# Arlington Cemetery - How to Locate a Grave?



## seesul (Aug 14, 2008)

Hello,

having a name of fallen flyboy buried at Arlington...is there any chance to locate a grave?
I got a list of KIA on August 29,1944, from 2nd BG, that were buried at Arlington after their exhumation from the mass grave in my born town back in 1946 and I´d like to locate their graves there...
Would appreciate every kind of help...


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## ccheese (Aug 14, 2008)

How about a full name and rank, Roman ??

I have a phone number to call for that info and will call for you

Charles


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## seesul (Aug 14, 2008)

ccheese said:


> How about a full name, Roman ??
> 
> Charles



Ok Charles, here you go:
2nd Lt. Harold W Helveston
Sgt. Luther L. Durrette
Sgt. Charles A. Munden
SSgt. Harold Schirmer
Sgt. Elmer J. Pruit
SSgt. John J. Martin
1st Lt. Merrill A. Prentice
2nd Lt. Theo Heath
Sgt. Frank J. Balcerzak
Sgt. Robert E. Fitch
2nd Lt. William M. McDonough
Sgt. Robert Flahive
2nd Lt. Russell W. Meyrick
Sgt. Joseph Marinello Jr.
1st Lt. William G. Bullock
SSgt. Joseph. M. Laratta
SSgt. Irving D. Katz
Sgt. Russell I. Payne
SSgt. Andrew A. Solock

Please take into consideration my source is a Czech publication where is written that these flyboys were buried either at Arlington or in the family tombs. Perhabs Joe Marinello was buried I think in Brooklyn. But I´m sure a lot of them are at Arlington.


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## ccheese (Aug 14, 2008)

Roman: Were all these guys members of the USAAF ??

Charles


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## ccheese (Aug 14, 2008)

Roman:

Just got off the phone with the info center at Arlington. [I was on hold for
eleven minutes while she checked]. They will only look up six names at a time, so I gave her the names of the six officers: Helveston, Prentice, Heath, 
McDonough, Meyrick and Bullock. None of these men are interred at Arlington.
Be advised, the year of interment is very important, and I gave her the year 1946. If you have any other info as to year of interment, it would be very
helpful.

Charles


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## seesul (Aug 15, 2008)

ccheese said:


> Roman:
> 
> Just got off the phone with the info center at Arlington. [I was on hold for
> eleven minutes while she checked]. They will only look up six names at a time, so I gave her the names of the six officers: Helveston, Prentice, Heath,
> ...



WoW Charles, don´t know how to thank you!!! That´s very kind of you and I really appreciate it!!!
As for the year of their interment- I´m a bit confused now. The exhumation has been done in term of Sept. 3rd-5th,1946. But, according the information (The Fort Jefferson Barracks St. Louis, Mo show a final date of 2/8/51 which is their final burial here in the US) I have from Todd Weiler, whose uncle was KIA the same they and was among the 28 fliers buried in the mass grave, it doesn´t make a sense to me 
Few pics from the exhumation attached


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## ccheese (Aug 15, 2008)

Roman: Do you want me to try again, using the year 1951 as the interment
date ? The lady told me this is how they are located, by year of interment.
I'm kinda surprised.... I think alphabetical order would be so much easier.

Charles


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## seesul (Aug 15, 2008)

Charles,

if the phone call is not too much expensive, try it please...
I also thought they are able to find them under their names...
But I´m really confused by the dates, 1946 exhumation, 1951 burial...?
Many thanks for your willingness my friend!


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## ccheese (Aug 15, 2008)

The time lapse between the dates is really not surprising, Roman. The fact is
that the airmen were buried in a common grave by the Czech people. When
they were disinterred and boxed/packaged for return to the states, they had
to go a military labratory where DNA tests had to be performed to positively
identify the remains. This takes time..... lots of it. In that case I will call
back this afternoon with a 1951 burial date. It costs nothing but time....
the one thing I have plenty of....

Charles


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## seesul (Aug 15, 2008)

Many thanks again Charles, will wait for your/their response...
Nice weekend

Roman


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## KMeyrick (May 24, 2009)

with the date thing....

In Russell's case, when he was exhumed from the grave in Rudice by the US military after the war, he was then buried in a cemetary in France. From there, each individual family had to petition the US military to once again exhume their soldier and return him to US soil- and be buried in the cemetary of the families choosing if they wanted. Some families made the choice to have their soldier remain buried in France. I don't think they did DNA tests back then. I think the time delay was in making sure that dog tags and records matched up- possibly dental records but not DNA.

That would be why the dates are different. Some families may have taken longer to make their request, and it may have taken longer for some to be processed with paper work.

Russell is in a cemetary in Springfield, Massachusetts, next to his parents. I can find more info if you like. I've visited there many times as a child and a few times in college. I haven't been for about 8 years now as I live too far away. I know how to get there, but not the name of the cemetary or the plot number. (I can still picture the flower cart just next door to the entrance where I would stop and buy flowers for their graves). 

Let me see what I can find. Maybe I can have my aunt get a photo for you.

We're making our plane reservations soon. We're watching the prices daily. My kids also have requests of things to do so we're putting together a packed trip on each end of the services. 

email me if there is anything I need to do to prepare for the Service- do we have a role? Will we lay the wreath? Do we have to speak? Whatever you want, we are more than willing. 

later!


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## seesul (May 25, 2009)

Hi Kelly,
Please, try to ask your aunt for the pic of the grave, that would be great!
As for the other things, I´ll let you know by e-mail yet. Looking 4ward 2 your visit!


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