A couple months back Kenny and I read about the yearly commemoration of the Battle of the Bulge in Bastogne, Belgium. We made a mental note that if nothing was going on we'd try to take a day trip there and check out the goings on. I have to admit when I woke up on Sunday and it was bitterly cold outside, it wouldn't have taken much to talk me out of going. Kenny really wanted to go though, and I sure am glad we did. We'd been to Bastogne before to see a lot of the historical monuments and sights of this turning point in WWII, but today the town was full of WWII tanks, jeeps, ambulances and men dressed in 1940's era uniforms. There was a parade and a battle reenactment in the forests. All I could think of as we walked through the forest complaining about the cold was that those men were out there for months on end in much colder temperatures and snow.
The highlight of the day though, was meeting and being able to say "thank you" to two of the American vets. We got the boys' picture taken with them and I hope that we will be able to raise our boys with the knowledge that men and women like this are heroes, not the athletes, musicians, celebrities, and "personalities" that society seems to idolize today.
One of the vets was Edward Shames who was portrayed in "Band of Brothers" (which by the way, he called a load of B.S. - cracked me up) and in the little research I've been able to do since we got back, I think he's interviewed for the PBS documentary "The War." He was very spry and talkative. It was fun to watch the men get treated like rock stars with everyone wanting photos and autographs. They were all super nice to the boys and incredibly humble and gracious. I had goosebumps the whole time and just wanted to hug and kiss them all.
The man in the yellow coat is Edward Shames:
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