A Passage Thru Time

"No country upon earth ever had it more in its power to attain these blessings than United America. Wondrously strange, then, and much to be regretted indeed would it be, were we to neglect the means and to depart from the road which Providence has pointed us to so plainly; I cannot believe it will ever come to pass."

—George Washington, letter to Benjamin Lincoln, June 29, 1788


To continue with my trip around the famous or infamous battlegrounds of The Great War, after touring Ft. Douamont, we trekked in a circle east of the city of Verdun; various monuments and trenchworks were everywhere to be seen. One amazing story I have mentioned earlier was the one about the 'Bayonet Trench'; it's a fascinating story to say the least. At one point in the battle for Verdun German shellfire was so intense, so concentrated that it buried French soldiers alive in their trenches. Pictured above is the entry way into one of these trenches, it had to be barb-wired off because of souvenir hunters taking the bayonets off the buried rifles...some of the rifle barrels are still visible; a very sobering sight to say the least. The area around the trench is beautiful and serene even as the horror is heard from the buried soldiers voices; truly a stark contrast and a testament to the brave Souls that perished there.

This is a view of the trench itself, if one would start to excavate around just about anywhere, they would unearth rifles, helmets and bones...this would be tantamount to desecrating a grave and is highly discouraged. Given the danger of unexploded ordinance all around the Memorial, it's not really safe to wander off into the lush wood surrounding the trench; try as hard as I could, I couldn't get a picture in my mind of how devastated the surrounding area had been during the battle. Although the A.E.F. did not take part in the battle of Verdun, I felt a deep pride, knowing my Countrymen had taken part in defending the freedom of the French and helping by doing their part in the preservation of the world as it was to become. It's just too bad that a more fair treaty at Versailles had not been attained....but then, is it possible that it wouldn't have mattered anyway and things would still have played out as they did? A good thought to ponder.

Here is a monument preserving the site of a village that had been targeted many times by the Germans and French as they fought back and forth for the ground, all the inhabitants that didn't flee were killed; a dramatic waste of human life, a whole generation of the worlds fine men were cast into battle like so much firewood into a fire...how many scientists, scholars, authors, doctors, artists, poets and other writers were lost, not to forget fathers and mothers, sons and daughters. A terrible waste of life but it was all for something that we all cherish....Freedom! If you die a free man or woman, it only matters that you've died free and fighting for what you believe in or, just a free man or woman passing after a full, free life. How many would exchange that for life under the rule of a dictator?

Montafucon, Fleurry and others that I didn't get to visit, it's all surreal as you drive on the road and read the sign saying you are now entering Fleurry or Montafucon and then the sign saying you're leaving that village...with nothing but a monument in between; very somber feeling that is.

Next time will be the west side of Verdun along with some of the Meuse/Argonne offensive.