POINT PLEASANT, W.Va. (AP) - Sometimes, the West Virginia Supreme Court mulls cases that involve heinous crimes.
Other times, the justices consider matters as mundane as insurance issues in car crashes, or scores of workers’ compensation appeals.
But in less than a month, lawyers will go before the high court on what’s certainly a novel and intriguing case: Whether a Medal of Honor recipient’s remains will be disinterred.
The dead man is Chester Howard West, who received the Medal of Honor as an Army first sergeant for charging a machine gun nest on Sept. 26, 1918, in France, and killing two German machine gunners. West would be buried in the Mason County cemetery of his wife’s family less than 17 years later, the victim of a homicide at age 47.
When West was buried, nobody reportedly knew of any living blood relatives. And eventually, his gravesite would be taken over by the state and made part of the Cornstalk Wildlife Preserve. The cemetery became grown over, according to published reports, only to be reclaimed by an Eagle Scout and several helpers.
By all accounts, the cemetery is still a tough place to visit. So when a living Medal of Honor recipient, Hershel Woodrow “Woody” Williams, found out about this, he eventually began the process of trying to move the body to the Donel C. Kinnard Memorial State Veterans Cemetery in Institute. There, a marker could be erected to note West’s receipt of the nation’s highest award for valor. There, West could rest among thousands of other veterans. And there, Williams reasoned, it also would be a much easier place for those interested - or potential kin - to pay their respects.
Some descendants of West’s wife, however, have said they believe he should remain in the grave where he was laid to rest.
The Supreme Court likely will decide the case from a legal scope, perhaps even setting some precedent on how graves that move from private to public domain are to be viewed under West Virginia law.
Still, there’s a lot about this case to interest the casual observer.
Consider, for instance, the old graves that moved into the public domain when the West Fork River and its tributaries were dammed up in the 1980s, creating Stonewall Jackson Lake.
And there are several other, similar situations all around the state.
West Virginia remains predominantly rural, which means there are still Mountain State residents burying loved ones in family plots. This case certainly begs the question about what happens to such cemeteries as time marches on and West Virginia becomes more populated and more urban (which is likely to eventually happen as other parts of the Eastern United States grow more and more congested).
It’s also interesting to wonder whether Medal of Honor recipient West had given much thought about where he wanted to be laid to rest. Considering that he’d been in a world war and killed at least two men, plus had seen plenty more die from wounds; considering that the deadly worldwide influenza pandemic of 1918-19 also occurred in his lifetime; considering that there are reports he had a first wife, and that though they weren’t still married, she died at age 32 in 1923; considering the lack of antibiotics and other modern medicine; and considering that the life expectancy for a man of his generation at birth was in the 40s, it’s very likely that he did.
If he really did want to be buried on that ground - granted, it’s a question we can’t answer - is it right to move him now, no matter how well-intentioned the aim of the esteemed Medal of Honor recipient Williams?
There’s also this thought, which apparently hasn’t been raised in court proceedings: Could DNA testing of West’s remains lead to a direct descendant? That, too, would require disinterring the body, but it seems like it might have the possibility of making a difference in legal proceedings.
Finally, the West Virginia Encyclopedia writes that West, who was born in Colorado and enlisted in California, is believed to be the only World War I Medal of Honor recipient buried in the state. That’s no small part of this equation.
Whatever the court decides, this process has been beneficial in a couple of ways.
First, even if West isn’t moved from his grave, the Eagle Scout who resurrected the cemetery, and Williams, have accomplished a lot simply by raising the profile of West’s resting place. If that’s where he will remain, state officials would do well to open up access to the cemetery, and provide a proper Medal of Honor marker for West.
And second, this is a reminder that except for a tiny percentage of the most famous individuals on this planet, our resting places on this earth are likely to eventually be fully reclaimed. That could either come through the hands of human development, or simply through the inexorable progress of nature, the same force that created the Grand Canyon and Niagara Falls.
Arguments for the case, styled “In Re: The Remains of Chester Howard West,” are scheduled for 10 a.m. Feb. 15 in Charleston. Morgantown attorney Robert M. Bastress Jr. will represent a relative of West’s wife, while Huntington lawyer Jason Spears will represent Medal of Honor recipient Williams.
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Information from: The Exponent Telegram, https://www.theet.com
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