Sue Kenfield, the director of youth engagement for the American Battle Monuments Foundation, joins Kim to discuss ABMF’s mission. Kenfield also shares details of ABMF’s youth essay contest, The Past is Prologue Essay Contest. The Past is Prologue Essay Contest invites students ages 11-12, 13-15, and 16-18 to compete within their age group to write an essay about a specific battle closely identified with an American military cemetery or monument overseas managed by the American Battle Monuments Commission. Go here for more information. To contact Kenfield directly, call 3030-791-2807 or send an email to: skenfield@abmf.org. Listen to the full interview in the second hour.
The American Battle Monuments Commission administers, operates and maintains 26 American military cemeteries and 32 monuments in 17 countries overseas primarily in Europe, North Africa and Asia. Some of the best-known sites are near Normandy, France; Margraten, the Netherlands; Manilla, Philippines; Cambridge, England, and Rome, Italy.
The remains of hundreds of thousands of American military men and women are buried at or near where they fell in battle on foreign soil from the Spanish-American War (1898-1902) through the Vietnam War (1965-1975). Others, who fought and died at a specific battle, but whose remains can not be identified, are memorialized among the missing. Since the Vietnam War, America has been able to claim all of her war dead and bring them home.
