I did not know that the largest American cemetery from World War II was in Lorraine, not the more famous ones in Normandy. We discovered these 10,489 souls just 100 km from our home, near the little village where Gee’s father’s family came from.

By contrast, the more famous Normandy cemetery has 9,385 heroes. It is a more crowded place. It seems a little unfair that even history majors don’t know about the larger cemetery.

I have no doubt that America was more in the right during World War II than Germany was, but I believe that these souls deserve to be remembered and honored too. The American holiday of Veteran’s Day used to be Armistice Day or Remembrance Day and are holidays in France and England as well. Victory in Europe Day is a big holiday in France as well. The Germans surrendered World War II in Reims which is not far from here. These holidays are obviously not celebrated or observed in Germany. These Germans were men and boys that also thought they were doing the right thing. I love the plants growing on European graves, though this cemetery is more mown than most.

This is possibly the most beautiful war memorial I have ever seen. I can’t wait to spend more time around Verdun. This ossuary of this giant hall is filled with the jumbled remains of 130,000 people.