Memorial Day From Abroad

Happy Memorial Day, everyone.  About a week ago, I was reminded that Memorial Day was just around the corner.  I suppose it's an easy thing to forget when you don't have the day off from work and plans to barbecue in the backyard.  I was again reminded of the day by some friends who recommended that I go to check out the Netherlands American Cemetery and Memorial, which is located about an hour from Eindhoven in the very south of the Netherlands.  And a great recommendation it was.  I must admit that typically our Memorial Day celebrations focus more on food, family, and friends than the actual reason for the day being a holiday, but Todd and I changed that this year.  

Yesterday, we headed down to Margraten to check out the cemetery and memorial.  It was an incredibly impressive and moving place.  The U.S. 30th Infantry Division liberated this site in September 1944, and a battlefield cemetery was constructed there just a month later.  The Netherlands government has given the U.S. free use of the land forever, with no charges or taxes at all.  The place itself was very well done.  Here's the photos we took:

Map showing the military operations in Northwestern Europe in the last months of WWII.

Normandy.

Eindhoven is in the center.

Michigan, represent!

Eindhoven is listed as one of the cities liberated by the U.S. army.

Headstone of an Unknown Soldier.

This shows about a quarter of the headstones, 8301 in all.

Reflecting pool.

Todd and I are both so glad we visited, and that we could truly honor and respect what Memorial Day is all about.

After our visit, we filled our bellies with pancakes at a pannekoekenhuis in the small town of Thorn.  Thorn is a tiny town with lots of whitewashed buildings.  It was very cute.

A peacock and rooster on our walk to the car.

View of Thorn as we headed out.

Our weekend ended up being quite laid back, which was great because we're traveling the next 2 weekends.  I did have a fun wine tasting afternoon with some friends in a nearby town. The speciality shop we went to had a tasting weekend where you could try pretty much all of their wine for free.  There was some good stuff.  Wine tasting was then followed by a cook-out with the hubbies. We had a great time.

For my next post, I'll be back with the last of the recaps of C and J's visit.