AMERICAN BATTLE MONUMENTS OMMISSION

1 AMERICANBAT TLEMONUMENTSCOMMISSIONFISCALYEAR2004 ANNUALREPORT322559 Cover_P1 4/7/05 7:04 PM Page 1 ABMC CommissionersChairmanGeneral P. X. Kelley, USMC (Retired)MembersLieutenant General Julius W. Becton, Jr., USA (Retired)Major General Patrick H. Brady, USA (Retired)Honorable James B. Francis, Frederick M. Franks, Jr., USA (Retired)Honorable Antonio LopezHonorable Joseph E. PersicoHonorable Sara A. SellersHonorable Alan K. SimpsonMajor General Will Hill Tankersley, AUS (Retired)Brigadier General Sue Ellen Turner, USAF (Retired)SecretaryMajor General John P. Herrling, USA (Retired)Executive DirectorMr. Kenneth S. Pond, SESPast ChairmenGeneral John J. Pershing (1923-1948)General George C. Marshall (1949-1959)General Jacob L. Devers (1960-1969)General Mark W. Clark (1969-1984)General Andrew J. Goodpaster (1985-1990)General P. X. Kelley (1990-1994)General Fred F. Woerner (1994-2001)Cover: The World War II Memorial on a stormy night in Washington, ABMC opened the memorial to thepublic in April 2004 and hosted the dedication ceremony on May 29, 2004.

2 Photo Richard LatoffFacing page: Floral decoration at North Africa Cemetery322559 Cover_P2 4/7/05 7:04 PM Page 2 FISCALYEAR2004 ANNUALREPORTAMERICANBATTLEMONUMENTSCOMMI SSION2 ABMC Annual ReportAs I stood on a stage on the National Mall in Washington, on abeautiful spring day, looking out over a portion of the 150,000 WorldWar II veterans and their families gathered for the long-awaited dedi-cation of the National World War II Memorial, I thought how blessedour great nation was to have had the Greatest Generation at thehelm during those critical years of the 20th century. For the AmericanBattle MONUMENTS Commission, the May 29th ceremony concludedan 11-year effort to design, fund and build the memorial. For theWorld War II generation, it ended a 60-year wait for a nationalmemorial honoring their service and the four-days of dedication events, the thoughts of thoseattending never strayed far from their 12 million comrades who had notlived to see this day.

3 More than 400,000 Americans lost their lives duringthe war, 93,000 of whom are buried overseas in our 14 World War IIcemeteries; another 85,000 are listed on tablets of the Missing at thosecemeteries and on our East Coast, Honolulu and West Coast memorial was dedicated in their memory, and in the knowledge thatfuture generations must never forget the price of freedom. Many contributed to that success during the 11-year journey:Presidents Bill Clinton and George W. Bush; Members of Congress;the General Services Administration, National Park Service,Commission of Fine Arts, and National Capital PlanningCommission; the primary design team of Friedrich , RayKaskey, Leo A. Daly, James van Sweden, and Nick Benson; the con-struction team of the Tompkins/Grunley-Walsh Joint Venture andGilbane Building Company; our dedication partners, the SmithsonianInstitution, the Washington National Cathedral, and the MilitaryDistrict of Washington; and the corporations, foundations, veteransgroups, professional and fraternal organizations, the 50 states andPuerto Rico, schools, and individual Americans who contributed tothe fund-raising campaign chaired by former Senator Bob Dole andFedEx chairman and CEO Frederick W.

4 Smith. By all measures, andthrough the efforts of many, the project was a remarkable success andone of which this Commission always will be proud. Other milestones accomplished during the year included the July 8thunveiling of a Vietnam Veterans Commemorative Plaque honoringVietnam veterans who died after their service in the Vietnam War butCHAIRMAN SMESSAGEABMC Annual Report3as a direct result of that service, and whose names are not eligible forinscription on the memorial wall; and the June 6th commemorationof the 60th Anniversary of the Normandy D-Day landings. As the fis-cal year ended, other 60th Anniversary events in 2004 and 2005 werebeing planned. The next major construction project on the horizon is an interpretivecenter at Normandy cemetery. Design development made greatprogress during the year, on both facility and exhibits. We expect tobegin construction in the fall of 2005, which should allow us to opento the public in 2007.

5 The center will be an important addition to thevisitor experience at Normandy, providing a better understanding ofthe historical and military significance of the D-Day landings andensuing thanks are extended once again to The AMERICAN Veterans ofWWII, Korea, and Vietnam (AMVETS) and the Robert Tribune Foundation for their generous donation of a car-illon that was delivered to Luxembourg cemetery in April 2004. Thiswas the 15th carillon donated to the Commission since 1985. Thechromatically tuned bells in the carillons are a beautiful addition toour cemeteries. We are very grateful for the ongoing generosity of theAMVETS and Chairman General P. , USMC (Ret), inspects Sicily-Rome Cemetery with SuperintendentJoe BevilacquaPresident George W. Bush at the May 29, 2004, dedication of the World War II Memorial on the National Mall inWashington, Photo Richard Latoff4 ABMC Annual ReportFinally, as always, the Commission acknowledges the important sup-port we receive from our Congressional oversight committees.

