I am reposting this blog from Dutch Memorial Day of last year. My feelings have not changed, we as a collective should not forget that each and every war is paid in blood by those who fight it on the front lines. Please take a few moments this week in quiet reflection to remember those on both sides of the current conflict who have loss their lives.
Tonight at 8 pm Dutch standard time the entire country will pause for two minutes of silence. This tradition each year is to honor, remember and respect all war dead. That it includes, not only military, but civilian casualties from those conflicts.
On March 10th this year, the Hubby and I visited the largest American Cemetery in The Netherlands from World War II, Margraten.
Not our first visit, but I needed time to reflect on what was happening on the World stage. I needed counsel from the silence to make sense to what was happening in the Ukraine.
War is never cheap! It costs lives, some so young, they never got to live the life I have lived. Marriage, children, jobs that would give them joy. They never experienced Europe free from Nazi rule. Yet, each and everyone one of those souls helped to change the course of history. Leaders of the time after these soldiers had fought and died, said NEVER AGAIN!
Yet, here I was in 2022 trying to understand why? How?
As we walked through the silence of the peacefully resting souls who now are forever part of the Dutch landscape, I cried. To know that so many were lost, that so many helped to make Europe what it is today without ever seeing the war at the ending…sad…yet sadder to see a repeat of something so similar in the Ukraine.
So, wherever you are in the World as you read this blog today, please stop and send your thoughts towards peace. War is never the answer but we must remember the ultimate cost for everyone.
© The Cedar Journal, 2022, all rights reserved.
The Cedar Journal 
Too many lost. The sadder part is it continues today and for what??
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I agree.
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A very special post. Thanks for sharing your words and images.
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😊
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Sobering – we say we are civilized, yet always fail to learn from our past mistakes. We owe an non-payable debt to these individuals and the least we can do is never forget their sacrifices.
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Agreed.
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Beautifully written from the heart and soul. I fully agree with you. Thank you for hearing the silence in that graveyard, something we all need to hear. With love from Minnesota.
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Thanks Audrey. Enjoy some peaceful time this weekend.
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The Honor paid to these heroes is wonderful to learn about. My Blog attempts to make younger generations aware of the reality of this war and the sacrifices made by those in service and those at home from their own letters.
My Uncle, Daniel Beck Guion, was a surveyor who was drafted in Alaska, where he was living with his younger brother Ced, an airplane mechanic. He ended up being attached to a TOPO group sent to London, with frequent trips to France, to create maps preparing for D-Day. He married a French girl as he continued in the Army, and after his discharge, as a civilian employee of the Army, surveying American cemeteries all over Europe. He remained in France, working for the Army, until his first-born, a daughter, was old enough to travel back to the U.S. in December, 1946. I would have to check his letters to see if he ever worked at Margraten.
Thank you for this post. We must never forget the sacrifices made to create the world we live in.
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What a cool family connection to these honored locations. I bet he had some real good stories to share.
Thanks for helping others to understand the sacrifices so many have made to maintain freedom.
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I agree, war is never the answer. I know I’m not a politician or a world leader, and I realize that certain issues have to be dealt with. But there has to be a better way than war!
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There sure seems like there should be a better way! I think that if all the World leaders were women who have children we wouldn’t have war.
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I wonder the same. Why? Thank you for reposting this powerful and emotional piece.
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Thanks for your comment on this piece. As the rule reposts are a “no, no”, but with it already at a one year mark with no intelligent end in sight I needed to feel I still have a voice about the situation. Doesn’t seem like the power of the UN resolution is going to resolve it bring the Russians to the negotiating table.
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