Tank at Mardasson Memorial (a memorial of the Battle of the Bulge at Bastogne, Belgium)
From the God's eye view, this structure is a five pointed star (U.S. style). From the top you have a great view of many of the places the Americans were dug in and fighting from all five points on the star.
Note the crystal blue skies. Not typical that time of year (February). The rest of the trip we were greeted with freezing fog and drizzle.
Read this closely. There were over 76,000 US casualties (killed, wounded or missing) in the defense of Bastogne in a little less than a month. Kinda puts Iraq and Afghanistan into perspective.
This is a crypt below the memorial. Really just a place of worship, not where soldiers were interred. We visited in February. The bitter cold was just a taste of what our troops experienced while they were fighting there in December 1944/January 1945.
This is the town of Bastogne. We sampled some great Belgian Trappist Ales here! Just part of our expedition to have a different beer in each of three different countries on the same day. Yes, we worked at this TDY, too.
This is the American cemetery in Luxembourg. Over 5,000 U.S. casualties of the Battle of the Bulge lie here, which is less than 20% of the number who perished. The rest are buried at other cemeteries. Below is the chapel.
There were several of these murals depicting the war's progression.
One of the many breath-taking views of the cemetery.
One of the Air Force headstones I found. All of them I found were bomber air crew. There were also two medal of honor winners buried there.
One of the 101 headstones marking unknown remains.
George Patton's headstone. His dying wish was to be buried with his men. His headstone is at the top of the cemetery and in a perfect place to overlook all of them.
View of the Chapel's ceiling.
Altar in the chapel.
The next stop was the city of Luxembourg (yes the same name as the country). What a neat place. The old part of the city looked like a gigantic castle with a moat to boot.
No wonder this place survived a bunch of sieges throughout history.
Better view of the "castle."
There were several of these murals depicting the war's progression.
One of the many breath-taking views of the cemetery.
One of the Air Force headstones I found. All of them I found were bomber air crew. There were also two medal of honor winners buried there.
One of the 101 headstones marking unknown remains.
George Patton's headstone. His dying wish was to be buried with his men. His headstone is at the top of the cemetery and in a perfect place to overlook all of them.
View of the Chapel's ceiling.
Altar in the chapel.
The next stop was the city of Luxembourg (yes the same name as the country). What a neat place. The old part of the city looked like a gigantic castle with a moat to boot.
No wonder this place survived a bunch of sieges throughout history.
Better view of the "castle."
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