6 Wecould not maintain and operate our facilities to the level of excellencewe demand and the public has come to expect without sufficientresources. The Commission is always proud to host Congressional del-egations that visit to inspect our cemeteries or participate in commem-orative ceremonies. Their support enables us to honor the trustbetween the AMERICAN government and its people that proper respectand gratitude will be accorded those who lost their lives in the air andon the fields and seas of BATTLE . It is to them that the Commission soverseas cemeteries and worldwide memorials will forever pay tribute. P. X. KelleyGeneral, USMC (Ret)Veterans of the 100th Bn/442 RCT salute a comrade interred at Florence CemeteryABMC Annual Report5 Superintendent Dan Neese (right) explains one of theWWII Pacific campaign maps to Representative JamesLeach at Manila CemeteryA WWII veteran at Normandy Cemetery commemorates the60th Anniversary of the D-Day invasion.

7 Photo courtesy ofGary LehmanABMC Commissioner SenatorAlan Simpson (left), accompaniedby his wife and MediterraneanRegion Director Ron Grosso, studiesa campaign map at FlorenceCemetery6 ABMC Annual ReportMANAGEMENTDISCUSSION ANDANALYSISMISSION ANDORGANIZATIONS ince 1923, the AMERICAN BATTLE MonumentsCommission, an independent agency of the execu-tive branch of the federal government, has com-memorated the achievements and sacrifices of forces. The Commission s mission is to:Design, construct, operate and maintain perma-nent AMERICAN military burial grounds in memorials outside the whereAmerican armed forces have served since April 6,1917, the date of entry into World War I,and within the when directed by public the design and construction on foreignsoil of military MONUMENTS and markers byother citizens and organizations, both pub-lic and government agencies and privateindividuals and organizations to adequatelymaintain MONUMENTS and markers erected bythem on foreign fiscal year 2004 appropriation supported ourcontinued commitment to the worldwide responsi-bilities that flow from this mission.

8 TheCommission administers, operates and maintains24 permanent AMERICAN military cemeteries; 25federal MONUMENTS , memorials, and markers; andfour nonfederal memorials. Three memorials arelocated in the United States; the remaining memo-rials and all of our cemeteries are located in 14 for-eign countries, the Commonwealth of theNorthern Mariana Islands, and the British depend-ency of Gibraltar. These cemeteries and memorialsare among the most beautiful and meticulouslymaintained shrines of their nature in the world. Memorial Day ceremony at Epinal CemeteryABMC Annual Report7 Interred in the cemeteries are 124,917 WarDead: 30,922 of World War I, 93,245 of WorldWar II, and 750 of the Mexican AMERICAN , 6,114 AMERICAN veterans and othersare interred in the Mexico City and Corozal,Panama cemeteries. The World War and MexicoCity cemeteries are closed to future burials exceptfor the remains of War Dead found from timeto time in the World War I and World War II battleareas.

9 In addition to grave sites, the World War Iand II cemeteries, together with three memorials soil, commemorate by name on Walls of theMissing the 94,132 servicemen and womenwho were Missing in Action or lost or buried at seain their general region during the World Wars andthe Korean and Vietnam Commission also administers trust funds to:Build memorials authorized by Congress, butfinanced primarily from private contributions,commemorative coin proceeds, and grave sites with flowers from and repair nonfederal war memorialswith private Commission s policymaking body consists of an11-member Board of Commissioners appointed bythe President of the United States for an indefiniteterm and whose members serve without pay. Thecommissioners establish policy and ensure properstaff functioning in carrying out the mission of theCommission. During inspections, they observe,inquire, comment upon, and make recommenda-tions on any and all aspects of Commission opera-tions.

10 Daily operations of the Commission are direct-ed by an Executive Level Secretary, who is appointedby the President and assisted by an ExecutiveDirector, a member of the Senior Executive Service. The Commission is headquartered in Arlington,Virginia. The headquarters staff provides oversightof two regional offices, three cemeteries and eightmemorials, MONUMENTS and markers. Our EuropeanRegion in Garches, France, just outside Paris, isresponsible for 17 cemeteries and 15 memorials, MONUMENTS and markers. And located in Rome,Italy, is our Mediterranean Region office, whichoperates and maintains four cemeteries, one memo-rial and one monument . For fiscal year 2004, theCommission maintained its authorization for 390full-time equivalent positions. citizens consti-tuted 66 members of the staff, while the remaining324 were Foreign Service Nationals employed at ourregional offices and at the cemeteries in the coun-tries where the Commission President Richard B.