War Cemeteries, some pictures I wish to share

[Alex van de Wetering]

Adegem Commonwealth War cemetery (Belgium)

[Alex van de Wetering]

Jerusalem Commonwealth War Cemetery....no not in Jersusalem, but close to Tilly-sur Seulles Normandy.

That's it for now....will post more pictures when I can free some time.

[Phil Waterman]

Your photos brought to mind two sentiments Lest We Forget and Not In Vain which come to mind each Memorial Day and Veterans Day, in the US May 31 and November 11th.

The May 31st has gotten rather flexible in the US with towns and cities having commemorative events and parades over three weekends. Yesterday Sunday 6th was when my small town could get the band and marching units to take part in our small parade.

While our small town had a number of men serve in WWII only 3 died during the war. These men are recognized each year by name during the ceremonies as are any of those who served who have died during the last year. This year the reading of the list of those who had died was particularly poignant as the last native son of the town to serve in WWII has died.

Thank you for sharing the photos

[Little Jo]

Alex

Thank you for posting all the wonderful photographs. We must never forget the sacrifice made by those who gave so much. During one of my many visits back to Holland I have only visited one War Cemetery, The one in Oosterbeek and found it very moving.

Today is the 07.06/2011, the day after D Day and I don't recall seeing anything in the paper or on the TV News reminding us of that historic WW2 day. How quickly people forget and the young ones don't know, or care.

Tony

[Haridimos]

Leros War Cemetery. More for the Battle of Leros Here.

LEROS_British Cemetery_aug2011.jpg800px-LerosWarCemetery2[1].jpg*

*The first photo was taken before a few days and the second one is from wiki.

[jack neville]

I did a tour of the Western Front a few years ago and stopped to look at a few cemeteries, but it wasn't till I did a guided tour from Ypres in Belgium that I understood the significance of the layout of the headstones. It gave me a whole new appreciation of the importance of the cemeteries. Especially when you see the headstones situated around the edge of the perimeter and the headstones that are positioned touching each other. Seeing those makes you stop and think. There is a set of five headstones in the Alemein Cemetery in Egypt that has five stones together. It means five men died at the same time in the same place so they are buried side by side. Maybe from a shell burst or a tank crew or something similar but understanding the way the cemeteries are laid out and seeing the different headstones in different positions is really moving at times.

[Bruce MacMillan]

I had the fortune to do a tour of Canadian cemeteries & memorials in France & Belgium last year with Norm Christie. It was the most educational & moving trip I had done. It wasn't like reading a book or watching tv, you were actually there with the fallen, in many places where they fell.

What I noticed was the large number of school kids from France, Belgium & England that were there learning this history. I wish our schools taught more about our military history. But I guess it's still not PC.

Here's a link to my photos of the trip.
https://picasaweb.google.com/BruceM0...eat=directlink

click on thumbnails to enlarge

[Jon Skagfeld]

Originally Posted by jack neville

I did a tour of the Western Front a few years ago and stopped to look at a few cemeteries, but it wasn't till I did a guided tour from Ypres in Belgium that I understood the significance of the layout of the headstones. It gave me a whole new appreciation of the importance of the cemeteries. Especially when you see the headstones situated around the edge of the perimeter and the headstones that are positioned touching each other. Seeing those makes you stop and think. There is a set of five headstones in the Alemein Cemetery in Egypt that has five stones together. It means five men died at the same time in the same place so they are buried side by side. Maybe from a shell burst or a tank crew or something similar but understanding the way the cemeteries are laid out and seeing the different headstones in different positions is really moving at times.

Speaking of five headstones: in a German Cemetary (the one where Michael Wittman and his crew are buried), the name of which escapes me right now, are rows of crosses in black stone all in five unit groups. The peculiar thing is that the middle cross is larger and higher than the two beside it. Nobody seemed to be offer an explanation as to their significance.

Edit: Just remembered...it's La Cambe German cemetary.