Bodies of War : World War I and the Politics of Commemoration in America, 1919-1933

World War I marked the first war in which the United States government and military took full responsibility for the identification, burial, and memorialization of those killed in battle, and as a result, the process of burying and remembering the dead became intensely political. This saga and the efforts of the living to honour them is a neglected component of United States military history, and in this fascinating yet often macabre account, Lisa Budreau unpacks the politics and processes of the competing interest groups involved in the three core components of commemoration: repatriation, remembrance, and return. She also describes how relatives of the fallen made pilgrimages to French battlefields, attended largely by American Legionnaires and the Gold Star Mothers, a group formed by mothers of sons killed in World War I, which exists to this day. Throughout, and with sensitivity to issues of race and gender, Bodies of War emphasizes the inherent tensions in the politics of memorialization and explores how those interests often conflicted with the needs of veterans and relatives. Lisa M. Budreau is Vice President of Collections & Education and Chief Historian at the National World War I Museum in Kansas City, Missouri.