Independence Day

As the car pulled into St. Mary’s Cemetery in Yonkers, a delicate snowfall drifted through and then quickly subsided, leaving only the clouds to hang behind. Lajqi joined a procession of cars pulling into the cemetery where the Bytyqi brothers were buried beneath tombstones bearing the double-headed eagle insignia of both the KLA and the Albanian flag.

Lajqi ’s long black coat shivered in the light wind over his broad frame. He greeted the other men with solid handshakes and warm embraces. The Battalion’s former commander, Gani Shehu, stood at the foot of the graves, his men in a single formation facing him. He spoke in for several minutes in their native Albanian, and then motioned for Florim. From Florim’s coat pocket emerged the soil of their independent Kosovo. Each of the men took a small part of it, and lay it down on the graves, before falling back into formation again. “Lavdi,” the men saluted in unison, and then went one by one to each tombstone to pay their respects. Rays of sunlight began to peek through the sky as the men returned to their cars, talking in low tones.

“We fought… not for ourselves to say we went and fought. We fought because we all felt we were fighting for the right reasons, to liberate Kosovo,” said Florim. He reflected for another moment. “Closure—yes, that’s it, closure. I feel as if a weight has been lifted off my back, off my shoulder. I can move on now.”