Isolated Grave American Soldier

Second World War (1939-1945)

Belgium Liège Queue-du-Bois

In the Queque-du-Bois municipal cemetery, between the veterans' field of honor and the monument to the fallen soldiers of the village, is located the grave of an American Lieutenant Robert L. GARRETT.

It is one of the few isolated graves of American soldiers outside the major cemeteries. After the war, the U.S. government had ordered that all locally buried American soldiers were to be transferred to the major cemeteries like Henri-Chapelle and Ardennes cemetery in Belgium and the American cemetery in Margraten, The Netherlands. Smaller cemeteries were also cleared and the soldiers were transferred to the major cemeteries were they found their final resting place.

2nd Lieutenant GARRETT, age 26, was co-pilot of a B-24 bomber.

On mission, March 23rd 1944, during bad weather, his bomber collided with another B-24 from his squadron over Overijssel, The Netherlands. The bomber crashed and 6 crew members got killed. Three crew members, including Robert L. Garrett survived. The three were floating in water when they were rescued by local residents.

The residents took the the three crew members to their home. This was not without danger. After all, the Germans would also investigate the crashsite and search the area for possible survivors who had been able to get to safety by parachute. If they found the survivors on a farmstead, the occupants were taken away in captivity for aiding the enemy ore risked to be executed.

After a few days, they were taken to a resistance hidingplace. From this hidingplace, Lieutenant Garrett was taken south by using smuggling routes. The ultimate goal was to arrive in Spain, from where the crossing to England was to be made. Once in England, the rescued Allied soldiers could be redeployed.

However, in time, the Normandy landings had begun and the resistance considered it too dangerous to smuggle Lieutenant Garrett any further. In addition, the Allies were approaching, so the village of Queue-du-Bois would soon be liberated. It was decided that the Lieutenant would stay where he was; on a farmstead . He was taken in by the family as family, performed all the necessary work and blended into the environment as a common farmhand.

Unfortunately, fate still struck. On September 7th, 1944, just three days before the village was liberated, a passing German SS solider deliberately and without reason shot at the Lieutenant who was working in an orchard at the time. Unbeknownst to the German, he thought he was shooting at a civilian (a civilian that possibly could resist the Germans), he had killed the American Lieutenant.

The Lieutenant was buried at the Queue-du-Bois cemetery. Later on he was reburied at the American Cemetery in Margraten (Netherlands), on March 4th, 1946.

At explicit request of the family where Lieutenant Garrett resided, and the Lieutenant's next of kin, he was reburied at the Queue-du-Bois cemetery. The Lieutenant was reburied on March 29th, 1949, where the family and the municipality would continue to care for the grave.

For the whole story from which the above is partly summarized see the source reference.