Remembering

In 2004 the Soldier had the opportunity to take the boys to Belgium to mark the 60th anniversary of the Battle of the Bulge. It was such a memorable trip for them. One highlight was that they "bumped into" two of the original members of Easy Co, 101st ABN, while they were out in the woods looking for old fox holes. Most of you know that we are big Band of Brothers fans, having spent three years at Fort Campbell while our soldier commanded a battery in the 101st. It was a trip they all treasure, and Dave was so excited to be back in Europe with the chance to go back for the 70th anniversary.

We headed to Belgium early in the morning in the rain,

with the promise of snow once we actually got to Bastogne. And we were rewarded. The snow began as we pulled into town and continued the entire day, transforming the town into something I imagine was similar to conditions 70 years ago.

It was a remarkable day. The town was filled with re-enactors of all nationalities (mostly Belgian but also French and American and I suspect some others) dressed in vintage Allied uniforms-a hodge-podge of insignias and equipment but it made us feel like we had stepped back in time.
Jeeps were driving around with "soldiers" hanging off the sides, hastily assembled "units" marched together to prepare for the parade, old trucks and tanks rumbled down the brick roads and more than once artillery was fired.

We participated in a 5K walk around the perimeter of the city. Many of the homes had American and Belgian flags hanging outside and most of the stores had either Thank You messages or old pictures hanging in their windows. There were few houses older than 60 years old since so much of the town was destroyed during the war, but the stores and buildings that had been rebuilt were built mostly in the previous style, retaining the feel of the WWII era.

The walk took us through the woods and part of the way along there was a cross-roads, with a medic tent and vehicles and a chow truck and more soldiers all gathered together for conversation and a little warmth.

 This next set of six pictures actually came from the USO Facebook page, from their trip. They have a nicer camera than my iPhone. :)

Back in town, we followed the parade up the street then waited with crowds as they placed some wreaths commemorating the lives lost during the Battle of the Bulge. We tried to wait longer as it was apparent someone "big" would be appearing.

Ultimately our frozen fingers and toes drove us inside to watch the rest of the parade from the cozy second-floor of a restaurant while we ate pizza and thawed out.

The "someone big" ended up being the King and Queen of Belgium, and we missed them by just a few minutes! Oh well...the warmth was worth it. 

We toured the building that was used as the headquarters for the 101st, which was a fun treat for our Soldier, since that was not open when he was there before.

And at the end of the day we went to the museum and watched the nearly indescribable "event" which is an apparent tradition. It was the story of several Texas A&M students and their contributions to the war. Yes, Texas A&M (which sounded hilariously out of place mixed in with the French narration.) It involved movie screens, wall-walkers, and a fire handler (representing the Third Reich), dancers, fireworks, and a gigantic balloon bouquet that could have lifted the house in the movie UP. We were completely mesmerized-and there's really no way to effectively describe it to someone who wasn't there.

By the time we left there were several inches of snow on the ground.

We had brought a couple changes of dry clothes and we changed and climbed into the car for the 2-hour drive home.
Just as the snow stopped.