Yesterday my Dutch colleague and friend David and I went to the American Cemetery at Margraten, The Netherlands. The cemetery is the final resting place of some 8,302 American Soldiers who died advancing into Nazi Germany to defeat Hitler's Military Machine.
The 65.5 acre site is located a mere twenty minutes from my home in Aachen. The scenery around the cemetery is absolutely beautiful, full of lush green trees, rolling hills and an ever changing landscape. My visit to Margraten doesn't have any particular significance to me other than my common heritage as an American. The single member of my family that I am aware of that fought in World War II served in Normandy and survived the war only to die in his 80's before I had the chance to meet him. The cemetery is very well taken care of and is a moving monument to the sacrifice given by so many. I had to think about what it must have been to be young American during the Second World War, fighting in a land far away from home. I was proud to be a member of a generation made secure because of their efforts. What was extremely moving was seeing how many Dutch families were at the cemetery. I saw several graves with fresh flowers placed on top. Young Dutch children were explained the history of World War II by their parents as they read the information on the walls. The weather was appropriately windy, cold and ever changing.
I'm extremely dissapointed in the fact that although I remembered to bring my camera, I had not remembered to grab the memory card out of my laptop. Of course, I am the Pechvogel after all. I plan to return to take pictures. Afterwards we discovered some of the Dutch countryside. It was absolutely gorgeous.
I really enjoy Limburg, the province of The Netherlands which borders Aachen. The landscape really is breathtaking, the people friendly, the drinks cheap and the mood is somehow different. I wish I was able to spend more time over there. Of course, the moment you cross the border, the language barrier becomes quite heinous. Thankfully, almost all Dutch people speak either English or German.
The weather here is awful. Today the hi was 14 degrees Celsius (58 degrees Fahrenheit) and it rained the entire day. I miss summer. I think tonight my heater might need to be turned on. I hope not. I'm leaving for Vienna on Friday and I'm quite excited about it. I need the time away from Aachen. This time I wont forget my memory card.
1 comment:
I hear you. I spent part of Memorial Day at the U.S. cemetery in Draguinan, in southern France. I have seen the same scenes as you, just in a different country: French families walking about the grounds, selecting graves at random to place flowers on, and even French women too young to remember the war crying softly about it all. And some fools have the nerve to say the French don't appreciate what our soldiers did there. An object lesson why one should not confuse the statements of a country's government with the sentiments of its people. Cheers.
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