Where have you been?

One of the first places I visited once I moved to England was the Cambridge American Cemetery and Memorial. It is located about 10 miles West of Cambridge in the town of Madingley. It was a cold and quiet Winter day when I visited, January 6th 2005 to be exact, and I was basically alone in the cemetery. It was eerie to walk among so many headstones but it filled me with a sort of nationalistic pride to know that American soldiers helped win such a monumental victory for Western Civilization. As I stood between the rows of nearly 9000 head stones and thought of the almost 500,000 American Military dead and the 60,000,000 overall dead the enormity of World War 2 and its impact on humanity was overwhelming.

It also made me think of my friends currently serving in the US Military. It is sad that future generations of Americans will only be able to shake thier heads in disbelief about how recklessly we sent our sons, brothers, and fathers to die in the desert because of a bunch of lies.

Information about this cemetery can be found on the American Battle Mounments Comission website here. There is a PDF at the bottom of the page with excelently detailed information about the cemetery. I recommend everyone visiting Europe make it a point to visit this or other similar sites.

Two pictures of the cemetery; one showing the vast field of graves and the other the main drive of the site.