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Tunisia

Entrance to one of many residences walking up and down the narrow walk ways.

Mohamed standing among many of the souvenir shops close by.

Gardens in the hotel overlooking the Mediterranean.

Entrance to the hotel

Watching the sunset in Sidi Bou Said is spectacular. Crowds gather each night at the location we were standing a few blocks up the hill from the hotel.

Lobby of the hotel. This 19th Century mansion must have been incredible in its day. As a hotel it is beautifully restored today.

North Africa American Cemetery and Memorial. The cemetery lies between the Mediterranean and the Bay of Tunis, atop part of ancient Roman Carthage. The only American military cemetery on the African continent.

The cemetery was established in 1948 to consolidate temporary cemeteries in North Africa. The government of Tunisia granted its free use as a permanent burial ground in perpetuity without charge or taxation.

The Purple Heart medal

Wall of the Missing. Along the southeast edge of the burial area is the Wall of the Missing with 3,724 names listed as missing in action, lost at sea or buried at sea.

This Wall of the Missing stretches for 364 feet long. The names of each individual is listed alphabetically with the particulars of each person listed also. You cannot walk this distance without having tears in your eyes.

At this ancient and hallowed site rest 2,841 American war dead, most of whom lost their lives in military actions ranging from North Africa to the Persian Gulf.

Headstones are set in straight lines subdivided into nine rectangular plots by wide paths, with decorative pools at their intersections.

Walking along the Wall of the Missing I noticed a name the same as my last name Schroeder, John C, only with an extra e in Schroder. My thoughts went to family, could this be a member of our family?

At the end of this long wall of names etched in the wall reads "HERE ARE RECORDED THE NAMES OF AMERICANS WHO GAVE THEIR LIVES IN THE SERVICE OF THEIR COUNTRY AND WHO SLEEP IN UNKNOWN GRAVES 1941-1945 INTO THY HANDS O LORD"

Lady Be Good was a B-24D Liberator bomber that disappeared without a trace on its first combat mission during World War II. The plane was believed to have been lost—with its nine-man crew—in the Mediterranean Sea while returning to its base in Libya following a bombing raid on Naples on April 4, 1943. Investigations concluded that the first-time (all new) crew failed to realize they had overflown their air base in a sandstorm. After continuing to fly south into the desert for many hours, the crew bailed out when the plane's fuel was exhausted. The survivors then died in the desert trying to walk to safety. All but one of the crew's remains were recovered in 1960.

Open Air Map Room. The map on the south wall displays operations of US and allied forces in North Africa from November 1942 to the Axis surrender in May 1943. The gentlemen explaining the war movements and battles is from Tunisia. He was in charge of the Cemetery at the time of our visit. He was excellent in the history of these battles and those that are interred there.

Notice how close we were to Sicily and how they played a part in the battles.

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