PFC Robert Cahow
--Contributed by: Doug Cahow
PFC Robert Cahow's gravesite is adjacent to the Clear Lake,
Wisconsin All Veterans' Memorial.
Friends from The Netherlands write and send
photos regarding
Clear Lake veteran PFC Robert Cahow...
Today we visited Robert's Memorial in the H�rtgen Forrest
near Vossenack. We brought flowers and some tokens from several generations.
In June 1944 the first massive attack in Western Europe started. On June 5th Dakota's and
Gliders lined up for action in England.
On the 6th of June, at 6.30 in the morning, US soldiers pressed their boots into the sand.
We have poured some of that sand in a 'V'-shape in front of Roberts memorial.
For V = Victory.
And V = Vrijheid (Freedom in Dutch).
We owe men like Robert for our Vrijheid. The wind will take the sand all over the
forest, but the memory will never fade! And we will not forget him or the lessons
learned in history, for they were hard lessons to learn.
The
actual spot where Robert was recovered has been transformed into a Memorial of it's own.
Unique. Stones from all over the Forrest have been pilled in a tomb-like shape. Messages
have been written on stones. Iron en concrete from both bunkers in a 200 meter radius have
been added, just to point out the objective of destroying those fortifications has been
completed.
The
Forrest is still a somehow eerie location. Trenches, foxholes, twisted iron and
concrete...
everywhere. A few men have left this theater of war without a scratch. This is
former battleground, like the Bois Jacques or the Zonsche Forrest... once occupied by
young men. Some are still there, and many of the men who did make it trough that part of
WW2 are still travelling back in history. And down that memory lane a Gentle Giant is
waiting for them. He will always be there, in our prayers. For he is part of
the Lightning and showed no fear.
(Click
Here to read Robert's Story) or copy and paste this address in your browser:
http://www.lerenfort.fsnet.co.uk/page6N.htm
We salute him!
From all of us in The Netherlands...
Remembrance brings us all together!
Donald & Sophia van den Bogert
Marcel Jungbauer
Screaming Ducks Living History Association
