Yesterday, I rode the 4.5 miles out to the American Cemetery, which is just outside the Cambridge corporation limit. While Friday was Veteran's Day in the U.S. and Armistice Day in the UK, the Sunday following the eleventh day of the eleventh month is Remembrance Day, which is the equivalent of Memorial Day in the U.S. Given the occasion, I thought it was quite time to go and pay my respect to the U.S. fallen, who never made it home. For 3,812 sailors, soldiers, marines, and airman, this scenic field is their final resting spot. Each grave is marked as they are at Arlington, while the magnitude is smaller, the contribution is the same. They represent the cost that was paid in both World War I and World War II to protect our mutual way of life. I found the Wall of the Missing even more sobering. On tablets stretching over one-hundred yards, 5,127 names are etched. They represent the young men who perished in the Battle for the Atlantic and in air raids into the heart of Axis-Europe. Their remains were never recovered and lie in some unknown grave. As I walked along the wall, I read the names and paid distinct attention to the volume of 2nd Lieutentants and Ensigns who died before their time. The following quote runs the entire length of the Wall of the Missing:
THE AMERICANS, WHOSE NAMES HERE APPEAR, WERE PART OF THE PRICE THAT FREE MEN FOR THE SECOND TIME IN THIS CENTURY HAVE BEEN FORCED TO PAY TO DEFEND HUMAN LIBERTY AND RIGHTS ALL WHO SHALL HEREAFTER LIVE IN FREEDOM WILL BE HERE REMINDED THAT TO THESE MEN AND THEIR COMRADES WE OWE A DEBT TO BE PAID WITH GRATEFUL REMEMBRANCE OF THEIR SACRIFICE AND THE HIGH RESOLVE THAT THE CAUSE FOR WHICH THEY DIED SHALL LIVE ETERNALLY.
On Remembrance Sunday, the wall was decorated with wreaths from around the U.S. and the U.K. As I walked along, I read the messages, messages of solidarity between the two nations. If anyone doubts the special relationship between our countries, they should have observed the throbs of Brits who came to pay their respects to American allies who fought and died before they were even born. I would argue that you would not find this type of observance anywhere else in the world. Next time I go, I hope to take other American student so that they can see the cost of freedom that has been paid by people no older than we.
Lovely commentary John. I'd encourage you to visit the Ardennes American Cemetery in Belgium, if you ever have the chance to go there, as well as the Mardasson war memorial, also in southern Belgium. Both very moving places. Belgium owes a lot to the United States during WWII and this is a feeling that has persisted, I feel, especially by the older generations.
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