Ten New York National Guard Soldiers from Syracuse-based unit Head to France to Commemorate World War I
Troops of 27th Infantry Brigade will be part of the U.S. Army’s commemoration of the 100th anniversary of World War I
Ten members of the New York Army National Guard’s 27th Infantry Brigade Combat Team, headquartered in Syracuse, headed to France Wednesday, Aug. 1, to take part in commemorations of the U.S. Army’s role in World War I. The soldiers will take part in a World War I commemoration at the Somme American Cemetery in Bony, France, Aug. 8.
The Somme American Cemetery and Memorial in France is a 14.3 acre cemetery containing the graves of 1,844 of American military dead.
A massive bronze door leads into the cemetery chapel, with interior walls that bear the names of 333 of the missing from World War I. A rosette marks the name of Soldier listed on the Walls of the Missing that have since been recovered and identified.
Soldiers will also participate in educational tours and battlefield visits near Ypres and Flanders before visiting the site of the 27th Division offensive against prepared German defenses at the St. Quentin Canal Sept. 29, 1918.
The support is part of the U.S. Army’s World War I commemorations of historic battles and contributions of American forces in France and Belgium in 1918.
The troops will represent the more than 25,000 members of the 27th Division, which served in World War I alongside British forces as part of the American II Corps with the National Guard’s 30th Division.
The division was formed from National Guard regiments from across New York state in the summer of 1917.
The 27th initially participated in actions at Dickebusch Lake and Vierstratt Ridge from Aug. 30 to Sept. 2, 1918, before attacking again Sept. 25 to break the formidable German defenses of the Hindenburg Line during the Somme Offensive. The division would count 8,209 soldiers killed, wounded and missing throughout the course of the war.
The 27th brigade soldiers will return to New York Aug. 9.