In Memory of Jeff"s Grandfather

  

The rain stopped long enough today
to borrow Marie's car and take
a road trip toward Saint Mihiel, an area in
the Northeast of France that experienced much
destruction during WWI.   It was in this region that
Jeff's grandfather, Raymond Connor,  fought in the
26th Infantry Division,  which came to be known as
the Yankee Division.

26th Infantry Division shoulder sleeve insignia


While driving along roads  which wind their way

Saint Mihiel

through lush, green farmland and rolling hills,
it is hard to imagine the magnitude of the destruction and
 loss of lives in this area  during WW1.  Monuments
dedicated to both German and American soldiers who
lost their lives during the war mark the landscape.
When I asked Jeff  "why all the German monuments,"
reminded  me that this area was Germany during the war.





monuments dotting the countryside

french infantry attack a German position in Northern France,
1918

Clemenceau in Noyon with his staff immediately after the Armistice(43)

American engineers returning from the St. Mihiel front

"...the American forces were instrumental in blocking the German thrust towards Paris through Chateau Thierry, before taking on a 40 mile front and first fighting through the St Miheal salient before taking over a section of the Meuse Argonne front until the end of the war."
http://clevelode-battletours.com/Cantigny.aspx

We ended our day at the American Cemetery
and Memorial in St. Mihiel;
40 acres of manicured grass with row upon
row of white, marbled crosses (4,107) and headstones (4,153).

St. Mihiel American Cemetery and Memorial

Eagle Sculpture
Time Will Not Dim the Glory of Their Deeds

Memorial
carved figure of Pegasus
 symbolically
takes the immortal soul on its voyage
to the hearafter

Door Handles on the chapel doors

relief in bronze in the chapel

The contrast between the pristine beauty of this cemetery 

and  the thousands of soldiers that rest beneath the crosses

is simply stark and sobering.    

"If we are to teach real peace in this world, and if we are to carry on

a real war against war, we shall have to begin with the children."

Mahatma Ghandi