So many battle sites to visit in Europe, and so little time. What amazed me during my drives through the countryside over there (I was on a travelling maintenance team and we'd spend days on the road all over) was how many small burial grounds there were. Little compounds in the middle of a farmers field with a British flag flying...or the seemingly randomly placed grave stones on the berm around the moat of a little town (the name escapes me) where British troops where literally buried where they fell.
One day I loaded up my car with a few gas cans (which caused the French border guards some concern) and drove from my home in Belguim to the Normandy beaches. All I had was a roadmap and a general idea where Normandy was. I found the beaches and Point Du Hoc and wandered around in amazement.
As dusk was settling in, I was still scrambling around bunkers near one of the beaches when I heard the tune of "America the Beautiful" drifting on the breeze from behind a long bank trees. I walked in that direction and poked my head through the trees just as the National Anthem started playing...Found myself at attention, staring at the big American cemetery. Turns out they were ending the day, like every day, with those songs. That was powerful.
One day I loaded up my car with a few gas cans (which caused the French border guards some concern) and drove from my home in Belguim to the Normandy beaches. All I had was a roadmap and a general idea where Normandy was. I found the beaches and Point Du Hoc and wandered around in amazement.
As dusk was settling in, I was still scrambling around bunkers near one of the beaches when I heard the tune of "America the Beautiful" drifting on the breeze from behind a long bank trees. I walked in that direction and poked my head through the trees just as the National Anthem started playing...Found myself at attention, staring at the big American cemetery. Turns out they were ending the day, like every day, with those songs. That was powerful.