transferred to the 85th Battalion. He fought for nine months in France. On August 10, 1918, two days after the Canadians launched their successful offensive near Amiens. Private Bates was doing scout" work when shot by a sniper. His parents would not learn of his death until after Labour Day, 1918.
His brother, Justin Gates named his son, Gerald Waldo. Sergeant Gerald Waldo Gates (R/65223) was an RCAF pilot who lost his life on September 12, 1941 and he is buried in Rosskeen Parish Churchyard Extensions (or Burial Ground) in Scotland
Emerson Waldo Gates
85th Bn. Canadian Infantry
10th August 1918, aged 22.
Son of Silas L. and Mary E. Gates, of Port Williams, King's Co., Nova Scotia.
His headstone bears the inscription "He Died For Others"
Private Gates enlisted with the 219th Battalion and trained at Aldershot. He sailed for England in October 1917 and spent two months trining at Bramshott, England. He arrived in France on December 16, 1917 and was transferred to the 85th Battalion. He fought for nine months in France. On August 10, 1918, two days after the Canadians launched their successful offensive near Amiens. Private Bates was doing scout" work when shot by a sniper. His parents would not learn of his death until after Labour Day, 1918.
His brother, Justin Gates named his son, Gerald Waldo. Sergeant Gerald Waldo Gates (R/65223) was an RCAF pilot who lost his life on September 12, 1941 and he is buried in Rosskeen Parish Churchyard Extensions (or Burial Ground) in Scotland
Other Burial Details
108698 Private C. G. Painter, Machine Gun Corps (Infantry), died 30th March 1918.
32052 Private James Steele, 17th Bn. Lancashire Fusiliers, died 23rd February 1917, aged 34. Son of Mrs. James Steele, of 20, Glamis Rd., Forfar; husband of Mary Christie Steele, of 46, Dundee Rd., Forfar.
60143 Private Joseph Tyrell, 1st Bn. Royal Fusiliers, died 25th March 1918, aged 36. Son of Alfred and Ellen Tyrrell; husband of Edith Mary Tyrrell, of 1, Arthurs Court, High St., Stanstead Abbotts, Ware.
108698 Private C. G. Painter, Machine Gun Corps (Infantry), died 30th March 1918.
32052 Private James Steele, 17th Bn. Lancashire Fusiliers, died 23rd February 1917, aged 34. Son of Mrs. James Steele, of 20, Glamis Rd., Forfar; husband of Mary Christie Steele, of 46, Dundee Rd., Forfar.
60143 Private Joseph Tyrell, 1st Bn. Royal Fusiliers, died 25th March 1918, aged 36. Son of Alfred and Ellen Tyrrell; husband of Edith Mary Tyrrell, of 1, Arthurs Court, High St., Stanstead Abbotts, Ware.
