Posted on 05/30/2004 7:07:28 AM PDT by knighthawk
HAMM, Luxembourg - A pair of massive iron gates is decorated with gilded laurel wreaths and bronze eagles, the national emblem of the United States.
The country is Luxembourg, but the 17-acre cemetery on the other side of the gates is American soil -- a green meadow that holds the graves of 5,076 American soldiers. They died during one of Europe's coldest winters in a battle that began Dec. 16, 1944, and became known as the Battle of the Bulge.
Among the graves at the American Military Cemetery in Hamm are 23 pairs of brothers and 101 "Unknowns." There are 118 stars of David for Jewish soldiers; the rest are white crosses. The headstones reduce men's lives to name, rank, division, home state and death date.
At the top of the slope is the grave of Gen. George S. Patton Jr. His headstone says simply, "General Third Army, California, Dec. 21, 1945." Patton died from injuries in a car accident. At his funeral, his favorite hymn, "The Strife is O'er, the Battle Done," was played. And, then, following his wishes, he was buried alongside his men in Hamm.
In this 60th anniversary year of the Battle of the Bulge, 250,000 visitors are expected to pass through the gates.
(Excerpt) Read more at coxnews.com ...
Ping
My grandfather was wounded and lost the hearing in one ear in the battle of the bulge.
My father was a sargent in an open top tank, and was in the Battle of the Bulge. Like so many WWII vets, he died (in 1990) and never saw the memorial which was opened yesterday. While very late, the memorial looked very nice. I'm sure it was very moving for the surviving vets.
bump
My cousin was killed in this battle.
"Among the graves at the American Military Cemetery in Hamm are 23 pairs of brothers "
I cannot imagine. May God hold their souls.
"At the top of the slope is the grave of Gen. George S. Patton Jr. His headstone says simply, "General Third Army, California, Dec. 21, 1945." Patton died from injuries in a car accident. At his funeral, his favorite hymn, "The Strife is O'er, the Battle Done," was played. And, then, following his wishes, he was buried alongside his men in Hamm."
And people want to understand why so many respect Patton. I do not believe in reincarnation, but if it does indeed exist, he will be back. Couldn't resist. Hard part of the equation is that war is never good. Period.
5,000 soldiers dead? The NYT would be leading the charge for impeachment.
Can't help posting.
In 60 days of the battle - 105,000 killed, wounded or missing.
America no longer understands.
Yeah Grandad died in 2000, the honor gaurd were Korean war vets because of the lack of WW2 vets to do that duty. Its only since his death that ive began to recognize his greatness and bravery in going and fighting that war.
Its just hard to visualize him fighting and killing amongst the death of his buddies and such.
My Dad was killed Dec. 18,1944. Didn't get to know him but never ever forgot him. Me and my two brothers were lucky enough to have great Grandparents who raised us. God Bless Our Country And Our Brave Troops.
John / Billybob
Just the other day on FR I recounted Allied deaths and casualties at the Battle of the Bulge, D-Day, and the 4 month battle at Anzio.
Someone mentioned it was lucky that the press wasn't around in the early days of WW2. I pointed out that the late days were no picnic, either, and recounted the numbers from those battles. Sad.
My daddy led the charge on Christmas eve on the Belgian front. As he told the story on his deathbed, the first Lt. came along because it was such an important battle. The Lt. gave the orders to march forward, but no one moved. Finally, my daddy, a private, said, "Let's go" and started marching.
Almost all of the troops (120+)ended up with shell shock after a night dug in the snow outside a German held village. My daddy didn't like being in situations like that. He asked to go back to the camp to alert the commanders (radio didn't work naturally). The first Lt. said, "No, ___, it's too dangerous." But my daddy could see it was the better choice. Fortunately he made it, but ended up in a hospital in Liege with severe frost bite on the toes.
He said that was the scariest time of the war for him because the Germans were bombing the town and the hospital had been hit the week before. Again, he didn't like being in situations like that, so talked the doctors into letting him go back to the front after a week.
This is most of what I know about his experiences. He complained that I never asked when I was young. But that's not true. He never wanted to tell, until the very end.
I miss him and his wiley brave heart.
My Uncle Jack lost his arm there.
John / Billybob
I saw "Band of Brothers" for the first time a few weeks ago. I regret not taking the time to talk to Uncle Duke about his experiences in the Army.
It's nice to remember him on a day like this. He was never supposed to be in the war. He was a college boy with glasses. But the army kept sending him forward to the next depot telling him things would be straightened out over in England, etc. But they needed bodies by then. He was totally green at the beginning of the Battle of the Bulge. After that, when he encountered the "green" 17 and 18 year olds (he was 20), he would try to buck them up by telling them not to worry; they looked scared stiff. I guess in war, one becomes an oldtimer within a matter of days.
One more thing, Billybob. Daddy and his outfit were scheduled to go to the Pacific front. Whenever people today assert to me that the US was wrong to drop the bomb on Hiroshima, I reply that it saved my daddy's life. People don't know about the expected high casualties in the taking of Japan. I believe it was supposed to be the worst battle of the war.
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