Remembering what we'd like to forget

Henri Chapelle Cemetery in Belgium

8,000 American soldiers' graves

Ten American Boy Scouts

Lots of soap and water

One very long day

cleaning grave markers,

understanding the cost of war,

remembering the dead,

honoring their sacrifice.

These 8,000 graves? They represent only a small fraction of the tens of thousands of Americans who died in Belgium during World War II. This past weekend, E went to Normandy, France--to understand, to remember, to mourn.

May 28, 2007

Comments

[Shirl Grrrl]

So humbling. Are there names somewhere on the crosses?

[mamatulip]

Humbling, indeed.

[V-Grrrl]

Yeah, there are names on all the markers but hard to see because they're not darkened.

[vaninnie]

We were in Ieper this weekend & I figured y'all were at one of the American cemeteries. Incredible. Seeing the Stars & Stripes blowing in the breeze, hearing the Anthem (for those of you who've never heard your National Anthem outside of your home country, it's moving beyond words), seeing the row upon row upon row of sacrifice, the babies in uniform ready to give their lives in ___. Every Memorial Day weekend the local Belgian school children in Ieper sing our National Anthem in gratitude for what our young men and women did to liberate the Belgians in two wars. Though moving, it touches so much deeper that your E and 9 of his friends would scrub headstones while on 'vacation' from school. Give him an extra hug from me.
And on a so-irrelevant note compared to your post, would love to meet for tea sometime.
-S

[Debbie]

Wow, those pictures are awesome. Very sobering. What a neat way for your son to pay tribute though.

[furiousBall]

It's one thing to talk about the numbers, but to witness the vast amount of those crosses is something else. Perspective is a powerful thing.

[JanePoe (aka Deborah)]

What a tribute to the fallen soldiers ... cleansing the grave markers ... so humbling. Much peace, JP

[V-Grrrl]

Peter in Antwerp e-mailed me this comment after it failed to post:


Wish all Belgians were so respectful when confronted with the truly
chilling sacrifice these men made to liberate Belgium.

Almost in front of my door there's a former memorial for the men who liberated Antwerp (Belgium's second largest city, pop 1 million): it has been disgracefully dumped right in the middle of a riverside open air car park.

You can check the shameful pictures here:
http://antwerp.wordpress.com/2006/06/21/liberating-antwerp-belgium-1944-a-tribute-to-the-forgotten-heroes/

[Amber]

What a really beautiful thing to do.

Thank you. I set the last picture as my wallpaper.

:)

[Ortizzle]

Great Memorial Day post, V. Is this the cemetery that inspired the famous poem, "In Flanders Fields the poppies grow, between the crosses, row on row..." ?

[V-Grrrl]

Ortizzle,

That cemetery is at Ieper, mentioned by Vaninnie above. It holds the victims of World War I trench warfare. The guy who wrote the poem was a doctor, tending to the wounded.

[Anil]

Sometimes I wonder if the serenity of their resting place does justice to their violet end. If only their reality could be conveyed, maybe visitors would appreciate more what they laid down their lives for.