My grandad is buried in that cemetery. He served in WWII and took part in the Battle of the Bulge and its aftermath. After the war ended he spent nearly a year on cleanup in Germany and Eastern France. Since he had an armorer’s rating one of his jobs was to destroy M1919’s by shooting them into river banks for hours until the barrels melted. They didn’t have much ear protection and he was hard of hearing for the rest of his life.
He died in 2021 at 100, and we finally had the funeral about a year later. It was a small group- me and my kids, my dad and his wife, my aunt and her family, and a couple of friends. They led us to a little pavilion, we all said a few words, they played taps, and folded up the flag. Then the Officer In Charge presented the folded flag to my aunt and said, “On behalf of the president of the United States and a grateful nation, please accept this flag as a symbol of our appreciation for your loved one’s honorable and faithful service.”
The last time my grandfather voted in a Federal election was when he voted for Joe Biden in 2020. It was the first time he had voted for a Democrat since Jimmy Carter in ‘76. He said that 2020 was the most important vote of his life, and maybe the most important thing he ever did for his country.