Sixty-four years ago, a young American soldier was killed in the Battle of the Bulge. Carl Lyman was buried with close to eight thousand of his comrades amidst the rolling hills of the Belgium countryside.
Yesterday we were honored to accompany his grand nephew, Tom Lyman, as we visited Carl's grave at Henri-Chapelle American Cemetery and Memorial. We sang the In Paradisum and prayed for the repose of his soul.
The courtesy of the cemetery administrators was extraordinary. After we were walked to the grave and Tom was presented with American and Belgian flags, the administrator rubbed beige colored sand from the beach at Normandy into the letters inscribed into the white marble grave stone. Then she presented Tom with American and British flags. Her kindness and deep respect for the holy ground on which we stood touched us all deeply.
In paradisum deducant te Angeli; in tuo adventu suscipiant te martyres, et perducant te in civitatem sanctam Ierusalem. Chorus angelorum te suscipiat, et cum Lazaro quondam paupere æternam habeas requiem.
