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Published: June 13th 2011
Anne at the Grave Site
Anne located the grave before I did, and I had been there before. Behind her is the memorial with the colonnade between the two buildings at either end.Saturday, May 28th
The cemetery: After our walk in the morning in Aachen we checked out and found our way out of Aachen with out too much trouble. Drove on into Belgium and to the village of Henri-Chapelle and found the Rue du Memorial American, the road leading to the cemetery. Arrived at the cemetery a little before noon, parked and walked down to the general area of the grave of Anne's father, David Charles Connell, III. I thought I remembered where it was, but it was Anne who actually spotted the marker. We took a few pictures and then went to find Ms. Caroline Oliver, the Cemetery Associate with whom Anne had communicated about our visit. We found her, introduced ourselves, and found out that some of the school children who had adopted the grave would be attending the ceremony, and we would be able to meet and talk with them. We arranged to meet with them around 3:00 PM at the grave site. We then walked down the colonnade of the memorial which has all the state flags flying from the columns and, engraved on the walls, the names of all those who fell in the battles
in the area but whose bodies were not recovered. At one end of the colonnade are the cemetery offices and a small museum and at the other end is a chapel.
Since we were still very early for the 4:00 PM ceremony we rode back into the village of Henri-Chapelle, found a florist, and purchased some flowers for the grave. We ate a bite for lunch from our snack stash and drove back to the cemetery. Since it was still so early, we decided to drive around the countryside a bit, being careful not to go too far and get lost. We drove along a fairly high ridge that looked down on a field of grazing cattle from which some folks were flying model gliders. Along the side of the road we passed several structures that looked like the remains of WWII fortifications of some sort, maybe storage bunkers and/or pillboxes.
Back at the cemetery, we walked back to the grave and Anne placed the flowers on the grave. She chose to place an arrangement of 6 large daises which represented her father's 6 surviving descendants - his two siblings, Anne, our children LeeAnne and David (named for
his grandfather), and our granddaughter, Margaret Anne (Maggie). We took a few more pictures and waited for the school children. Four of them arrived with their teacher and one or two parents. They had brought a vase of flowers which they placed alongside the daises that we had put on the grave. None of these folks spoke very good English so communication was limited, but Anne was able to share with them a photo of herself as a baby with her father and mother. She also gave each of the children a hug, after making sure that was OK with their teacher and parents. We then found our reserved seats and waited for the ceremony to begin.
The ceremony was very impressive and went off with military precision. The American Overseas Memorial Day Association (AOMDA) Belgium has been responsible for the organization of annual Memorial Day ceremonies since 1923, and the Master of Ceremonies for this event was a Dr. Jerome Sheridan, President of the AOMDA. Apparently the most important person in attendance was the Representative of His Majesty the King (of Belgium). At least everyone had to stand and be silent as he made his grand entrance and
then again as he made his exit. Then there was a flyover which performed the missing man formation and then speeches by several dignitaries including a Vice Admiral representing NATO, the mayor of Welkenraedt, the local county seat, the Ambassador of the US to the EU, the Ambassador of the US to Belgium (made probably the best speech), and interestingly, a tribute by several children from the school in Verviers, Belgium, the largest nearby town. Both the mayor and the school children spoke in French, so we didn't have much of a clue as to what they were saying. However most of the audience spoke either French or Flemish, probably both, so I'm sure they appreciated what was said. What was most impressive about the ceremony, aside from the beautiful setting of the cemetery itself, was the obvious and apparent honor paid to those buried there by the Belgians themselves. They, much more than most Americans, remember the horror and suffering of wartime and appreciate the freedom they now enjoy because of the sacrifice of those buried here and elsewhere in these cemeteries in Europe. Not only do the adults, who either lived through the WWII years or who are
Before the Ceremony
The arrangement of seats before the ceremony began. Our seats were to the right of the column with the statue on top of the Archangel bestowing the laurel branch on the fallen heros. the first generation of those who did, remember and honor the members of the allied armies who liberated their country, but they ensure that the children are taught the history of wartime Europe and how much they owe their current way of life to those who fought and died for their freedom. While there were quite a few US and Belgian military units represented at the ceremony, including the band, color guard, honor guard, wreath bearers, and the unit firing the volleys at the end, there were an amazing number of older men and women carrying banners from the local towns and villages who marched in with just as much dignity as the younger members of the various branches of the armed services. Would that the citizens of this nation remembered the price paid for our freedom as well as do the Belgians, and probably most other Europeans.
After the ceremony was over we joined the school children and their parents again and walked back to the grave site. Several more students and their parents had arrived so we got to meet them as well. A couple of these parents spoke very good English so we were able to
The first group of Children
These 4 children met us before the ceremony. communicate much better with them translating for us. In addition to the school children, their teacher and parents, we also met the mayor of the village of Henri-Chapelle and his wife, both of whom spoke very good English. We took more pictures, and Anne made sure she hugged all the students who we hadn't met before the ceremony. The student's teacher asked Anne to sign one of the US flags for the children to display in their classroom and then presented Anne with a Belgian flag signed by all the children, an extremely thoughtful and much appreciated gesture.
After bidding good-bye to the school children, their parents, and teachers, we stopped back by the office and said good-bye to Ms. Oliver and thanked her for all she had done to make this day special. We then drove to the hotel near Maastricht, Netherlands.
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