Going "Over There"

August 25, 2017 - 

Yesterday I posted this longer post to talk about the trip ahead next week. I will add other FB posts as we go along.

Posted August 24, 2017

Stepping into History:

This time next Thursday United AL will be taking me to France - - - There is a "List"--- To place a wreath on my great grand uncle's grave in San Mihiel Cemetery, to visit the sites of Base Hospital #18 where I hope to imagine my self walking in the footsteps of the nurses I talk about, to stop by the Edith Cavell Memorial in Brussels, to visit Verdun and Flanders Fields, and to find a few other places that matter. 

This picture was taken on the dock un NYC before the 64 Hopkins nurses boarded the USS Finland the ship in the convoy that was taking them to France 

I have had my head in WWl for almost four years - this is a chance for seeing this area as it is today - and working to imagine the places as they were. 

When Jim and I made a pilgrimage to Israel following in the footsteps ofJesus and His followers our Leader Fr. Larry Boadt, warned us that a pilgrimage is hard work - if you want to get underneath today and find it as it was." Ever since I have been grateful to Larry for setting us on that path and teaching us how to work at it.

This trip is a pilgrimage for me. Lots of research, reading, and getting ready to be there. Particularly the work done to find our forgotten uncle John Walter Cobb - who died 100 years ago in France. That's a story for the family - -

And I do have some leads on new stories- - - but I have learned that you never really know how that will turn out - so I will also try to stay open - on the look-out for a story I have not dreamed of.

Do you know the poem "In Flanders Fields" by Canadian battlefield surgeon, John McCrae, MD. I am hoping we walk among those crosses, remembering those buried there.

The Poppies -