Monday, May 30, 2022

True Heroes (Not Sports Figures) Deserve Our Respect No Matter How Long Ago They Performed Their Heroic Deeds (Revised, Shortened and Republished)


I have published this Blog Posting before but, since it is Memorial Day and the story is about the First World War, I have decided to repeat it. It is a great story and great stories ought to be repeated.

In 2008 my wife and I visited a small World War I cemetery in Flanders Field in Belgium. We were being shown around by a guide when we noticed that one grave stood out from the rest because it was covered with Flowers and Decorative Ribbons much more than other graves

We ask the guide about the decorations and she explained (in bullet point format)...

Ø This grave was so highly decorated because it was a new grave (in a cemetery for a war that ended more than 100 years ago).

Ø Farmers and construction workers are still uncovering human bodies.

Ø Whenever a body is recovered it is buried with a Full Formal Burial Ceremony.

Ø The people from the nearby towns show up in significant numbers to honor the newly discovered soldier’s body.

Ø Many arrive with flowers in hand.

The Flowers and Decorative Ribbons on this grave that stood out from the rest of the graves is the result of the homage paid to an unknown soldier who died a long time ago who was highly honored when he was recently buried in his new grave.

Would I kid u?

Smartfella