Day 4, Sunday- Church and Luxemburg

Sunday was one of the best days of the trip. First up, we attended a branch (congregation) near the base. The service was mostly in English, but one boy got up to share his testimony in German and a missionary translated it for him. I'm guessing most of the members were military members and their families, but there were some Germans. One sister shared her testimony about being a "recovering perfectionist". It was perfect. I took a picture of the outside of the building and posted it on Facebook and one of my friends, Nicole Barnett, served her mission in that branch. Just a small world.

Our next stop was at the US WWII cemetery in Luxembourg. Being here was an incredibly humbling and sobering experience. This is just one of many cemeteries, and yet there were so many young people buried here. Mike commented on all of the lost generations this represented, which really made me think about that one aspect. We both had grandfathers that served in WWII and had they not come home, none of us would be here. I know that is kind of a "Duh" statement, but imagine all of the lost generations this war created. We spent a while just walking around around the grounds and seeing all of the monuments. It was very peaceful.

Where some of those buried here were from

There are 22 sets of brothers buried here :(

General George S. Patton, one of the great military leaders of WWII, died not long after the war ended and was buried at this cemetery per his request.

A woman at church told us to make sure we also visited the German WWII cemetery about a mile away. We hadn't heard of it before so we looked it up and found the Sandweiler German War cemetery. It was so different from its US counterpart. It was set back a ways with trees lining the way. Everything about it was darker. Most of the men buried here were buried by the American War graves service during the war. There weren't enough grave sites, so there were usually four soldiers to a headstone, two on each side. I know that the glory goes to the victor, but it made me sad for these soldiers since most were probably pawns in a war they didn't ask for. 

Behind this cross was the "Comrade's Grave" where 4,829 German soldiers, 4,014 of which were identified are buried in a mass grave.

There were numerous wreaths laid down recently. These men were just as loved as their allied counterparts.

Inlaid laurel wreath