Veterans and Your Families...
I Salute...You!

Today is Veteran’s Day. Nov. 11, 2002

What a debt we owe to the many unsung heroes of the armed forces. I would be redundant in almost anything that I say in tribute. So I will reflect on a significant moment in time which was very profound for me as an American.... overseas.

Being a military family and visiting many of the War Memorials all over the U.S. and Europe, I found one place that really spoke to my heart in a way that even today, I find......breathtaking.

My sister, Joyce, and her husband, Blake and two children, Jenny and Jason, were, also, a military family. In the 1980's, they lived in Belgium since Blake was stationed at SHAPE Hqs. and we were stationed in Germany about 5 driving hours away. Consequentially, we visited each other often.
We toured Belgium Rug Factorys, awesome stained glass churches, Lady Godiva Chocolate Factory, Waterloo Monument Site, etc.
When we were on our way back from the rug factory, we happened to stop at the Flanders Field American Cemetery and Memorial in the town of Waregem, Belgium which is 46 miles west of Brussels.
The cemetery occupies a six acre site. At peaceful rest there are 368 American military Dead. Most gave their lives in liberating Belgium in World War I.
The site was dedicated on Aug 8, 1937, and is the only American World War I cemetery in Belgium. The use of the land, even today, was granted by the Belgian Government free of charge or taxation....in perpetuity, as an expression of its gratitude to the United States.
Blooming red poppies among the many white marble headstones of Stars of David and Latin Crosses....are a sight to behold.
I remember standing in that sacred and hollowed site and literally holding my breath to enhance the privilege of the moment. The spirit of ’happening’ was made very real to me and I searched my soul for the true gratitude that was due to these brave and forgotten ....heroes.
It was only in entering the Memorial Chapel that I found the words already written which expressed for me, so eloquently, my true feelings.

Above the Chapel’s bronze entrance door, which has the central portions, gilded with pure gold leaf, this is engraved;

GREET THEM EVER WITH GRATEFUL HEARTS...

On three of the other walls, this dedicatory inscription appears in French, Flemish, and English:

THIS CHAPEL HAS BEEN ERECTED BY THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA IN MEMORY OF HER SOLDIERS WHO FOUGHT AND DIED IN BELGIUM DURING THE WORLD WAR. THEIR GRAVES ARE THE PERMANENT AND VISIBLE SYMBOL OF THE HEROIC DEVOTION WITH WHICH THEY GAVE THEIR LIVES TO THE COMMON CAUSE OF HUMANITY.

Beneath the three versions of the inscription, sculptured bas-relief figures symbolizing Grief, Remembrance, and History each appear.

Also, on the altar in black and white marble is a quote from the book of Hosea in the Bible.
It says...
“I WILL RANSOM THEM FROM THE POWER OF THE GRAVE, I WILL REDEEM THEM FROM DEATH.”

On another side of the chapel are panels of rose St. George marble framed in bronze molding and carry the names of 43 American soldiers who lost their lives in Belgium and sleep in ’unknown’ graves. Above the names is the Great Seal of the United States and this inscription:

IN MEMORY OF THOSE AMERICAN SOLDIERS WHO FOUGHT IN THIS REGION AND WHO SLEEP IN UNKNOWN GRAVES.

Their headstones scattered among the Crosses and Stars of David read...

“Here Rests In Honored Glory A COMRADE IN ARMS Known But To God. “

The absolute beauty of this chapel can not really be described....The spirit inside the chapel can only be experienced in order to convey genuine meaning to its being.
I loved it....true and simple and as I now write the same intense emotions of the moment overwhelm me.

As a child I had to memorize a poem, which was about the dead speaking to the living, called Flanders Field written by John McCrae.
Visiting the site gave the meaning to the poem...it became alive to me then......and is still so today, Veteran’s Day 2002.
May it speak to you as well.

FLANDERS FIELD
IN FLANDERS FIELD THE POPPIES GROW
BETWEEN THE CROSSES ROW ON ROW
THAT MARK OUR PLACE, AND IN THE SKY
THE LARKS STILL BRAVELY SINGING, FLY
SCARCE HEARD AMIDST THE GUNS BELOW,
WE ARE THE DEAD... SHORT DAYS AGO
WE LIVED, FELT DAWN, SAW SUNSET GLOW,
LOVED AND WERE LOVED; AND NOW WE LIE,
IN FLANDERS FIELD.
TAKE UP OUR QUARREL WITH THE FOE,
TO YOU FROM FALLING HANDS WE THROW
THE TORCH - BE YOURS TO HOLD IT HIGH;
IF YOU BREAK FAITH WITH US WHO DIE,
WE SHALL NOT SLEEP, THOUGH POPPIES GROW,
IN FLANDERS FIELD....

A reply to this poem was written by C.B. Galbreath and is given to every visitor to the site.

An Answer TO...IN FLANDERS FIELD
IN FLANDERS FIELD THE CANNON BOOM,
AND FITFUL FLASHES LIGHT THE GLOOM,
WHILE UP ABOVE; LIKE EAGLE FLY
THE FIERCE DESTROYERS IN THE SKY;
WITH STAINS, THE EARTH WHEREIN YOU LIE,
IS REDDER THAN THE POPPY BLOOM,
IN FLANDERS FIELD.
SLEEP ON, YE BRAVE, THE SHRIEKING SHELL,
THE QUAKING TRENCH, THE STARTLED YELL,
THE FURY OF THE BATTLE HELL,
SHALL WAKE YOU NOT, FOR ALL IS WELL....
YOUR FLAMING TORCH ALOFT WE BEAR,
WITH BURNING HEART, AN OATH WE SWEAR
TO KEEP THE FAITH, TO FIGHT IT THROUGH,
TO CRUSH THE FOE, OR SLEEP WITH YOU,
IN FLANDERS FIELD.

Is not this the same cry today in America on behalf of our Twin Towers fallen heroes?
I can only answer for myself.
YES....