El-Alamein

Trip Start Oct 07, 2007
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Trip End Oct 31, 2007


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Flag of Egypt  ,
Wednesday, October 10, 2007

This wasn't one of the original stops, but they kindly added it when I expressed interest in showing Ben the lasting impact on the area from WWII.

 Quick history lesson: Long drawn out battles were fought in North Africa, over 100,000 men were lost. Some 11,000 lost and 70,000 wounded in El-Alamein alone. It is estimated that there are still between 17-22 million landmines in the Western Desert. Because of the area's significance to all sides, large monuments were built to commemorate the lost soliders.

Italian Solace
Italian Solace
We stopped at the Italian monuments as it was the most accessible to the road, and one of the most impressive. It had the added bonus of an attached Mosque (Libyian memorial) so that our "crew" could participate in the noon prayer.

Visual impact
Visual impact
The impact was instantaneous-- Remebrance Day suddenly feels too insignificant of an act to appreciate the courage of that time.

We wandered through the 4800+ name plaques in complete silence. The nameless ones always impact me the most, somehow "incognito" doens't seem like enough to appreciate a lost life, but what is the alternative?

-Ashley
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