Bit of a threadjack, but cemeteries are something like museums. I became fascinated by overseas war cemeteries several years ago after stumbling across a Commonwealth War Cemetery in Bavaria. The Commonwealth War Graves Commission care for war cemeteries in over 150 countries! Obviously a legacy of the Empire that reigned for hundreds of years. In contrast, the American Battle Monuments Commission (not the VA) maintains cemeteries in just 24 countries with most graves, obviously, in Europe, but also Mexico City, Panama, and the PI.
Like Pags and many of you, I have visited Normandy and the cemetary above Omaha beach. It stands in stark contrst to the German cemetary at La Cambe, where their dead from the Normandy battle are buried. Twenty One Thousand of them. Just 9387 Americans are buried at Normandy. Many were shipped home. Most of the Germans were not. Interestingly, many Americans were initially buried at La Cambe during and immediately after the battle. But they were located to the site above Omaha or shipped home, leaving La Cambe for the Germans, which the American Graves Registry teams dutifully cataloged.
La Cambe is stark and brooding. The visitor center is all about peace and the tragedy of war and post war efforts to avoid another war like the two World Wars. Unlike Normandy, there are no stories of sacrifice or heroism, or just cause. La Cambe is nominally operated by the German War Commission. But unlike their Commonwealth and American counterparts, they get no government funding. The effort is funded by donations and volunteer labor. La Cambe is maintained by volunteer Frenchmen, including school children. When I stumbled across the Commonwealth Durnbach Cemetery in Bavaria, the groundskeeper was there tending the landscape. He was a Brit, employed by the UK government, living in Germany. Likewise, there are plenty of Americans employed at Normandy. No Germans at their military cemetery.
Interesting about Durnbach, it is almost all Commonwealth aviators shot down over Germany and Austria. Many of the others were POWs who escaped local camps and were executed or shot in the attempt. The groundskeeper made a point of showing us the graves of a couple Americans. One was a volunteer through Canada before the US got involved, the other a non-aviator who stowed away on a Lancaster so he could see some action. There was a fresh grave. A vet who had just died. He wanted to be buried along side his crewmates who didn't survive the shoot down. The UK paid for his remains to be shipped to Durnbach and for his family to travel for the grave side service. This was a family trip through Bavaria. Durnbach is just off a tiny two lane road in the middle of nowhere. I felt blessed we found it and my young kids to experience it. No crowds, just us and a man who was intimate with the place, in beautiful summer time Bavaria.
View attachment 19710
Normandy. All the Medal of Honor recipients have gold lettering.
View attachment 19711
La Cambe German cemetery outside Bayeux Normandy.
View attachment 19712
Durnbach Commonwealth Cemetery in Bavaria. Very much on the style of all US military cemeteries.