...and then they were gone...

On the first few days of the trip we stopped at many memorials and grave yards dedicated to the soldiers of the Great War and it really put into perspective just how many lives were lost in the many battles. Walking through and reading the grave stones made the experience much more personal because you would come across graves with their death date 80 years before your birth date, or you would see the messages written on the bottom of the grave and it would speak to you. Some grave’s messages were signed with “from a loving wife” or “to my only son” and it kind of hits you like wow these are real people who were alive and had families and people loved them and then they were gone. You start to think that these aren’t just bodies these are people who had lives before the war that they never got to return to. It really made all of the prep work and years of waiting worth it.