Our Little Blog Spot: Bastogne

Today our travels took us to Bastogne, Belgium. Bastogne is the site of one of the major battles from the Battle of the Bulge in Dec 1944 to Jan 1945. This is the site where General McAuliffe made his famous comment of "Nuts" after the Germans had surrounded the 101st Airborne and demanded they surrender. To this day the city of Bastogne has not forgotten what the 101st had done for them and they are very much loved there. Given that Paul and I are both veterans from the 101st, Bastogne was in our top 5 places to visit before leaving Europe. The miniseries "Band of Brothers" does an excellent job portraying the life and struggles the 101st endured during the Battle of the Bulge.

We particularly loved Bastogne not only because of the history from the 101st but that it is a beautiful city that is not over run with tourists. We expected it to be quite touristy but were surprised to see how quaint it was. On the downside we also thought that since it would be a huge tourist place that more people would speak some English. We quickly learned that we need to pick up some French before going back because very few people speak any English there. We found two people who spoke English the woman at the tourist center and the woman at the chocolate store and her English was a LOT better then the one in the tourist office.

All in all we had a fantastic day. The drive through Luxembourg and Belgium was AMAZING!!! Just absolutely beautiful!! The city was amazing too. We definitely plan on going back again very soon.

We were lucky enough to catch this amazing exhibit going on until the end of the year. This exhibit was extremely moving. I HIGHLY suggest checking it out if you plan on visiting Bastogne before the end of the year. It focuses on not only the side of the Allies but the side of the German forces as well as the local residents in the area. They even had a section of the exhibit where you feel like you are in the Ardennes Forrest hearing and seeing all the sounds of the battle. Filled with smoke and sounds. Here is a shirt video clip..

Ardennes Video Clip

Here are a few pics from the exhibit.

This first one is of a soldier that was killed in the Battle of the Bulge. The War Department Letter that was initially sent to his wife stating he was MIA there were also letters he sent to his wife..

This was the most moving part of the exhibit. This is a room lined with tombstones and little tv screens at the foot of them. On these tv's were pictures and videos of those killed in Bastogne, locals, allied and German forces. It really humanized everyone involved.

A replica of the room where the American forces would plan their battles. The items are authentic in this room.

A replica of a basement of a local resident. It depicted how local residents would seek refuge in the basement of their homes from the bombings. In this room you could hear the air raid sirens and bombs. They really tried to make you feel like you were there.

This exhibit was AMAZING. The four of us learned quite a bit from this and it was very moving. It was extremely educational for the kids because they really got a better idea of how things were during this time. Zachary in particular has become quite the WWII buff just like his dad.

The Mardasson Memorial

The Mardasson Memorial was erected near Bastogne to honor the memory of the 76,890 American soldiers who were wounded or killed during the Battle of the Bulge.