Henri Chapelle American Cemetery and Memorial

While we were at the wreath laying ceremony, David spoke with a Dutch family who was able to give us information on how to find where his great Uncle Lillard is buried.  We discovered that he was buried at the Henri Chapell American Cemetery which was just about 20 minutes from where we were. Needless to say, we headed there when we were done with the wreath laying.

Henri Chapelle American Cemetery is the final resting place of 7992 American soldiers, and was established in 1944 by the American Army.  Many were killed during the Ardennes Offensive (Battle of the Bulge), the conquest of the city of Aachen, and the Battle of Hurtgen Forest.

 On the pillars of this walkway are the names of 450 whose bodies were not found.

 Lillard E. Pratt

Capt. 343 FA BN 90 DIV

Nebraska Feb. 22, 1945

We are only the second of Lillard's family to have the privilege of visiting his grave and being able to say, "Thank you for your sacrifice".

 

 Inside the visitor's center there are two walls that depict the battle routes during the war

 The cemetery is on a hill with some beautiful views of the Belgian countryside.

David stopped in and spoke to someone in the office and found out that they also have an "adopt-a-grave" program and we are waiting to hear if Lillard's grave has an adoptive family, and if so, we hope to meet them to thank them for remembering and honoring Lillard.

Wreaths Across America: Margraten, Netherlands

Today we had the honor of placing wreaths on the graves of veterans who sacrificed their lives during World War II. The girls sold wreaths for several years when each of them were involved with American Heritage Girls, but the last time we were able to participate in the actual wreath laying was in Virginia.

What made today even more special than the last time we did it, was the fact that this was the very first time that wreaths were laid on these graves - the first time in the nearly 75 years since the end of the war. Despite that fact, don't think for a minute that these heroes have been forgotten. The Dutch people, as we are finding out more and more, are an amazing culture.  For the last 75 years these soldiers have been loved and cared for by Dutch families - generations of them.  There is a program here that allows families to adopt a grave or name of a soldier who hasn't been found, and it is apparently a very successful program as they have a 250 person waiting list for this particular cemetery. It is something that these families take very seriously, and I have no doubt that the soldiers and what their sacrifice means will not be forgotten.

 Written on this wall, and the one opposite it, are over 1,700 names of soldiers whose bodies were not recovered (any that have since been recovered have a rosette by their name). While we were looking at the names on the wall I observed a young family who had apparently adopted one of the names on that wall.  I watched, with tears in my eyes, as this young mom talked to her daughter about "their" soldier, and then lovingly touched his name. I have no ties to any of these soldiers, but have a long family history of service to our country, and as a daughter of a sailor and the wife of a soldier, it means the world to me that our veterans are being remembered and loved even when their own families cannot physically be there to do the same.

 The American Legion post here had a great deal to do with the organization of this event.

 A C 130 out of Ramstein Air Force Base did a fly over

 Placing a wreath and saying the soldier's name. 

We do this so a soldier doesn't experience his or her "second death". To paraphrase a quote from Bansky: A soldier dies twice - once on the battlefield and again when his name is spoken for the last time. 

The rows have a slight arc to them instead of being straight as we see in the USA

  There are 8,301 graves at this cemetery and each cross got a wreath, and each headstone that is a Star of David got a stone (Jewish people don't use decorations on graves).

Kasteel Neubourg

On the way out to the cemetery this morning I noticed that we drove by the pancake restaurant that we ate at our first Sunday here and thought it would be a great stop for lunch.

Naomi had a Nutella and banana pancake

 I had ham, cheese, and pineapple and Grace had bacon, cheese, and tomato.

If you can't tell by these pictures, we made ourselves miserable by stuffing ourselves. To remedy this, we took a walk over to Kasteel Neubourg since three of the five of us hadn't seen it.

The castle was built in 1288 and has been expanded numerous times and was used as a hotel for several decades. It has fallen into disrepair since its days as a hotel, but has recently been purchased by the Dutch Association for Natural Monuments and is in the process of being restored.

 They have a couple of sheep grazing the grounds

 The tree lined path to and from the castle from the restaurant.

Aachener Weihnachts Markt

Today we ventured to Aachen, Germany for its Christmas market. Aachen was originally a Roman settlement and spa and then became the preferred medieval Imperial residence of Charlemagne. From 936 to 1531, 31 Holy Roman Emperors were crowned here as well.

In the middle is the Palatine Chapel, the only remaining portion of Charlemagne's Palace of Aachen.  It was built in the 8th century and is now the central part of the Aachen Cathedral.

I don't have the patience to decorate cookies like this!

The flat cookies are a traditional German gingerbread.

Aachener Weihnachts Markt with its Printen gingerbread men

This huge pile of cotton candy was only 3 euro!

We are enjoying seeing these Christmas markets.  We have mostly come away with food (cheese) thus far, but we have MANY more to visit.