Brief Holiday Moment:
In Honor of my Uncle Francis
He died in the Battle of the Bulge in World War II only days after being sent to Europe.
He is buried in the American Military Cemetery in Luxembourg.
When I was 21, I went to Europe and did the Eurail pass/youth hostel thing. One of the first things that I did was head off to Luxembourg to visit Francis' grave site and take pictures for my Grandmother since she never got to go there and say goodbye.
The day that I was going to head out to the cemetery, I stopped at a small cafe and ordered a sandwich and a beer (a local brew call "boffendinger"). I asked the owner, an older woman, for directions to the cemetery. She gave the directions and the asked "do you have family there?", I responded "yes, my uncle".
When I signaled for my check, she said that I didn't owe her anything, that my uncle had helped to liberate her family from the Germans. This was in 1984 and her gratitude was still that strong.
To make a long story short, I hitchhiked out to the cemetery and they have very detailed information about the individual battles. I could tell by the date that my uncle was killed, which city he was likely in at the time. And the people at the cemetery treat the soldiers who are buried there....and their families who come to visit, with a great amount of respect.
As an aside, My uncle is buried about 50 feet from General Patton.
JXM |
