The New York Times travel section includes a narrative about journeying to the American First World War cemeteries in France, particularly the Meuse-Argonne American Cemetery.

It’s strange that a military graveyard should be so lovely, but lovely is the only way to describe the Meuse-Argonne American Cemetery, 26 miles northwest of Verdun. As exquisite as any French park or chateau grounds, the cemetery is a formal garden of perfectly clipped trees, immaculate lawns, fountains and roses and long white rows of grave markers. Given its beauty, it’s also strange how empty the place is — and stranger still since this is the largest American military cemetery in Europe, the burial site of 14,246 United States service members who died in the war to end all wars.

The complete article in the New York Times: “On Hallowed Ground, a Place of Painful Beauty”