Burial of enemy aces with military honors, norm or exception?

[Romani]

Albert Ball received a proper burial with military honors, so did Manfred von Richthofen, but I wonder, was this the usual custom?

Aside from those like Voss that got a quick battlefield burial in the trenches, did every ace shot on the opposing side got a burial with honors or as I suspect, most of the time they were given a simple funeral service and burial by the ground unit closest to the site of the fatal crash?

It seems to me that 56 Sqn didn't do any effort to find out where Voss had come to rest. Awful bad form chaps, but I suppose most of the time the victors on both sides only were concerned where the airplane crashed to confirm the victory.

[JFM]

I respectfully disagree that it was bad form for No. 56 not to find Voss's crash. After all, they were fighter pilots, not morticians or with Graves Registery. They had to worry more about the living Germans than the dead ones.

[Romani]

Yes, I make that point. But if not callous, it seems unchivalrous and bad form not to try to find out who was that courageous enemy pilot and if not to ensure he got a proper burial and pay respects, just for the reason of picking souvenirs.

The Germans on the other hand presumably identified and gave Mannock due honors, one year later. I still think that if the nationalities of the involved were different, the French or the German, more conscious of military etiquette and traditions would have acted properly.

[Gregvan]

Hi,

Sorry, Romani, but I have to agree with JFM on this. For some time, the pilots of 56 Sqdn weren't quite sure that it was Voss that they had shot down; read Alex Revell's "Brief Glory" and you'll discover more about this. By the time they had everything sorted out, Voss had already been buried and they had their hands full with fighting the war. As JFM says, they weren't with the Graves registry. If Voss had been taken alive, then they would probably have tried to have him brought to their mess (if possible) for wining and dining, as was so often done on the German side.

I believe you are quite right when you guess that most of the time, any "ace" fallen on the enemy side of the lines was given a quick burial by the nearest or most appropriate ground unit; the proximity to the front line fighting probably determined to a great deal if even this was done. To most front-line ground units (infantry, artillery, etc), a dead hostile airman was of no more consequence than the many other dead enemy bodies they encountered so often. Richthofen and Ball were the great exceptions.

I know that the Germans identified Rene Dorme's body and it was known that he was someone with a stack of victories - but I've never heard of any great honors given at his burial. Hawker was buried at the spot where he fell, "with the broken DH2 serving as a final monument". Richthofen acquired the fabric from the rudder with the serial number and Hawker's Lewis Gun (and apparently, a monogrammed handkerchief) but I've never heard of any great honors provided there either.

There is a photo in Alex's book "High in the Empty Blue" which is captioned as very probably showing Rhys Davids in the wreckage of his SE. If the Germans knew who he was and knew he was someone of consequence, I know of no evidence that they did anything special for him.

Erwin Boehme and Walter von Bülow both fell in British lines. It is recorded that the British found a document on Boehme's body which mentioned an award from the Kaiser (alomost certainly the Pour le Merite, which waited in an unopened package back at Jasta Boelcke's airfield), but again I don't know of any specific honors paid to them.

Perhaps more significant is - how did each side honor their own aces when they fell in their own lines? We know that for some unknown reason (?), McCudden received a somewhat hurried burial, far less elaborate than the ceremonies provided for Richthofen. The Germans certainly provided extremely elaborate and almost lugubrious funeral ceremonies for their great aces (especially in the early Fokker Eindecker period). Neal O'Connor's and Lance Bronnenkant's books are full of photos depicting these traditional Teutonic events. I suspect the French did their funerals in a somewhat similar manner; Lufbery was certainly honored with a huge ceremony. I've yet to see many (if any) photos of British funerals for their important personalities, so I'd best not comment further.

A similar question would be, how did each side handle the funerals of various important people who weren't aces but who were nonetheless noteworthy? I wonder how the British handled the internment of Prince Friedrich Karl after he died of his wounds in a British hospital on 6 April 1917?? Does anyone know? He was royalty after all, and related to the Kaiser.

When the Germans shot down Quentin Roosevelt, they took a photo of his body in the wreckage of his Nieuport 28 and this was widely circulated (talk about bad form??). If this was an attempt at propaganda I think it backfired against the Germans. They marked his grave with a small and somewhat makeshift cross, IIRC.

[xjouve]

Originally Posted by Gregvan

I know that the Germans identified Rene Dorme's body and it was known that he was someone with a stack of victories - but I've never heard of any great honors given at his burial.

I only have little knowledge on that matter. BTW about René Dorme, he hasn't been buried by the Germans. Apparently, his watch helped identification; but that's a very unclear fact actually (and so is his last fight).

In 1994 (100th anniversary of his birth), excavations were performed in a Dorme's highly probable crash area (near actual town of Beine-Nauroy, E. of Reims) in order to give him a decent burial. Unfortunately his body is still jealously kept by the ground.

[Gregvan]

Thanks for that information, xjouve!! Very interesting, and sad as well.

Greg

[xjouve]

You're welcome!

[R Gannon]

We should also remember that a battle was going on full swing where Voss crashed - it wasn't until October that the intelligence offcer was able to examin the wreck.

Cheers Russ

[Barrett]

According to Wikipedia, Quentin Roosevelt was buried in quite a show of Teutonic chivalry:

Quentin Roosevelt - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

[Enthusiast]

It seems to me, after looking over the details, there were a lot more honorable funerals for pilots by opposing sides at the beginning of the war. As time passed, aerial conflicts became brutal and bloody struggles. Chivalry was not their main focus anymore, but there were still instances of it.

I found this picture over at Rosebud's site from July 21, 1916. It's the crash site of a Ltn. Dubois and a Ltn. Viehmeierby.



The style of the memorial looks German.