PennyDaisy

The American Cemetery in Normandie, France.  It’s actually between the towns of Colleville-sur-Mer and Saint-Laurent-sur-Mer.  Probably one of the most moving and overwhelming sites in France–at least for me.  It amazed me how many of the visitors were French–until I remembered what country we were in.  Did you know that we were actually in America?  *grin*  Right after the war, France gave that land to the United Sates.  Natalie and I had to take our shoes off to walk in the grass.  And we took pictures of our bare feet standing on American soil in France.  (Wouldn’t my Daddy love that.) 

I wanted to shout to all those foreigners, “Do you have any clue what this means to us?  These were our boys!”  And of course, gratitude followed, that the French would give us a place to bury those boys and remember them in the place where they died.  9,386 graves there (including 4 women), and on the wall of missing soldiers, 1557 names are written.  That’s just the ones buried there–I think something like 20,000 more were sent home to be buried, and of course, there are American cemeteries in other countries (like Belgium). 

We were there at closing time (less crowded) and got to hear the bells toll the 5 o’clock hour and then play The Battle Hymn of the Republic.  Talk about trying not to cry in public… especially since I was video taping.  I remember thinking, I hope this picture isn’t shaking…

How can you not be grateful?