Nuts

I've always like history classes. But it would be a hell of a lot cooler studying about WWII if you were on the battlefields of WWII. So even when I was told I would have to wake up at 6am and not get home until midnight to tour the area where the Battle of the Bulge took place, I was still excited. We left from Brussels at about 730 (getting college kids up early is difficult) and arrived in Bastogne (Southern Belgium) where we picked up our tour guide Henri Mignon. Henri grew up in a town near Bastogne and was 9 years old at the end of the War. His home was occupied by both German and American soldiers during the war. He joined the Belgium military when he got a little older and after he retired decided to tour people around the area since he knew it so well. He met with Spielberg before the making of Band of Brothers (which has episodes which include the area around Bastogne and are fairly accurate) and has given many veterans of the Battle of the Bulge tours back through. In other words he was very knowledgeable.

Bastogne is the most pro-American city I have ever been to outside of the United States. There are American flags everywhere and General Patton is pretty much the town's god.


Our first stop was at one of the major American cemeteries in the region. This one in Luxembourg where General Patton lays buried with his men. The next couple pictures are of the very impressive chapel that is right inside the gates.

 Inside the chapel.

 The ceiling of the chapel.

Picture out over the cemetery. When soldiers died their families had the option of either having them buried at one of the overseas cemeteries, brought home to Arlington or the nearest military cemetery, or brought home to a private place at the families expense. The largest overseas cemetery is in the Philippines.

The grave of General Patton. He had requested that he was buried with his men. About 1/3 of the men that died in WWII were buried in an overseas cemetery.

Grave of an unknown soldier. There are about 110 of them at this cemetery located in Luxembourg. There is an ongoing process to find out who they are, and they have been able to confirm 3 through DNA testing in the past 5 years or so.

The commander in Bastogne received a note from the Germans that was translated by one soldier as the Germans wanted to surrender. When the official translator came along and told the commander that the letter was really asking the Americans to surrender he exclaimed NUTS! His aide thought it would be a perfect response to the Germans rather than a no or something more explicit. Turns out the German translator had no idea what that actually meant and it took the Germans half a day to actually figure out what NUTS! meant.

Count the stars.

The famous 101st was headquartered in Bastogne for a while during WWII.

They had a lot of tanks from WWII that we were allowed to "play" on. This was the only french one. Which may or may not explain a lot.

Tim, Matt, and Myself

This tank was called Little John.

The biggest tank they had. Fought for the USSR.

The WWII monument in Bastogne. When it was finally finished almost the whole city (12,000 people) showed up for its opening. Most of whom aren't American, but are very appreciative.

We stopped at a German cemetery as our last stop (yeah, at night). One of the biggest points of this was to contrast the American cemetery. Where the American's used much white and brighter colors the Germans used grey as that is how they interpreted death.

A monument of General Patton in downtown Bastogne.