Today we drove 6 hours round trip, our pilgrimage to this memorial to the 240 women, 197 men and 205 children who were massacred by the Nazi's SS on June 10, 1944 (4 days after D-Day). Nobody knows for sure why, but the SS entered the prosperous peaceful village at 2 pm, rounded up all the residents, and separated the men from the women and children. By 4 pm, all the men were gathered at the fairgrounds and systematically shot to death. By 5pm, all women and children were gathered at the Catholic Church were a fire was set by the Nazi's. The suffocating smoke caused the women to grab their children and rush toward the doors, where SS machine gun fire methodically cut them them down. President Charles de Gaulle ordered the village to be left untouched, as it is now 70+ years later. A very emotional visit, just like our visit to the D-Day Beaches a couple of years ago. Purposely, you will find no smiling photos of us on this post. Shouldn't we learn from this tragedy and apply what we learn to our current situation in the US? You may say it's not going to happen to us-think again!
No comments:
Post a Comment