Fort Leavenworth Military Prison Cemetery Explained

Fort Leavenworth Military Prison Cemetery
Established:1884[1]
Country:United States
Location:Fort Leavenworth, Kansas, US
Owner:United States Disciplinary Barracks
Graves:299 (240 marked, 59 unmarked)
Findagraveid:2177930

Fort Leavenworth Military Prison Cemetery (also known as the United States Disciplinary Barracks Cemetery) is a cemetery maintained by the Fort Leavenworth Military Prison, Leavenworth County, Kansas. The purpose of this cemetery is for the burial of unclaimed bodies of soldiers who died in the United States Disciplinary Barracks.[2] It is the final resting place for 299 soldiers who died in the prison, 58 of whom lie in unmarked graves.[2] The majority of the soldiers who are buried in Fort Leavenworth Military Prison Cemetery died between 1898 and 1905.[2]

The last known internment in the cemetery occurred under special circumstances in May 2023, when the remains of U.S. Navy Lt. Andrew Chabrol, who had been executed by Virginia in 1993 for the 1991 abduction, rape and murder of a female enlisted sailor, were relocated from a niche at the columbarium of Arlington National Cemetery in accordance with a provision in the 2023 National Defense Authorization Act.[3] [4]

Otherwise, as families of soldiers who die while in custody of the U.S. Disciplinary Barracks are expected to claim the bodies, the U.S. military does not have any plan for future burials.Fourteen German prisoners of war who were executed in 1945 (for the murders of fellow-POWs Johannes Kunze, Horst Günther and Werner Drechsler[1]) in the military prison are buried in the northwest corner of the cemetery.[5]

See also

Notes and References

  1. http://www.ftlvnhistsoc.org/German_POW_executions.htm Fort Leavenworth Historical Society, "German POW Execution"
  2. http://www.interment.net/data/us/ks/leavenworth/ftleav_prison/index.htm Fort Leavenworth Military Prison burial data from Interment.net
  3. News: At Arlington National Cemetery, a convicted killer rests among heroes . 29 June 2024 . Washington Post . 27 May 2022.
  4. News: Sailor’s killer to be removed from Arlington thanks to new law . 29 June 2024 . Navy Times . 12 April 2023.
  5. http://venus.soci.niu.edu/~archives/ABOLISH/mar98/0037.html "Abolish Archives" 1 March, 1988