The WWII Netherlands American Cemetery

Last week was full of appointments to look at houses, cars, and schools.  Bob was able to take off most of the week, and we spent a lot of time nailing down the details of where to live and what to drive.  In a few days, we Americans are buying a French car from a Canadian stationed in Germany and registering it in the Netherlands--multicultural in every way!  And we are waiting on a draft lease for a fantastic house in the Maastricht area.  The details of living in NL are moving along nicely.

I also began my summer quarter of graduate school.  There was a short break that perfectly coincided with the first week of our relocation to NL.  My summer term courses are Education, Culture, and Society and Education and National Development.  Both courses promise to be very interesting, as does the logistics of completing assignments in a hotel room with both boys out of school during the day.  I foresee some late nights in the hotel's lounge.

So when the weekend arrived, we looked forward to a break from logistics.  We were excited to explore the area a bit.  We had driven past the Netherlands American Cemetery outside of Margraten earlier in the week, so we decided to go back and tour it on Saturday.  

The Netherlands American Cemetery is the only American military cemetery in the country.  8,301 American soldiers who died in World War II are buried here.  There are also the names of 1,722 soldiers, whose remains were never found, engraved in the Court of Honor.

There was also an area that depicted the operations of the Allies from D Day through the end of WWII.

Walking through the cemetery was a stark reminder of the horrible reality of war.  During our visit, we learned that the average age of the soldiers was around 23.  They were really just beginning their lives when they died for the cause of freedom.

The boys each took a rubbing of a headstone so that we can learn more about two of the soldiers buried there.  It was a sobering yet interesting lesson in the history that is a constant part of the landscape here.