Our youngest daughter studied a semester in Europe her Junior year at Lee University, winter of 2010. The group toured the American Cemetery at Cambridge, one of over a dozen of our WWII cemeteries in Europe. The guide mentioned that English citizens may be on a waiting list of up to 2 years to have the privilege of tending an American serviceman's grave site. Once this "privilege" is received, ...it is passed down through that family by will, as long as the heirs desire it.
I was stunned! Seventy years after one of these men/women in American uniform died, English citizens want the privilege of placing flags and flowers on majot American holidays, for people they've never met?? It had been years since I visited Arlington or any of our home-based National Cemeteries. I emailed the head caretaker to ask more...he kindly responded back.
Indeed this was all true, except that at that time, the Cambridge Cemetery actually had a few graves available to "adopt." Just the previous week, he said, a couple had flown from Holland to England to adopt 2 gravesites, because all of the gravesites in Holland were "taken", and the waiting list was too long. This meant that on every major American holiday, they were committing to fly to England to place flowers and flags on these 2 gravesites, and wanted to pass that privilege down their family line. After 70 years!! I was humbled, and embarrassed by my own lack of appreciation.
When Pearl Harbor was bombed and President Roosevelt spoke about that disaster as Congress declared war on both Germany and Japan. FDR said, "This is a day that shall live in infamy." Winston Churchill, having lead England through weary years of resistance and response to night bombings is known to have said, "Now we shall win! Now we shall win!" Obviously, some European citizens take their gratitude to American military service personnel very seriously. Maybe we should take a hint....
