100th CES Airmen help families, ensure memories live on

  • Published
  • By Karen Abeyasekere
  • 100th Air Refueling Wing Public Affairs
MADINGLEY, NEAR CAMBRIDGE, England --  It's a damp, foggy morning in October amidst a sea of marble headstones; the sound of bells chiming out seems to echo through the air of somberness all around at Madingley American Cemetery, near Cambridge.

The whole scene is humbling.

Reason to remember

With Veterans Day and Remembrance Day upon us, seeing the more than 3,800 Lasa marble headstones cover the grounds of the cemetery is even more poignant. Each grave contains the body or identifiable remains of the individual named on the headstone - with the exception of 24 unknown. The 3,812 graves make up approximately 39 percent of the original total of Americans temporarily interred in the United Kingdom during World War II. At the wishes of the family and next of kin, approximately 60 percent were repatriated.

In the past it would take both time and effort for families to find the specific resting place of their long-lost relatives. Once the next of kin arrived at Madingley American Cemetery, they could visit with the staff who would find the grave location on their database, then escort them to the grave site. If they were searching on their own, they would need to identify the correct gravestone block and then search within the block to find a particular gravestone.

But now, with more than a little help from members of the 100th Civil Engineer Squadron engineering flight, that process is being made simpler and quicker, thanks to digital technology.

Technology helps remember fallen

Despite the cold weather and fog, Airmen from the engineering flight patiently moved from headstone to headstone, measuring and tracking the exact position of each by using GPS equipment.

"We're attaching latitude and longitude to each headstone," said Master Sgt. Solomon Vincent, 100th CES engineering flight superintendent, from Bladensburg, Md.

"The reason we're doing this is when somebody is looking for their loved one, there's more than 3,800 headstones here, and they have to look through a spreadsheet, trying to find which row and which section their loved one is on," Vincent said. "But (almost) everyone has GPS on their phone; you just put the coordinates into your phone and you can walk directly to the headstone - plus or minus one meter - and you'll find your loved one."

This cuts down on the time families spend searching. If the staff at the cemetery aren't available, families can still easily find the resting place of whoever they are looking for.

Chance meeting

The project came about quite by chance, when Vincent bumped into Arthur Brooks, Madingley American Cemetery associate and certified interpretive presenter, at a mall in Cambridge.

"We got to talking and he knew we were Americans, and asked me if I'd like to come and see the cemetery," Vincent said. "I went out with my family, and at 4:30 p.m. (the flag is lowered) and I was asked if I wanted to fold it.

"As I did so, I was overwhelmed by the feeling of how those around me had paid the ultimate sacrifice for us to have our freedom," the engineering flight superintendent said. "Then I saw some (people) there looking for their relatives, and they were just having the hardest time trying to find them."

It was then Vincent thought there must be an easier way for people to find departed loved ones.

"I'm a surveyor, and I thought, well what if we just pulled some coordinates of these places, to help (these people) find their loved ones. So I talked to the caretaker, and he liked the idea and was happy to give it a shot."

Preparation is key

Vincent met with his Airmen and they discussed ways to make this idea a reality. The team visited Madingley to perform a reconnaissance survey, to find good positions for their base stations and get an idea of any obstacles and obstructions, such as trees, which may hinder their work so they could develop solutions before they started.

They set up three base stations, each of which tracks 24 satellites, providing them vital information and pin-pointing the exact geographic location of each person's headstone.

"This is for the survivors - the families," Vincent said. "When they come out here, instead of spending their time looking for their loved ones, they can find (the headstone) quickly, then take their time here, at the grave, looking around the museum, talking with the caretaker and just seeing what the cemetery has to offer.

Brainstorming, problem-solving

The team initially ran into technical problems, but instead of letting the problems hinder the project, the Airmen found a way to overcome them.

"This is a scenario that I'm sure other career fields run into," Vincent said. "You have a plan and it works well in your shop on base, but when you go outside the wire on a deployment, you have equipment and a plan you're supposed to execute - but if the equipment doesn't work, you have to be able to troubleshoot on the fly and fix it. So the young Airmen can apply this experience when they deploy - we ran into problems using the equipment here, but there's no way we can get in the vehicles and go back to (RAF) Mildenhall to solve it. We had to solve the problem here (at Madingley) and we managed to do that."

Because of the large number of headstones to track, the project will take some time to complete. Spreading the work over a period of time also means the entire engineering flight will have the opportunity to be involved in the Madingley project.

Back at RAF Mildenhall, the information - including GPS coordinates and the name of the deceased - is being put into a database. Once complete, the information will be available on the internet, where relatives and anyone else searching for someone memorialized at Madingley, will be able to track the exact position of any headstone located there.

Lasting legacy

"As we move into an increasingly digital and technological age, this will be a tremendous benefit to help both families and cemetery staff to quickly and accurately locate the grave site of a loved one," Brookes said. "This adds another dimension to what we do, and allows the current military to leave a lasting legacy for future generations.

"An exercise like this serves to foster and improve links between the U.S. Air Force and the community of the cemetery, and is vital in projecting the cemetery to a wider audience," said the cemetery associate. "It brings the U.S. Air Force directly in close contact with those who paid the ultimate sacrifice in World War II, and those to whom we owe a debt that can never be fully paid."

The project provides a two-way benefit. Not only is it benefiting the cemetery and families, but it's also a valuable training opportunity for the engineering flight members.

"Surveying is a necessary deployment skill for our Airmen, so training to keep their skills up is important," said Lt. Col. Kevin Parker, 100th CES commander from Nederland, Texas. "We can train on trees and manholes, or we can do this, which provides benefit to someone else."

"Each time I come here, I leave a better person. I appreciate what I have. I appreciate what I do. I feel that as a military member and a citizen of the United States, I feel it's my duty to give back - because these people have paid the ultimate sacrifice," Vincent said. "All I'm doing is standing in the cold, measuring some (GPS) shots. They were out in the cold being shot at; some were starving and some were (prisoners of war). I'm just trying to give back to my country and to these people."

For more information on the Madingley American Cemetery and other cemeteries, visit www.abmc.gov.