Last fall we traveled throughout France, enjoying the beauty of her countryside, her idyllic villages and pastoral hamlets, her historic castles and abbeys, and the glitz of places like Cannes, Nice and St. Tropez.
I could tell you all about it, but I am sure you’ve heard it all before.
Instead, on this Memorial Day weekend, permit me to write a few words about a sight that brought home to me the ultimate sacrifice rendered by our troops during World War II.
On the side of a narrow country road near the town of Persac—nestled in the gorgeous Vienne River valley in central France—we came across a simple but touching monument erected by the local people in honor of nine American heroes who were aboard a B-17 “Flying Fortress” that crashed in a nearby field on July 4, 1944.
The B-17, named “Touch the Button Nell II,” had taken off early that morning, along with 25 other bombers, from an airfield north of London on a mission to destroy a strategic bridge across the Loire River in Nazi-occupied France.
After losing three of its four engines, Nell II crashed in a field near where the monument now stands.
Two of the nine crew members survived by parachuting out of the crippled B-17 and were rescued by the French Resistance.
The other seven crew members died while parachuting from the doomed aircraft or as it crashed in the fields of Vienne.
Some freshly-cut flowers had been placed at the base of the monument by some thoughtful hands.
It wasn’t Memorial Day then, but our thoughts certainly went back to the days when so many sacrificed so much for us.
There are many other memorials—small and large; in open fields, in hamlets and in cities—throughout France and Europe honoring American military who were killed there during World War II.
There are also 24 military cemeteries overseas where nearly 125,000 American war dead have their resting place. Twenty of these cemeteries are in Europe.
Two of the most visited ones are in Belgium, close to the German border and close to where the Battle of the Bulge took place, one of the largest, costliest and most important battles fought by American forces in World War II in Europe.
At the Ardennes American Cemetery and Memorial, 5,311 fallen warriors are buried, and 7,992 are buried at the Henri-Chapelle American Cemetery and Memorial. Most of these heroes fell in late 1944 and early ’45 during that consequential battle.
Please remember and honor all our fallen heroes this weekend. Next time in Europe, please get off the beaten path and pay some of them a visit—and remember, you can do that here at home, too.
Notes:
Some of the information on the American cemeteries in Belgium appears in the Stars and Stripes’ special Memorial Weekend section, “Honored Memory.”
Learn more about American cemeteries in Europe at www.abmc.gov
Photo by Author: Monument in honor of American B-17 crew at Persac, France
The author is a retired U.S. Air Force officer and a writer.