Fort Custer National Cemetery is a United States National Cemetery located near the village of Augusta in Kalamazoo County, Michigan. It covers 770.4 acres (311.8 hectares), and in 2022, it had 33,000 burials.

History

Named after General George Armstrong Custer, Camp Custer was built in 1917 as part of the military effort during World War I. After the war, it was also used to help soldiers return to civilian life. The cemetery was not created until 1943. During World War II, Fort Custer was expanded to train soldiers and hold German prisoners of war.

Of the German prisoners of war held during World War II, 26 died and were buried in the cemetery. Sixteen of them were killed when a truck carrying them crashed into a train near Blissfield, Michigan.

In 1981, Fort Custer cemetery officially became Fort Custer National Cemetery after receiving a large piece of land from the Fort Custer Training Center to grow. In 1997, the cemetery expanded again with the addition of 60 acres (24 hectares).

Noteworthy monuments

The Avenue of Flags is a line of 152 flag poles along the main road of the cemetery. There is also a main flagpole and 50 additional flag poles arranged in a semicircle at the road's end, one for each state flag. Fort Custer National Cemetery has a memorial pathway lined with various memorials that honor America's veterans. These memorials were donated by different organizations. As of 2007, there were 31 memorials at the cemetery. Most of these memorials honored military organizations and veterans' groups.

Notable burials

• Wade Herbert Flemons (1940–1993) was born in Battle Creek, Michigan. He worked in the U.S. Army during the Vietnam War from September 1965 to September 1967. He was an American soul singer and one of the first members of the musical group Earth, Wind & Fire. His music career started in 1958 when he was 17 years old. He released a song called "Here I Stand" while still in high school. By the late 1960s, he worked as a musician and wrote songs in Chicago. He worked with Maurice White to form a group called The Salty Peppers in 1969. This group later became Earth, Wind & Fire. Flemons sang for the group on their first two albums but left the band in 1972. He wrote over 200 songs in his lifetime and performed with other musicians like Bo Didley, Jackie Wilson, Curtis Mayfield, and Frankie Valli.

• Sergeant Donald E. Boven (1925–2011) joined the Army after finishing high school in 1943. He served with the U.S. Third Army in Europe during World War II. He arrived on Omaha Beach on D-Day plus 2 and took part in the Battle of the Bulge. Boven was born in Kalamazoo, Michigan, and was known for being a strong athlete. After World War II, he used his G.I. Bill benefit to attend Western Michigan University. He was a top athlete in football, basketball, and baseball there. After graduating, he had offers to play professional sports but chose basketball. He was drafted by the Indianapolis Olympians in 1949. During his career, he played for the Waterloo Hawks, Milwaukee Hawks, Baltimore Bullets, and Fort Wayne Pistons. He stopped playing professional basketball in 1953 and later worked as a coach and teacher at his old school for 32 years. He retired in 1985 and had an active life after retirement.

• Private First Class Benjamin Franklin Adams (1936–2005) was born in Norfolk, Virginia. He was a skilled right-handed pitcher in the American Negro League from 1952 to 1969. His baseball career began with the Indianapolis Clowns in 1952. The next year, he was the starting pitcher for the Memphis Red Sox. He joined the Kansas City Monarchs in 1955 and played for that team for the rest of his career. From 1956 to 1957, his baseball career was paused because he joined the Army, though he still played baseball while in service. He was a member of American Legion Post 0059 and the Teamsters Union.