Never Forget

 

Today is Memorial Day in the United States.

A day to remember those who died while

serving in the US Armed Forces.  I consider

myself a patriotic person, I find myself tearing

up every time I hear the National anthem, I get

a bit choked up when far from home and happen

to see the stars and stripes waving in the breeze.

 

 

This is the 2nd Memorial Day I have celebrated

this year.  The 1st was quite unexpected, I happened

to be in Arnhem in the Netherlands to visit the Open

Air Museum that is located there.  After walking for

over 5 hours I was exhausted and went inside a

windmill to sit down.  A video happened to be playing

describing the time when the people of Arnhem were

forced to evacuate their town during WWII.

 

 

The people loaded up their bicycles, carts, baby

carriages with their belongings and headed out

into the streets.  They didn't know where to go

and 600 of them ended up at the museum I was

touring and stayed in the museum exhibits.

I was astounded ~ I didn't even know this museum

existed in the 1940's.  I went away thinking I had

learned an exciting piece of history.

 

 

When I had arrived in Arnhem the day before

I had posted the location on my facebook page.

An old friend contacted me and said his Dad had

been at Arnhem in the war and asked if I would

take a photo of the famous bridge.  Rob and I

headed out with a map to find the bridge.  On

our way we came upon a huge church with lots

of activity.  A policeman explained it was

Remembrance Day in the Netherlands.

 

 

We made our way to the bridge and found a

small memorial plaza with photos and a cannon

and memorials.  And that was when I found myself

completely overcome with emotion, I thought of my

Dad and Greg's Dad and so many of the Dads of my

friends fighting this war.  We are the baby boomers,

so many of us have some close attachment to this

war.  My Dad wasn't at Arnhem but he was in North

Africa and Europe for the war.

 

 

The church bells started ringing in Arnhem

and almost everyone stopped what they were

doing.  Young guys on motorcycles pulled over,

couples going out for the evening got out of their

cars and stood silently, it was very moving.

 

This is my Dad driving a jeep in Naples.

I'm struck by how young our Dads were,

very close to the ages of my kids now.

 

We can get distracted by the fun associated

with Memorial Day, it's a day off from work,

the kick-off to summer, cook-outs and parades

and fireworks...

But let's remember to never forget.