Sheet 6A, 107 West South F Street
(enumerated with father, Wesley Hamerele)
44, 141, 146, Hamerele, James, Son, , , , No, M, W, 1 7/12, S, , No, , Kansas, Czechoslovakia, Kansas, , 70, 15, 1, , , , None, , , , , , , ,1
Birth Date: 22 Sep 1928
Death Date: 13 Nov 1994
Social Security Number: 479-24-4256
State or Territory Where Number Was Issued: Iowa
Death Residence Localities
ZIP Code: 99615
Localities: Kodiak, Kodiak Island, Alaska4
Irene E.
1899 - 1980
Wesley C.
1894 - 1991
James W. *
1928 - 1994
(* Memorial only. See second burial)
2
Harmerle
LTC
US Army
Korea
Vietnam
Sep 22 1928
Nov 13 1994
Purple Heart
2
Along the Chiang Mai – Lamphung Road, behind a fence fronted by stalls, including a man wearing a vest with pockets filled with all kinds of mechanical implements like some crazy one-man-band, lies the Chiang Mai Foreign Cemetery in a quiet triangular green spot. It was founded in 1898 at the time of the British push north on the quest to dominate and exploit the teak plantations, when the British Consul requested the Thai Government to grant some land for those foreigners who passed away – those were much more treacherous times in SE Asia especially for those working in the forests, and since then it has been in continuous use. There were three conditions named in the Royal Gift:
1. The land may never be sold
2. It may be used for the burial of foreigners only
3. The British Consul may be the custodian of the land in perpetuity*
In past times, other cemeteries have yielded their dead, or corpse in absentia, a memorial, after being razed or put out of commission. An example is the Lampang Cemetery which was desecrated during the Japanese Occupation with stones cast aside haphazardly; these were moved to Chiang Mai Foreign Cemetery. Others scattered about Thailand have also been moved at various times to join these others. The cemetery is kept up by burial fees and donations; 200 Baht will buy you the book quoted in my reference, which describes a history of the cemetery, and histories of the interred, insofar as the committee, originally led by Dick Wood, now himself buried in the cemetery, had been able to uncover.
I have a fascination with abandoned houses, old dwellings and ghost towns, and what else is a cemetery but a house of the dead? So after I discovered its existence I felt I had to make a visit. Once past the gate, I found a tranquil oasis. In common with cemeteries the world over, it was peaceful, green and cool.
(ed: Other graves are listed but the following is the post on James Hamerle)
Lt Colonel James Hamerle, Jim, was born in Kansas and joined the US Army at age nineteen. He fought in the Korean War and the Vietnam War and he achieved service medals including the Purple Heart, the American service medal awarded to those wounded or killed in combat. Jim died of complications caused by cancer and his ashes are scattered here. After he died there was an announcement on BurmaNet http://www.burmalibrary.org/reg.burma/archives/199412/msg00051.html:
“Colonel James Hamerle died. He was a friend of democracy in Burma, and really and often laid his butt on the line to help. Even if you didn’t know him, send a prayer for his spirit, for he was truly a man in search of freedom for all.”5