I stopped off on the way out of Luxembourg while there on business. I could not resist the visit to Patton's grave for the 5 minute detour.
Patton
rests facing the main burial section. The personification of iconic military leadership in an eternaly grim pass and review. Such an arrangement seems to fit the popular image of the uncomprimising General.
The grey skies that day lent a somber note to the visit. Not that such places are every jubilant, but the greyness was
enveloping. I think I caught that in the photos.
It is remarkable that there are one thousand more American soldiers buried in this cemetery alone than have lost their lives in the whole of the Iraq conflict. Even more so when you consider that all of these boys lost their lives in the Ardennes and on the push to the Rhine, after Germany's defeat was imminent.
What did they die for? Was it worth it? Depending on your political leanings you would probably answer that differently. Myself, I think these kids where the first casualties of the cold war.
Regardless of your feelings on the war, its clear that we are spoiled compared to the challenges and rewards of our fathers and grandfathers. They faced madmen at the head of powerful armies, dealt with real doubts and questions on the morality of conflict, suffered a much higher body count, and from the chaos forged the greatest period of prosperity the world has ever seen while in a nuclear stand-off with the other half of the modern world.
