Family History at Henri-Chapelle Cemetery in Belgium, Herkenrode Abbey, Japanese Garden, Belgium, Netherlands Days 5-6,

Tuesday, May 3 and Day 5 of my trip. After Aaron finished with work that day all three couples decided to walk down to the Japanese Tuin Garden in Hasselt, Belgium.  It was really pretty.

They had a bell you could gong.  So we all took a turn.

Next Aaron and I got the opportunity to visit my Great Uncle’s grave.  As Aaron and I were preparing for this Europe trip a few months ago my Dad mentioned that he had an uncle who died in WWII and was buried in an American military cemetery in Belgium.  He prepared a nice folder for me that included a lot of information about his uncle and his parents.  

I really wanted to try and visit his grave since we would be so close.  Some history about my Great Uncle--He was only 17 when he enlisted in the army.  He lied about his age so he could serve.  Here’s a picture I found of him through Family Tree at age 13.  

We finally got a chance to drive out and visit his grave at the Henri-Chapelle American Military Cemetery and Memorial one afternoon.  The drive out to the cemetery was through the Belgian countryside.

When we got to the cemetery it was a very beautiful and peaceful place.  Very well taken care of and manicured.  They had a chapel, a colonnade you walked through that listed all the names of the 450 missing soldiers, and a visitor’s center.  At the back of the visitor’s center they had an office that said you should visit if you are the next of kin.  We rang the bell since I am the next of kin that is able to visit and they brought us back to an inner office.  They showed us where Jeppe Maxwell Jeppson was buried.  They then took us out to his grave.  Here is the entrance to the cemetery:

After you walk through the colonnade:

The cemetery was established on this site which was liberated on September 11, 1944 by the U.S. infantry division.  There are 7,987 headstones here.  It was a very peaceful, beautiful, albeit somber place to visit.

Here’s what the layout of the cemetery looks like:

Jeppe M. Jeppson’s grave was found in Block C, Row 3, grave 33.  Here’s what it looked like:

For the next of kin they do a ’sanding’ for you.  It is where they mix some water with some sand and fill in the name so you can see it.  

They then place an American flag and Belgian flag beside the grave.  After that they gave us a few minutes.  We placed some flowers on the grave.  We also thought G&G T would like to see the grave.  We were able to Facetime them for a few minutes.

For some reason coming here made me a bit emotional.  It just hit home a bit close since I currently have an almost 17 year old (the age that Jeppe enlisted) and a 19 year old (the age he died).  I can’t even imagine the grief his mom, Annie Rose Hahn Jeppson, had when she was notified he was first missing and then that he was killed in action.  He was killed during the Battle of Hurtgen Forest in Germany.  

At the end of our visit they had us stop by the office and gave us a folder with copies of all the information they had on file for Jeppe.  

Those included some announcements that were found in the local Provo newspaper:

His interment card:

They also gave me information of the different locations and battles his unit was involved in.  They highlighted the areas that referred to his unit:

They also gave me some websites to visit to find even more information about him.

I also found the very last letter he wrote home a week before he was killed:

Another letter his mom received telling her Jeppe received the Purple Heart Medal posthumously:

I am so glad we were able to make it out there to see his grave.  I am also thankful I had a chance to learn more about him.  It was a very memorable experience.  The feeling we had while we were at the cemetery was hard to describe.  It was very somber, solemn, peaceful, but spiritual as well.  I am grateful for the many sacrifices that were made for freedom, however, very sad for all the lives that were lost.

As we were leaving the cemetery they had a lookout across the street.  This was the countryside where many battles were fought:

Driving back to our hotel we drove along the Belgium and Netherlands border.  At one point we were back inside the Netherlands only to find on the next turn we were back in Belgium and then back in Netherlands.  It was pretty crazy.

We did stop by the city of Maastricht, Netherlands just to see what was there.  We found a cool old church where we went inside.

We also stopped by something called Hell’s Gate which was built in 1229 as a protective gate around the city, but was still standing.

Makes me feel a bit ridiculous when I wear my Oceanside, Oregon sweatshirt that says it was established in only 1922....haha!

Anyway, we walked around the very old wall for a bit.

On the way back to the hotel we stopped by for dinner in Genk, Belgium.  Right by the restaurant was a pretty park we walked around for a bit.

We tried some Belgian Blue steak for a late dinner which was yummy.

It came from the Belgian Blue Cow which looks like this:

Then when we got back to the hotel we tried some Belgian chocolates which were delicious!

Good thing I brought some stretchy pants to wear on this trip--haha!

The kids at home also had stuff going on.  Sarah was honored at a recognition ceremony for the National Jr. Honor’s Society.  She had to maintain good grades and do service hours throughout the year to attend this ceremony.  Good Job, Sarah!

Noah also had his end of year Monster Orchestra Concert and soccer.

We are so grateful G&G T were able to attend these events with Sarah and Noah!!

Day 6

After work Aaron and I got to check out Herkenrode Abbey and the gardens in Hasselt. For some reason I never got a picture of the outside of the building so here is one I found online:

This Abbey was founded a long time ago.  It was a monastery of Cistercian nuns.  As you walked through the abbey you could listen to the different Abbess’ stories and how they ran the Abbey and things that happened through the history of the abbey. It was....interesting....to say the least.  They translated everything from Dutch to English on the headset, but from what I heard I think maybe some things were lost in translation because it was a little weird.  Anyway, nonetheless we did get to hear about the history through first person accounts.  Here’s a few pictures of our visit:

The gardens around the outside were pretty and had a lot of herbs to see:

After leaving Herkenrode Abbey Aaron drove out to see the ’See Through CHurch’ which is a piece of  architectural artwork.  We weren’t sure we were in the right place when we parked, but we were.  We just had to walk about 1/2 mile on a dirt trail to find it.

I am standing in front of it:

After this Aaron was absolutely done driving for the day because people over there drive so crazy.  We headed back to the hotel.  When we got back we just wandered around the area.  Hasselt is a very walkable city and is fun to walk around exploring what it has to offer.  We did find a pretty yummy waffle place.

There was a store Aaron found called PooPoo Style.  It was a just a sports gear store with a few games.  Again I think something was lost in translation, but when you are married to someone who is a bit immature, Aaron HAD to get a picture in front of the store--haha!

We went into an old church to check it out and found this book of prayers in Dutch:

Then we stopped for some more gelato.  It was delicious!!