Bruce Malone first learned at age 12 that his grandfather was buried in Belgium after he was killed in 1944. The knowledge "sparked a love of military history ever since. I can understand what it means to the family to have a relative who never came home."

It was his research that inspired his mother to visit the overseas cemetery on Memorial Day 2004. She weeps now to remember it.

"All you see is row after row of white crosses," Carol Malone said. "You just stand there and you are speechless. You can't imagine until you see it in person, I always think how many gave their lives."

As overwhelming to her was the love locals showed the cemetery.

"One thing I will never forget, the hundreds of people at the memorial," she said. "The Belgian people are so thankful now. There is a group that has adopted my father's grave.

They put out flowers and visit my father's grave."

Young Americans might benefit most from a visit, Carol Malone said.

"I don't think it would have been a free country had these men and women not gone over and fought," she said. "We would be living a different life and these young people need to see this."