Ancestors of the timber from the Battle of Belleau Wood now stand on the National Museum of the Marine Corps as a dwelling memorial to the Marines, troopers and sailors who fought there.
Eight timber from Belleau Wood, France have been planted on the 104th anniversary of the beginning of the Battle of Belleau Wood, on June 6, 2022, on the National Museum of the Marine Corps.
The timber have been planted throughout a memorial ceremony that came about to honor the U.S. service members who fought within the battle.
“The trees we are planting today are part of a project,” defined retired U.S. Marine Corps Lt. Col. Scott Yost, “Dedicated to establishing groves of Belleau Wood ‘decedent trees’ throughout the United States.”
A challenge over 20 years within the making, retired U.S. Marine Corps Col. John Glitz first had the concept to import acorns from Belleau Wood, France, the house of an oak grove that witnessed the most important and costliest battle that the Marine Corps had fought as much as that time.
On June 6, 1918, Marines from the fifth and sixth Regiments started a coordinated assault to dislodge German forces that have been threatening Paris. The battle approached almost three weeks earlier than German forces withdrew. To honor the Marines that fought there, the French renamed the wooden “Bois de la Brigade de Marine” or “Wood of the Marine Brigade”.
“The planting of these trees allows us to bring home a small piece of what our forefathers fought to take.” U.S. Marine Corps Lt. Col. Scott Yost, retired
“And create our personal ‘Wood of the Marine Brigade,” stated Lt. Col. Yost.
The symbolism of these trees, however, goes beyond memorializing the Marines that fought in the Battle of Belleau Wood.
“I hope that they are a living memorial to those that fought, and a living reminder to those of us that have come since and those that will come in the future of the great valor and their willingness to do their duty under great fear in a ferocious battle,” detailed Col. Glitz, “We are proud of what they did, we honor what they did, and every Marine, soldier and sailor in the future should look back and measure themselves against what they did.”
Col. Glitz went on to talk about the importance of the trees’ location on the National Museum of the Marine Corps by saying that it’s the excellent place for tens of millions of Marines from previous, current and future to come back and replicate on Marine Corps historical past, but in addition to look inward.
“We honor them here, but also future Marines, Marines that haven’t been born yet will be able to come here and reflect on themselves… and measure themselves against what they did,” mentioned Col. Glitz, “Just standing under these trees and thinking about what it is to be a Marine.”