The American World War II African Cemetery near Sidi Bou Said is a typical razzmatazz American installation commemorating it’s war dead. I’ve been to many of these cemeteries in Europe on past trips. This was the first one, however, where I was taken on a tour by a nice local man, and then met the ghost of the American director.
The cemetery is laid out in a typical tic-tac-toe pattern with the wall of the missing at the head of the cemetery, a chapel in one corner, administrative offices off to the side, and the stone or other such object commemorating all of the soldiers who lost their lives near the chapel. The grounds are very well kept with an immaculate lawn, no doubt fertilized by America’s fallen children. All of the stonework and marble crosses are as clean as clean can be. Nothing is out of place, not even a stray piece of gravel from the neatly raked gravel beds.
At this particular war cemetery the main attraction, aside from remembering the great sacrifice so many people gave to drive the Nazi’s and Fascists from power, is the director, Mr. Green. Most cemeteries are quite outposts of the war memorial commission. Ones I’ve been at in the past are usually run by old dried up men who either fought in the war that the cemetery is for or remember it vividly. Mr. Green appears to be a little younger than World War II. In fact, I don’t believe Mr. Green is there entirely to watch over the largely forgotten sons and daughters of America. I’d hazard to guess that he’s actually an operative in one of America’s many security services. If nothing else, the pure outlandishness of his dress and the born-again Christian attitude screams “agent”. Is Mr. Green his real name or a code name based on Tunisia being known as the country of green? Well, at least Lucas keeps telling me that’s what it’s known as!
Mr. Green’s entrance was truly that of a phantasm. He appeared to shimmer into existence in the middle of the cemetery in between the rows of crosses and stars. Truly, he is an odd bird in an odd job at an odd facility that is in a country who no doubt finds him very odd!
Aside from Mr. Green and his crazy dress and demeanor, the cemetery does a very nice job of remembering the American war dead. I wonder if there’ll be such a wonderful monument for the current conflicts. The respect that World War II veterans and the dead from that war received and still receive today is in stark contrast to the way that our soldiers are currently being treated. We don’t see the pictures of the coffins on the transport planes back to the USA. We don’t see the widows and mothers weeping. This war isn’t as real to us as WWII was. I fear there will be no monument for those men and women who died for their country in Iraq. Regardless of if a war is right or not, those who fought and those who died deserve respect and celebration for their sacrifice. Even the German veterans and dead from WWII have monuments built for them. I’ve sat and talked with the men and women who were in Hitler’s Youth Army and in the regular Nazi Army both as conscripts and volunteers. They fought honorably for their country regardless of if they believed it was a just and right war or not. They have been honored. Will the Americans dieing in Iraq and Afghanistan and soon to be other locations be honored as well? I hope so.