April 13
Today we went back to WWII and remembered the Battle of the Bulge which took place in Bastogne Belgium from Dec 44 to end of Jan 45. In terms of casualties, the US lost more men in this battle than in the Battle of Normandy. As you know it was the last big offensive of the Germans and they surrounded the 101st Airborne division and the town of Bastogne. The good guy eventually won when Patton’s 3rd tank division broke through the German lines in Jan 45.
We visited the Bastogne War Museum and, once again, it was incredible. It’s amazing that with as many of these museums we’ve seen on this trip, we don’t get tired of them. Yes, we see similar weapons and vehicle, but each museum seems to take its own spin. This one started the presentation with WWI, which because of the punitive nature of the treaty, set the stage for the rise of the Nazi party and Hitler. It moved quickly through the war years and included information on the Belgium resistance. The unique part of this museum was that it told the story of the war through the eyes of 4 different characters, an American paratrooper with the 101st, a German infantry office and two Belgium civilians, one a female teacher who was a part of the resistance and a 13-year-old boy. We followed them throughout the occupation and the Battle of the Bulge. It turns out that they were real people and at the end of the museum we found out what happened to them after the war. It was amazing.
The movies were very cool as well. Instead of just having old video, they had sets that integrated the movies. It was a very unique way to present the videos.
From Bastogne, we headed to the American Military Cemetery just outside of Luxembourg City. This is where Patton is buried. He died after the war in a jeep accident and wanted to be buried with his men. At one time his grave was in the back of the cemetery with the men but so many people were going to the grave it was destroying the rest of the grass, so the cemetery officials moved him to the front of the cemetery.
For those of you who are fans of Band of Brothers, we found the graves of two of the secondary characters. (SPOILER ALERT) …Skip Monk and Alex Penkala. Lynn has seen BOB so many times and knows these men through the actors who portrayed them that it was very odd to see their graves. They were real people, not just characters in a TV program.
This is a very cool picture at the cemetery visitor center. The men on the left are veterans of the Battle of the Bulge who came to the cemetery to honor their comrades in arms who died in the battle. Again, for fans of BOB, the man kneeling at the front touching a tombstone is the real Donald Malarkey and the third man on crutches is Wild Bill Guarnere. This was a stunning picture. BTW. Donald Malarkey passed away last fall. He was the last of the main characters from the mini-series. Out of all the survivors of Easy Company, there are only 15 left. So sad.
After the cemetery, we drove only about 15 minutes to the Doubletree Hotel in Luxembourg City. We looked for Airbnb flats but there weren’t many and they were expensive, so we decided to stay here instead. We took a cab to the city center where we saw the Notre Dame Cathedral and walked around the town a little. After dinner and a walk to get our 10,000 steps, we grabbed a cab back to the hotel.
Tomorrow we are switching focus again back to WWI…Verdun. Not sure where we’re going to spend the night, but we’ll find something.
Night everyone.