luxembourg

The Sandweiler German war cemetery is a World War II cemetery located in southern Luxembourg. 10,913 German soldiers (Nazis) from the Battle of the Bulge in 1944-45 are located here. American casualties are buried less than a mile away at the Luxembourg American Cemetery in Hamm.
The last person to be buried at Sandweiler was an unknown German soldier discovered in the forests near Wiltz in 2007.
The energy of these cemeteries is so shockingly different- you can feel it right away. Each American has their own cross at the US cemetery, while at the German one, up to four names are on a cross (2 names on each side) and there are many “unknowns.” The US one is pristine with guides milling about ready to give facts and answer questions. At the German one, a guy with a leaf blower was the only person in sight. The grass was overgrown and it just seemed more eery. Perhaps it’s indicative of how people feel about that time in history- I don’t know. (?) We’ll have to do some research when we visit Germany!

This is a photo of Emerson taking a picture of a little wish flower (that’s what I call them) – that was left standing after the lawn was freshly manicured.

The Luxembourg American Cemetery and Memorial is located in Luxembourg.
Sloping downhill from the memorial is the burial area containing 5,076 of American military dead, many of whom lost their lives in the Battle of the Bulge and in the advance to the Rhine River. Their headstones are big, white marble crosses. Surrounding the crosses are trees, fountains and flower beds – which make it pristinely beautiful. Patton is buried here, as well. He was buried amongst all the other soldiers when there were only wooden crosses in the cemetery. Many got trampled by visitors trying to get to Patton’s grave- so they moved his grave to a new spot and replaced the wood crosses with the sturdy marble ones.
My mom thought this would be a depressing visit, but it wasn’t at all. It was a beautiful place to honor the people who fought and died. The guides filled us up with tons of facts about the wars, the soldiers, etc. Very inspiring place.