 |
Posted on 03/15/2015 5:11:44 PM PDT by Vanders9
About six miles from Maastricht, in the Netherlands, lie buried 8,301 American soldiers who died in "Operation Market Garden" in the battles to liberate Holland in the fall/winter of 1944. Every one of the men buried in the cemetery, as well as those in the Canadian and British military cemeteries, has been adopted by a Dutch family who mind the grave, decorate it, and keep alive the memory of the soldier they have adopted. It is even the custom to keep a portrait of "their" soldier in a place of honour in their home.
Annually, on "Liberation Day," memorial services are held for "the men who died to liberate Holland." The day concludes with a concert. The final piece is always "Il Silenzio," a memorial piece commissioned by the Dutch and first played in 1965 on the 20th anniversary of Holland's liberation. It has been the concluding piece of the memorial concert ever since.
This year the soloist was a 13-year-old Dutch girl, Melissa Venema, backed by André Rieu and his orchestra (the Royal Orchestra of the Netherlands). This beautiful concert piece is based upon the original version of taps and was composed by Italian composer Nino Rossi.
What a wonderful tradition
“Market Garden” was another of Monty’s spectacular failures. He only won El Alemein because he outnumbered the Germans and Italians by about 5-to-1 in tanks, and Rommel still got most of his surviving forces away. Churchill forced FDR and Ike to give Monty commands even though they knew he was a talentless martinet. Flame away.
Beautiful!
They must have buried a lot of them alive. Total US casualties - killed and wounded - were under 4000 in Market Garden. (82nd about 1400 casualties, 101st about 2100).
So take the rest of the story with a grain of salt.
I believe they do this same thing someplace in Italy too.
I remember seeing video of it and hearing from the families who take care of the burial site.
Also, they said that they encouraged people to visit and see how they cared for the gravesites.
It's actually Nini Rosso. His recording of "Il Silenzio" was a smash hit in Western Europe in the late summer of 1965 and got airplay on pop music stations through the rest of the year. However, it was virtually unknown in the United States. After hearing it for the last time on a Spanish radio station in December, 1965, I would not hear it again until the 21st century, after the Internet came along.
The tune contains the spoken lines,
Buona notte, amore.
Ti vedrò nei miei sogni.
Buona notte a te che sei lontana(Good night, my dear.
I'll see you in my dreams.
Good night to you who are so far away.)
You can hear it on the link below.
Il Silenzio--Nini Rosso (1965)
good I hoped you saw this
Beautiful, thanks
I visited Bastonge about 10 years ago. There is an American tank sitting in the main square. There is also a monument to General Anthony Clement “Nuts” McAuliffe. I was there a couple of days, and fresh flowers were placed on the tank and in front of the monument each morning.
When war happens in your town, you remember, and so do your sons and daughters if you teach them well.
Aren’t you just a ray of sunshine...
Canteen ping
My bucket list includes visiting these sights and thanking our loyal allies for their multi-generational love of America and her Brave Fallen.
Thanks for the insight Fiji!
Sloppy reporting shouldn’t ever be acceptable. The writer didn’t do enough research to even read the brochure. http://www.abmc.gov/sites/default/files/publications/Netherlands_Booklet.pdf The cemetery is only about 15 miles from Aachen, and the cemetery contains the fallen from the several battles leading to the Rhine.
|
Lighten up, Francis.
 |
Your pic didn’t materialize; me or you?
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.