In previous posts we’ve discussed the American Battle Monuments Commission (ABMC) (see link here), but there is another organization dedicated to serving the memory of Americans who fought and died in foreign wars.

Founded by Major Lillian A. Pfluke in July 2006, American War Memorials Overseas, Inc. (AWMO) is a private non-profit organized under Sec. 501 (c) (3) of the Internal Revenue Code. There are over 1,000 American war memorials and monuments overseas (including the Missouri Memorial depicted above) and nearly 1,000 American war dead buried in cemeteries that are not under the care of the ABMC or the Department of Defense. The AWMO’s mission objectives are these:

  • Record the existence and location of non-government supported war memorials honoring Americans overseas and make this information available to the public.
  • Encourage cultural tourism to visit these historical sites.
  • Encourage and facilitate local communities to fly the American flag over private war memorials honoring Americans.
  • Monitor the condition of these war memorials, and encourage their conservation.
  • Provide expert advice to those involved in war memorial projects, and facilitate maintenance projects for sponsoring organizations.
  • Work with communities and organizations to encourage local responsibility for war memorials, and to recognize the need to conduct restoration work on these monuments as required.
  • Build a greater understanding of war memorial heritage and raise awareness of the issues surrounding war memorial conservation

You can learn more about the AWMO here.

James (“Jim”) Patton BS BA MPA is a retired state official from Shawnee, Kansas and a frequent contributor to several WW1 e-publications, including "Roads to the Great War," "St. Mihiel Tripwire," "Over the Top" and "Medicine in the First World War." He has spent many hours walking the WW1 battlefields, and is also an authority on British regiments and a collector of their badges. An Army Engineer during the Vietnam War, he does work for the US World War 1 Centennial Commission and is affiliated with the WW1 Historical Association, the Western Front Association, the Salonika Campaign Society and the Gallipoli Association.