Belgium: 2 'adopt' grave of Stokes man

(By Lisa O'Donnell, Winston-Salem Journal) - Sometime over the weekend, Dennis and Gerda Hermsen walked among the thousands of graves in Henri-Chapelle American Cemetery and Memorial in Belgium and laid flowers at the foot of a white cross that marks the grave of Leonard Leake.

Leake was a Stokes County native who was killed on Feb. 2, 1945, by small-arms fire while leading a group of soldiers in the waning days of World War II.

In the 62 years since his body was permanently interred at the cemetery, just one of his family members has been able to make the journey to his grave. The cemetery is one of 24 American cemeteries on foreign soil.