Il Silencio

[popper]

About six miles from Maastricht in the Netherlands lie buried 8,301 American soldiers who died in "Operation Market Garden" in the battles to liberate Holland in the fall and winter of 1944-45. Every one 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 mind the grave, decorate, and keep alive the memory of the soldier they have adopted. It is even the custom to keep a portrait of "their" American soldier in a place of honor in their home. Annually on "Liberation Day" Memorial Services are held for the men who died to liberate Holland. The day concludes with a concert. The final piece is always "Il Silenzio", a memorial piece commissioned by the Dutch and first played in 1965 on the 20th anniversary of Holland's liberation. It has been the concluding piece of the memorial concert ever since. This year the soloist was a 13 year old Dutch girl, Melissa Venema, backed by André Rieu and his orchestra (the Royal Orchestra of the Netherlands). This beautiful concert piece is based upon the original version of taps and was composed by Italian composer Nino Rossi. Watch at this site and go full screen. It's very beautiful and moving.

http://www.flixxy.com/trumpet-solo-melissa-venema.htm

And in this country we tell our heros - Tough ****

[Ubet]

I hadn't heard of this before. Thank you for sharing.

[CastingFool]

Wow! Hearing Taps always touches me very deeply.

[Bad Water Bill]

While Andre and his orchestra are not strangers here at C B I do not think the young lady has been here and played her haunting rendition before.

Nor has anyone else told the story of the citizens and their dedication to the fallen heros been mentioned before.

Thank you for a great post.

[Frank46]

I've seen this a few times before. And from the first time and even now find it a beautiful and haunting piece. Thanks for sharing. Frank

[oscarflytyer]

While stationed in Germany in late '80s, I went to Holland in uniform for couple days. They LOVE American GIs! And have some great memorials dedicated to the ABN forces there. I wish my pictures were digital - I would post them. But they treated us like royalty while we were there!

[Rick Hodges]

I graduated from High School in 1966...our class adopted Il Silencio as our class song. Little did we know what was in store for us. It is beautiful. Thank You.

[DCP]

About six miles from Maastricht in the Netherlands lie buried 8,301 American soldiers who died in "Operation Market Garden" in the battles to liberate Holland in the fall and winter of 1944-45. Every one 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 mind the grave, decorate, and keep alive the memory of the soldier they have adopted. It is even the custom to keep a portrait of "their" American soldier in a place of honor in their home. Annually on "Liberation Day" Memorial Services are held for the men who died to liberate Holland. The day concludes with a concert. The final piece is always "Il Silenzio", a memorial piece commissioned by the Dutch and first played in 1965 on the 20th anniversary of Holland's liberation. It has been the concluding piece of the memorial concert ever since. This year the soloist was a 13 year old Dutch girl, Melissa Venema, backed by André Rieu and his orchestra (the Royal Orchestra of the Netherlands). This beautiful concert piece is based upon the original version of taps and was composed by Italian composer Nino Rossi. Watch at this site and go full screen. It's very beautiful and moving.

http://www.flixxy.com/trumpet-solo-melissa-venema.htm

And in this country we tell our heros - Tough ****

Just so you know there are many of us left. That know what our HEROS have done.
Thanks for the post

[GREENCOUNTYPETE]

Popper , In our little town I feel like we do Memorial day right , and honor our fallen ,the parade begins at Veterans park and ends at the cemetery it is lead by the VFW and American legion then the sheriffs department honor guard , the boy scouts , cub scouts , girl scouts , high school and middle school marching bands. a local boy scout reads Logans orders the high school marching band plays taps , cub scouts place flags , the girl scouts lay flowers the VFW and Legion give the 21 gun salute , all the current serving are named prayers are given by the chaplain , we may just be a bunch of small town nobodys in the middle of nowhere Wisconsin but I think we do it right. we certainly don't tell them tough **** here.

[popper]

Here the 'gay' St. Pat's Day parade gets more attention.

[Dframe]

I've seen that touching and haunting clip before. Absolutely beautiful.

[shooterg]

Thanks. I'd never heard this. Oughta be taught about in school here today - along with so many other things.

[waynem34]

Just goes to show how thankful those people are for the help.Must have been a nightmare back in that time. Thanks to all who serve.

[histed]

My uncle was there - 82nd Airborne. Came home whole in body but not mind. Nice to know there are those who still appreciate what he - and others - did for them. Moving piece - shared it with my US History class, as we just finished the European campaign. Thanks for sharing. And, to all the veterans here, a heart-felt THANK YOU. The people remember, if your government doesn't

[Ithaca Gunner]

Thanks, that was beautiful.

[tanstafl10]

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Shooterg--
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my thoughts exactly! So, I will somehow apply it to my science lesson on Monday when I get back to work.
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It is a beautiful piece.

[mikeym1a]

I just borrowed this. Hope you don't mind.

[WRideout]

I believe my uncle, Francis Randall is buried there. I never met him; he was a young man when he was killed in Europe. I miss him, even so.

Wayne