In a cemetery about six miles from the Dutch city of Maastricht lie buried 8,301 American soldiers who died in Operation Market Garden in the battles to liberate the Netherlands in the fall and winter of 1944–5. Everyone of the men buried in the cemetery, as well as those in the Canadian and British military cemeteries has been adopted by a Dutch family who tend the grave and keep alive the memory of the soldier they have adopted. It is the custom to keep a portrait of their foreign soldier in a place of honour in their home. Annually on Liberation Day, Memorial Services are held for the men who died to liberate the Netherlands. The day concludes with a concert, at which Il Silenzio has always been the concluding piece. Il Silenzio is a memorial piece commissioned by the Dutch and first played in 1965 on the 20th anniversary of the liberation of the Netherlands.
Posted on: Tue, 11 Nov 2014 16:55:47 +0000
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