General George S. Patton Jr commanded the 3rd Army of the United States as they victoriously entered Nazi Germany during World War II. He remained in post-war Germany but was killed in an auto accident while going out pheasant hunting near Heidelberg just months after the war ended. He wanted to be buried with his men so he was laid to rest with 5,000 other American soldiers at the Luxembourg American Cemetery near Luxembourg City.
Old Blood and Guts is my eight cousin, once removed. We both descend from a Huguenot named Louis DuBois who fled persecution in France and settled in upstate New York. Yes, it’s a distant relation but enough so I feel some kind of connection and appreciation for history.
Xander is visiting from Australia so we’re on a road trip to Germany, Luxembourg, France, Belgium and The Netherlands.
Padma, Xander, Joseph and I travelled to the Luxembourg American Cemetery for a morning visit. It was a solemn experience as we walked through the memorials of 5000+ graves of American soldiers who died during World War II.
From a distance I felt surely they had laid artificial turf throughout the cemetery. The turf was perfect – not a single weed, not a single dead spot. But then I saw a lone gardener painstakingly using a push mower to mow in between all of the gravestones. Indeed it was impressive to see how the Americans had honoured those who lost their lives by making their final resting places so pristine.
