Four years ago, Michael Beach began searching for the stories of the Oklahoma soldiers who died fighting in World War I and World War II and are buried overseas.
Recently, the Mayville, Okla., resident began the search for as many of the stories as he could find of soldiers from all around the United States, including Texas County.
Beach began his journey with a visit to all 23 American cemeteries located around the world, where soldiers from Oklahoma are buried. He spent six months traveling through Europe, North Africa, the Philippines and Hawaii, where he placed more than 2,000 Oklahoma rose rocks at the graves of the soldiers.
“Everything started when I visited a Normandy (France) cemetery and walked up to an Oklahoman’s grave,” Beach said. “I gave him a rose rock and found about 20 others that day. When I went back, I visited the 144 Oklahoma soldiers in the cemetery and gave all of them a rose rock.”
Beach talked about the struggles he had along the way, from having to dig up the rose rocks himself, to having very little food to eat.
“On several occasions, I wanted to walk away from my journey and come back home,” he said. “I had very little money and my feet were so badly blistered because of walking that I shouldn’t have been walking but I had to, so I could get my journey accomplished. On the days I didn’t have a host to stay with I would have an apple or orange for breakfast and for supper pasta and tomato paste. I would also camp with a tent and a sleeping bag I had on my backpack to save money.
“Once I had made it to each of the cemeteries the thought of going home was washed away and I worked at finding the soldiers. It was hard work but I realized that if I didn’t do this that no one would and these men would not have a piece of Oklahoma with them.”
After Beach returned home, he began his search for the stories of the 3,000 Oklahoma soldiers. However, he soon encountered roadblock after roadblock on his quest to gathering the stories of these amazing soldiers.
“All too many times I have had family members tell me, ‘I wish I had known about this a year ago because my mom was alive and she knew everything about my uncle buried overseas,’” he said.
So far, Beach has gathered close to 50 stories – some only partially complete – of WWI and WWII members of the military from Oklahoma. He is now in the process of looking for stories of soldiers from other states.
“I have decided to find one story from each state for each of the 23 cemeteries located overseas and Hawaii,” Beach said. “I know that if the stories are fading here in Oklahoma they are fading all around the U.S.”
The stories Beach collects will be shared with each soldier’s cemetery so that visitors can be made aware of the tales and histories of these honorable men. He is looking for copies of photos, letters, family stories, information about the soldiers’ lives, and even histories of the areas where soldiers lived during the time they lived there.
Beach said 953 Missouri soldiers from WWI and 4,350 from WWII are buried or listed on the walls of the missing at overseas cemeteries.
Anyone with information about a solider who hailed from Missouri (or any other state) and is now buried overseas is encouraged to contact Beach by logging onto www.apieceofhomeusa.com to arrange a digital transfer.
Information can also be sent by mail to: Michael Beach, P.O. Box 582, Maysville, Okla., 73057