George Elwin Nickerson

Died From Battle Wounds Received in World War I.Infantry AutoMatic Rifleman- Fought a Long Battle with Effects Of Mustard Gas In VA Hospitals. Buried In The Row Of The Argonne (Plot94,8G) With Others Of His Brothers in Arms -Veterans National Cemetery . Los Angeles , California. Argonne Cross Memorial

The Argonne Forest region in northeast France near the Belgian border was the scene of some of the fiercest fighting during the last days of World War I. The American Expeditionary Force lost thousands of men and women in the Argonne region. The bodies of many of the American casualties were not returned home but instead were buried in France. Following the war, the remains of many of those Americans were disinterred and reburied, either in military cemeteries in Europe or returned to the United States. More than 2,000 of the men and women who gave their lives in France for the defense of freedom are now buried in Arlington National Cemetery, primarily in Section 18. In a corner of that large section with its many rows of simple white headstones rises the simple white rood known as the ARGONNE CROSS. A grove of 19 pine trees forms an emerald grotto that surrounds the 13-foot marble cross. These trees represent the trees of the Argonne Forest where so many lost their lives. On November 17, 1921, Secretary of War John Wingate Weeks,(who now rests in ANC), approved the idea of a memorial to those who died in France, regardless of where they are presently buried. Through the efforts of the Argonne Unit American Women's Legion, that stately cross now stands with an eagle and wreath engraved on its face. Planted nearby is a memorial tree dedicated on April 28, 1985, by the Prelacy of the Armenian Apostolic Church on behalf of Armenian survivors of World War I.