How We View Our Historic Enemies. How a German Cemetery Changed Me.

A Visit To La Cambe German War Cemetery

In 2012, our family decided to travel to Paris and then be transported to Normandy, the site of incredible American drama. It was on the shores of the famed D-Day beach called Utah, where we placed a photo of Frank Couch, an American purple heart recipient who wore German delivered shrapnel in his body until he was laid to rest in the sloped cemetery of Jericho Church of Christ in Mocksville, NC.

On this trip, internal patriotism was pounding in our chest. We visited the St. James Cemetery and listened to the chimes of the church bells as we surveyed the crosses and stars of David in rows upon rows. Later, tears accrued upon each of our cheeks as we visited the Colleville-sur-Mer cemetery where 9,387 American souls are buried. An insignificant bluff overlooking Omaha beach made significant by heroes who were born there by their blood and where the future of so many young American’s ended.  As an American, the emotions are hard to describe. 

We had hired a tour guide for the entire experience.  He took us to the Ranger made famous cliff called Point du Hoc.  At the top of the 100 feet cliff was a German army fortification with concrete casemates and gun pits.

As we left these two metes and bounds of American death and victory, our tour guide took us to La Cambe German war cemetery. When he told us, we were going to a German cemetery, I quietly asked myself “why”. 

When we left the vehicle and entered the grounds, it was quiet. There was a monument on a great mound and statue honoring the dead of German soldiers; soldiers that killed and wounded American soldiers. We walked

Located in Bayeux, France. Contains in excess of 21,000 German military personnel of World War II,  maintained and managed by the German War Graves Commission.

silently down the rows just as we did at Colleville-sur-Mer. A transformation of thought came over me as I thought about these German soldiers, some Nazis, others who were simple soldiers like my good friend Frank, loyal to the Motherland. Emotions of hate, anger, and bitterness began to soften. It was divine what the Allies accomplish, not only for the interned Jews, but the entire world from future tyranny.  

The experience created in my heart a clearer understanding of history and the players in it. History, like a moment in time, is concreted in the past. It is typically not black and white. It is complex, layered with many narratives and ideologies. This visit unpeeled a layer for me.

I didn’t celebrate the statues or grave markers as I left La Cambe German war cemetery, but I did leave with a perspective of looking through the eyes of a common German soldier. I’m glad we took this detour of the American path to victory! The German soldier’s life and history are concreted in this cemetery; they served a lost cause, they served wrong cause.

PS: to be clear, what the collective German Army did to the Jewish population was beyond terrible. Please don't read into this any endorsement of their cause whatsoever.