Lijssenthoek Military Cemetery

My final post on our recent Belgium trip, fitting for today, Memorial Day. 

A trip to Flanders would not be complete without stopping to remember those lost there in WWI. Growing up near Antietam and Gettysburg, I am used to visiting battlefields, but it doesn't make it any easier to imagine what humans are capable of doing to one another. Over 8.5 million soldiers lost in the Great War, but not forgotten. 

There were many sites in the area to visit with the 100 year anniversaries underway. We stopped at just one, the Lijssenthoek Military Cemetery. A museum tells the story of the cemetery and stories of some buried there. One side of the walkway to the entrance was overflowing with gorgeous wisteria and the other had poles depicting each month of the war and the number of lost men in that region. 

While the majority of grave sites were British (close to 10,000), there were also many French, German, Australian, New Zealand and Canadian. Three Americans were buried there as well. It is the second largest British cemetery in Belgium.

The French plots- a number of bodies were extracted to France, leaving gaps between the crosses. 

Prayers that our boy never sees a world war.