A History Lesson// WWII Memorial and Independence Day

I'll try to make this as interesting (condensed) as possible :]

World War I kinda shook things up in Europe and resulted in a shift in the balance of power. As you can image, many countries weren't ok with this. Japan invaded china, Germany invaded Poland. I mean everyone was kickn butt lol Ok so WWII .Germany also invaded France, the Netherlands, and Belgium. Italy declared war on France, but then France surrendered. So they were divided between Italy and Germany. This meant that France was now neutralized. Germany, then, sought an invasion of Great Britain. They failed once ( if my memory serves me correct) and then with the help of french ports, they succeeded over Britain. Japan is still kickn china's butt lol So, the US ( a neutral ) assisted china along with other allies. So, formed were the allies and the axis powers. Germany, of course was apart of the axis, and the US and great Britain, apart of the allies. Our Navy protected British convoys and they helped us when they could. This resulted in Germany getting pissed at us, and we had to engage in a naval warfare. A lot of other stuff happens and eventually it's GLOBAL. Japan started attacking great Britain and American holdings and this led the allies to formally declare war on japan. Germany and other countries responded by declaring war on the US. D day was the day we defeated the German army, and we continued to push back the German forces. Germany tried one last time to come back, but ultimately the Allies won. after the war, the UN was formed. The economy was exhausted. There were many casualties, some innocent, and many soldiers. During this time, there was the holocaust so that added to the death toll.

I was looking at different photography. I found this picture and immediately became preoccupied with the writing to the right of the statue. I started googling the people etched in the stone with no results. I looked closer *zooming in* and saw that one of the people from Maryland was a SGT. I thought "could this be a war memorial". I found some additional information on the photo.

Photograph taken by: Lorissa Shepstone

It was taken at the Cambridge American Cemetery. It was established as a temporary military cemetery (say that 5xs fast) in 1943 on the land donated by the University of Cambridge. The site was later deemed as "the only permanent American World War II military cemetery in the British Isles and was dedicated 16 July 1956." It is one of fourteen permanent American World War II military cemetery memorials erected on foreign soil by the American Battle Monuments Commission.
Anyway, the picture that I found had the word "To Defend" at the top. I actually thought that "To Defend" was the name of it. So I googled that as well. I found out that "To Defend" was apart of a larger inscription. Its from The Golden book and it reads "THE AMERICANS, WHOSE NAMES HERE APPEAR,WERE PART OF THE PRICE THAT FREE MEN FOR THE SECOND TIME IN THIS CENTURY HAVE BEEN FORCED TO PAY TO DEFEND HUMAN LIBERTY AND RIGHTS ALL WHO SHALL HEREAFTER LIVE IN FREEDOM WILL BE HERE REMINDED THAT TO THESE MEN AND THEIR COMRADES WE OWE A DEBT TO BE PAID WITH GRATEFUL REMEMBRANCE OF THEIR SACRIFICE AND THE HIGH RESOLVE THAT THE CAUSE FOR WHICH THEY DIED SHALL LIVE ETERNALLY". Along the wall are four statues: a soldier, a sailor, an airman and a Coast Guardsman.The names that ran the length of the memorial were the names of a little more than 5,000 lost/missing soldiers.
May we never take our lives or our freedom for granted.  May we forever remember the lives lost and the  heart and souls poured out on the battlefield.