Day 3 Part 2: Honoring the Enemy; make sure to scoll down!!

The three and five cross configuration is unique to German cemeteries. 

1845 Local Time

Ypres, Belgium

Today during my visit to the Tyne Cot Commonwealth Cemetery, a cute older couple with Great Britain plates pulled up next to me. Seeing the German "D" (Deutschland) plates on my car, the inquisitive man asked why a German would come to a British cemetery. Imagine the look on his face when I started speaking American English. It was pretty funny. He was a lovely fellow, and we had a good chat for about 10 minutes. He was visiting the burial sight of his grandfather for the first time.

I'll explain it to you in the same terms that I explained it to this charming fellow:

Typical burial stone at Langemark German War Cemetery.

As a soldier, I respect every single other soldier who represents their country. I respect soldiers from Canada, Denmark, Russia, North Korea...you name a country and show me a soldier from that country, and I have great respect for what they do. There is a possibility that I disagree with their country's ideals or modus operandi, but soldier to soldier I have a certain level of professional respect for them because I understand exactly what their job demands of them. Do not get confused my respect for soldiers here, with any positive feelings for insurgent groups. They can go straight to hell...though that is a different discussion that is not suitable for discussion here.

Anyway, while traveling through Germany, Luxembourg, The Netherlands, Belgium, and France on this trip, I have seen hundreds of monuments with flowers and flags of every color showing love and affection for the allied forces of the 20th Century World Wars. Seemingly forgotten are the war dead for the opposition. This includes several countries from both wars, but most primarily Germany whom I will focus on here.

World War I pill box defenses are located inside the cemetery.

Let me throw a single stat at you...More than 210,000 German Soldiers were confirmed killed in Belgium alone during World War I. Another 83,000 were missing in action. That's nearly equivalent to wiping out the entire city of Pittsburgh. And I only included one single front of the war. We can safely put total German KIA/MIA numbers (impossible to accurately confirm) at 1.8 million for World War I and 3.8 million for World War II. For those that don't math well, that is more that 5.6 million soldiers gone over two wars. That is a hell of a lot of families that lost a son or an uncle or a father. And that is the point of this post.

We are now 100 years removed from the hostilities of World War I and 70 years removed from World War II. Germany is one of our strongest European allies, as are Italy and Hungary. We owe it to them to honor their war dead with the same respect that we honor our own. Why? Because we have seen the horrific war that comes when we fail to settle our differences diplomatically. We may be culturally different, but our shared goals of peace and prosperity should always be the goal in trying to avoid such armed conflicts.

Langemark German War Cemetery

Today I paid my respects to the fallen Germans of World War I at Langemark German War Cemetery.  It was smaller than many of the American and British cemeteries that I have visited, so I expected that the number of burials would be minimal. I could not have been more wrong. At the front there is a mass-grave containing more than 24,917 soldiers. Then through the remainder of the cemetery are graves containing anywhere from 8 to 18 soldiers each, bringing the total to more than 44,000. This is just one of six German cemeteries in Belgium alone.

The cemetery has located adjacent to a new monument recognizes the centennial of the Great War (English name for the war). At the entrance is a wall with video features that explain that this location is near the sight of the first ever use of chemical warfare.

THIS IS THE MOST IMPORTANT PART TO READ...

There is no federal money provided for the care of German military cemeteries. Every single penny that goes into exhibits, maintenance, or even just paying the electric bill for the visitor room comes from donations. This is the cool part...you know when you walk into a German bäckerei (bakery) or small boutique, and on the counter there is a container with some small coins in it. That container will almost always have three or five crosses on it. That is not a tip! That is a symbol of the Volksbund Deutsche Kriegsgräberfürsorge (VDK). The VKD is a private organization that cares for the tens of millions of German soldiers buried all around the world.

Look for this image in local German shops and done a couple
euro to help the cause of caring for German cemeteries.

Until recently, Germany did not have a repatriation program. Every single German Soldier that died in either of the World Wars (and all wars prior) was buried near the place where they fell. So it is critical that the VKD collect money to care for final resting place for the 2.7 million German Soldiers who fell on foreign soil.

I was impressed with the care of the German cemetery at Langemark, but it was very obvious that it is not regularly cared for. The next time you are in the local market and have a couple euro to spare, look for the crosses. Do it for the millions of mothers and fathers who never got their son back. I will certainly be contributing something to the VKD as I see their jars around the stores near my home in Bavaria.