Lorraine A M E R I C A N cemetery

It was another memorable day trip. Perfect weather, crisp fall colors starting to show and clear skies above.

With family visiting last month, I had my huge list of places to see. Some that we've seen that we don't mind visiting again.

There are others that we haven't seen that we want to check off our list. St. Avold and the US cemetery is one of those places I've really wanted to visit.

About an hour from our house across the border into France is the Lorraine American Cemetery and Monument.

It contains the largest number of graves of our military dead of World War II in Europe, a total of 10,489.

The grounds are immaculate. We had a chance to see some workers meticulously hand-trimming the graves. It is a reverent, peaceful place.

We talked to the woman in the visitor's center for a while. She showed us online how to look up names on their site to search all Americans from war buried in Europe.

We couldn't help wondering if there were any relatives.

We could't help reflecting on what times were like back then.