Remembrance Day

Today is Remembrance Day. Being in the States I forgot all about it till after 11, which is a sad commentary on both myself and on the USA in general for not reminding me! In any case, I am very grateful for all that has been done for me by so many in both World Wars and other conflicts.

I wrote a few posts in the last year that you should check out if you are interested in WWI or WWII. One was last Remembrance Day, and the other was on the anniversary of the D-Day invasion of Normandy. They are much more thought out, you should go check them out.

Here is a picture stolen from one of those posts, and the rest are new ones (but from the same trip to Europe)

This was taken in the American Cemetery in Normandy:

Flanders Fields, Ypres, Belgium

Canadian Monument at Vimy Ridge in France

More from the US Cemetery at Normandy

This is the central monument at the German Cemetery at Normandy. Just because the Nazi leaders were terrible people does not mean that all, or even most, of the soldiers were not normal, good people just like the men on our side. Their cemetery was just as large and was very sobering to see. This cemetery wasn't nearly as crowed; in fact I think my family was the only group there at the time. While the US Cemetery was sobering as well, there was a feeling of accomplishment and thankfulness for the sacrifices made. At the German cemetery, the feeling was more somber, as I realized that all these men died simply because they were forced to fight by a madman. It was more of a hopeless sorrow. War is brutal and there are good and bad people on both sides, but never before has the sheer pointlessness of WWII (from the German's perspective) been more apparent to me.

Last of all, here is a shot from one of the Beaches of Normandy.