American Battle Monuments Commission

[George W. Maschke]

This 4th of July weekend, my wife and I went on a driving tour of the Belgian-Dutch-German border area. Among other places we visited, we stopped to pay our respects at the Henri Chapelle American Cemetery in rural Belgium. The well-tended grounds are the final resting place of 7,989 U.S. military personnel who died during the U.S. advance into Germany. The names of 450 (mostly airmen) whose bodies were never recovered are inscribed on a collonade. Most were killed during the Battle of the Bulge (a German counteroffensive) during the winter of 1944-45. Medal of Honor recipient PFC Francis X. McGraw, for whom was named the former McGraw Kaserne in Munich, Germany, where I was once stationed, is interred here. It was a somberly moving experience that helped to put into perspective the horrific human cost of war in a way that mere numbers and statistics cannot.

A comprehensive illustrated and descriptive listing of U.S. overseas military cemeteries is available on the American Battle Monuments Commission website. For any who have the opportunity to visit one, it will be time well spent.

[Eastwood]

For once, a message in which we should all agree on this holiday weekend.
 

[eisenmann372002]

How about that; an Eastwood post that I agree with. Just kidding, Eastwood...but I do agree with you. Thanks for the post, George.

Eis