We find ourselves in a region our Dutch friends referred to as the Three Points where Belgium, Germany and the Netherlands all touch. While touring the area we have seen two American Cemeteries. These sites are just 11.5 miles apart and almost all of the over 16,000 soldiers buried here lost their lives on or near this very ground. Ground that is blood soaked indeed. These cemeteries lie close to the old Roman Cologne-Boulogne highway over which Julius Caesar, Charlemagne, Charles V, Napoleon, Kaiser Wilhelm II and Hitler all marched their troops in the conquest of the strategic Low Countries.
The Henri Chapelle American Cemetery and Memorial
Located in Welkenraedt, Belgium, the Henri Chapelle American Cemetery and Memorial is where the remains of 7,992 US soldiers are interred.
“Angel of Peace” by Donal Hord
554 unknown soldiers are buried in this cemetery.
Netherlands American Cemetery and Memorial
The Netherlands American Cemetery in Margraten, Netherlands is where 8,301 American dead were laid to rest.
The Court of Honor and reflecting pool.
This is Europe’s third largest war cemetery for unidentified soldiers who died in WWII. The walls flanking the sides of the Court of Honor contain the Tablets of the Missing which display the names of 1,722 Americans who gave their lives in the service of their country and now rest in unknown graves.
“The Mourning Woman” by New Yorker Joseph Kiselewski
This sad but beautiful statue represents all the women who endured the war not knowing if their loved ones would ever return home. The three doves represent peace and the new shoot growing from the war-destroyed tree supports the following quote.
The Memorial Tower
The Memorial Tower
The “Tree of Life” chapel doors.
These are just two of the fourteen cemeteries for American World War II dead on this foreign soil. We have been told that, given the enormity of the horror, these two memorial sites represent but a partial view of the pain endured. It may seem small when viewed in that larger context, but it was most certainly not small for these thousands of soldiers that sacrificed all in the service of others. Each and every one of these somber white markers represents a life cut down in it’s prime and a future never realized. In this age of saber-rattling, these awe inspiring and sobering places should forever remind us that we must strife, above all else, to never sow fields of blood and marble again.
These sites are operated and maintained by the American Battle Monuments Commission who’s first chairman, General of the Armies John J. Pershing promised,
“Time will not dim the glory of their deeds.”