Monday is the Memorial Day holiday in the United States. It's a day for remembering those lost in war and military service.
It's also worth remembering those veterans who are alive and need to be served better by our Veterans Administration (VA) health system and society.
In my travels, I've been fortunate to visit three major American military cemeteries in Europe, so I'll share some photos below to reflect on and remember this holiday. I updated this post in 2021 with photos I took in Normandy in 2019.
The Aisne-Marne American Cemetery (France)
This cemetery honors those who died during World War I, just outside the Champagne region in France. In the nearby Battle of Belleau Wood, American Marines got their famed “devil dog” nickname in fighting the Germans.
Below are some photos I took in late 2012.
Below is a short video I took. There's a lot of wind noise, but you can hear chimes playing the Marine Hymn.
Cambridge American Cemetery (England)
In 2008, while consulting for an NHS hospital, I took a weekend side trip to see the Cambridge American Cemetery and the town of Cambridge itself. Below are some photos I took. The cemetery has special meaning to my father-in-law. His middle name was given in honor of one of his father's airmen who died when they were all shot down during the war, so my mission was to find the burial site and take a picture for him (Vincent Fazio, seen in the last photo).
Normandy American Cemetery (France)
These are photos that I took during a trip to Normandy Beach and other D-Day beaches back in 2019 — from the Normandy American Cemetery.
Memorial Day Flag Display (Boston)
As a final photo, when my wife and I lived in Boston for a year, there was a massive sea of tiny flags in the Boston Common on Memorial Day 2010. I'm sure this is an annual display – read more and see more pictures online.
Thanks to all of you who have served — especially those who have sacrificed so much.
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[…] I hope y’all had a nice Memorial Day weekend here in the U.S. It’s a global audience for the blog, but I had the take the day off from Lean (other than this post for the holiday). […]