Okay, yesterday, I went to Verdun to pay respects to the dead.
First stop, the Verdun Ossuary. A long building, built after the war, with some kind of American involvement. 450 yard wide building and underneath the floor, the French have placed the bones of the dead. If you want to see the actual bones you have to go outside and crouch down. There are little windows outside. Whenever a Frenchman found a bone in that area of France, they brought them to the ossuary. (Thus, it probably includes Frenchman, Germans, and Americans)
In front of the ossuary, are 16,142 graves of French soldiers who died at Verdun.
Next, I went to Fort Douaumont, the “hinge” of the system. Captured by the Germans in the summer of 1916. Retaken by Moroccans in October 1916. The ground looks like lunar landscape. Crater on top of crater. Ther Germans fired 3.6 million artillery rounds at in in 1916. The interior of Fort Douaumont is really impressive and can be visited.
Next, lunch in the town of Verdun, which is really a nice town.
Beautiful ride through the Meuse Valley to the American Memorial, the biggest memorial in Europe. Lots of visitors.
The Meuse-Argonne cemetery, which holds 14,246 American war dead, and the names of 954, whose burial places are “known but to God.”
The reason I went was to pay my respects to Maryland Virginia Griffith, a young lad from Hooterville who died 100 years ago last Wednesday in the Meuse-Argonne offensive. M. V. Griffith’s father was a railroad doctor and his grandfather was a Confederate veteran from Baltimore. He was 21 years and 2 months old the day he died. He was within 32 days of surviving the war.
I honor his memory, even though I have never met him, or, as far as I can tell, his extended family.
I recommend Verdun to those who have the time, money and inclination. Beautiful country, and these Frenchmen remember.
First stop, the Verdun Ossuary. A long building, built after the war, with some kind of American involvement. 450 yard wide building and underneath the floor, the French have placed the bones of the dead. If you want to see the actual bones you have to go outside and crouch down. There are little windows outside. Whenever a Frenchman found a bone in that area of France, they brought them to the ossuary. (Thus, it probably includes Frenchman, Germans, and Americans)
In front of the ossuary, are 16,142 graves of French soldiers who died at Verdun.
Next, I went to Fort Douaumont, the “hinge” of the system. Captured by the Germans in the summer of 1916. Retaken by Moroccans in October 1916. The ground looks like lunar landscape. Crater on top of crater. Ther Germans fired 3.6 million artillery rounds at in in 1916. The interior of Fort Douaumont is really impressive and can be visited.
Next, lunch in the town of Verdun, which is really a nice town.
Beautiful ride through the Meuse Valley to the American Memorial, the biggest memorial in Europe. Lots of visitors.
The Meuse-Argonne cemetery, which holds 14,246 American war dead, and the names of 954, whose burial places are “known but to God.”
The reason I went was to pay my respects to Maryland Virginia Griffith, a young lad from Hooterville who died 100 years ago last Wednesday in the Meuse-Argonne offensive. M. V. Griffith’s father was a railroad doctor and his grandfather was a Confederate veteran from Baltimore. He was 21 years and 2 months old the day he died. He was within 32 days of surviving the war.
I honor his memory, even though I have never met him, or, as far as I can tell, his extended family.
I recommend Verdun to those who have the time, money and inclination. Beautiful country, and these Frenchmen remember.
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