"A Quest to Pay Tribute" An American flag marks approximate location of a burial site for Civil War Soldiers in Cameron Parish, as the team to locate them presses through a hostile summer environment. LA-RFO Photo. Back to Features

Recovery Soldiers seek to pay tribute to Soldiers' unmarked graves
By Spec, Larry Gleeson, Public Affairs, Louisiana Recovery Field Office

Imagine yourself a Confederate soldier in 1864. Squadrons of mosquitoes swarming, hounding, pounding and performing fly-by’s on your ears. Threatening rattles from the bush make your heart race. Birds chirp nervously from the waist high prairie grass that squishes under foot. The foliage is so thick that you have to use a machete to find a position where you can wait for your unsuspecting Yankee prey. 

For Lt. Col. Jack Hourguettes, Jr., directing a team of four archeologists, an Army Corps of Engineers contractor and a public affairs specialist across and through the same area today, the conditions are reminiscent of a fateful May morning in 1864.

“This was a very worthwhile mission. We have American servicemen lying in unmarked graves. With the adopted ‘No man left behind’ mindset we adhere to, we need to do what’s necessary to make sure they have the proper honors that are due them. These are American servicemen.”

From the western banks of Monkey Island on the Calcasieu River in Cameron Parish, the search is on for an unmarked Civil War burial site from the Battle of Calcasieu Pass, where twenty-two soldiers fought and died that year. 

Hourguettes and the other faithful followers, journeyed through the marsh-covered island in search of grave stones or any evidence of a burial site.

Disembarking from their vessel, relentless squadrons of mosquitoes began their assault. Undeterred, the team scaled the embankment and plotted their course for the suspected burial site.

Cheryl Bommarito, lead archeologist, and Jim McGimsey took the lead, wading through the saturated prairie grass to an area of brush and dense foliage. The ground soon became a watery sludge. Someone placed a rectangular piece of plywood on the ground as the team entered dense foliage.

One member of the party dropped out as the heat and humidity began to take its toll. After some discussion, the group decided to press on. Janet Trenton stepped to the front brandishing her machete. The archeologist slashed through the foliage like the warrior goddess Athena.

Next, Cheryl Bommarito claimed the machete and, with colorful language, whacked through more foliage. Sensing the nearness of their destination, state archeologist Jim McGimsey, seized the machete and hacked away with a vengeance.

McGimsey feverishly cleared the path into the burial site.  By now the slight breeze had died.  Beneath the blazing Cameron Parish summer sun, McGimsey began to show the symptoms of heat exhaustion. Almost out of water, Bommarito directed team historian Christa Clement to go back and bring a supply of water back.

Meanwhile, Hourguettes treated McGimsey for heat exhaustion. Using the cardboard MRE’s as fans and cool compresses to lower McGimsey’s core body temperature, Hourguettes ordered a helicopter medical evacuation. Trenton called in the coordinates and a chopper was quickly on its way.

The team placed a flag on a fallen tree to mark the proximity of the burial site.

Clement returned with water as she coughed mosquitoes out of her mouth.

Minutes later, the chopper arrived as did a ground rescue team.  McGimsey made it to the landing zone under his own power where EMT’s placed him on a stretcher and loaded him onto the chopper for the flight to the Lake Charles Memorial Hospital.

The team returned to the western shore of Monkey Island, battling the mosquitoes all the way. They arrived safely there with too many mosquito bites to count.

Efforts to locate the missing burial site of comrades from the North and South will not go overlooked nor will they cease, the team declared.