The flag stands proudly on the grounds of the Luxemburg American Military Cemetery. Veterans Day last November. The cold, wet air seemed to slice through all my layers. This being my first visit to a foreign military cemetery, I wasn’ t prepared for the flood of emotions. As we approached, and the mist cleared some so we could actually see the ocean of crosses and stars, my heart sped, the tears spilled, and no words came.
When the weather ‘turned’ last fall as everyone prepared us for, all I could think of was those brave who fought through the nastiness…and died……….so the German people, and the French people, and the Belgian people,and the Dutch people, and the Polish people, and the Luxemburg people, and the Austrian people, and ultimately the American people could live in peace.
I thought about my toes a lot that day. They were so cold and eventually numb. And I looked at the folks dressed up in period uniforms………. and their leather shoes and boots. Wet leather boots in snow……
Why did they do it? Why are there still those brave (though now the battle is in the desert oven) who will give their everything for people they don’t even know?
America is a country like no other. Indescribable really. No other republic feels the need to aid the downtrodden, the trambled, the weak, the crippled, the little guy. We get slammed for ‘overdoing’ it and ‘sticking our big arrogant nose in’ the messes made by the rest of the world. But we know, in the end, we are the one that the world runs to for ‘the clean up’. And somehow, the word that comes to mind as I gaze at this picture isn’t arrogance…………but sacrifice.
Amen! "Sacrifice." I agree. My life changed… my perspective changed… in those few moments I stood looking out over the English Channel and then to my left at the white crosses so numerous they blended into a single white line on the horizon as I tried to grasp the enormity of the battle on the Beaches of Normandy.
Thank you for sharing! Another inspiring post!