On May 13-20, 2012 a small group made a week long tour of the Ardennes traveling in Belgium and Luxembourg. Only a few were veterans, but we also had one war-orphan with us, Vicki Cool and her husband, Gerald. Vicki’s father was KIA during the Battle of the Bulge and is buried in Luxembourg’s Hamm American Cemetery. This place had priority for us to visit. We were greeted by the Superintendent and also members of the U. S. Veterans Friends Luxembourg Association. The Founder and Honorary President of the group delivered this speech to us on the 18th of May at the gravesite of Vicki’s father.
Dear veterans of the 106th Infantry Division, dear American friends, ladies and gentlemen.
Good morning everybody.
My mane is Constant Goergen and I am the founder and now Honorary President of the U.S. Veterans Friends Luxembourg Association. It is my great pleasure to welcome you today in Luxembourg and especially on the sacred soil at the American Military Cemetery at Hamm. We Luxembourgers are always glad to host our American veterans and friends from the United States because as long as we live we shall always be grateful to you and your great nation for liberating our country twice in the last century.
Almost 67 years ago thousands of young Americans came to Europe to fight a terrible war. After the initial September Liberation of Luxembourg and adjacent areas in 1944 they were all hoping that the war would come to a sudden end and that they would soon be reunited with their loved ones at home. Unfortunately, this was not to be the case. It was the second time in the 20th century history that American troops brought freedom back to this country. Nobody at that moment suspected the terrible sacrifices lying ahead, which the U.S. troops, and this means you dear veterans, were soon to suffer in order to block off and finally reject the last desperate offensive, known today as The Battle of the Bulge, the critical battle of WW II. Winston Churchill called this, “The greatest battle of WW II.” On the eve of the battle, in the medieval town of Echternach, a glamorous German born star, Marlene Dietrich, was entertaining the American troops. In a deep, sultry voice she sang, “Lili Marlene,” to the raucus applause of hundreds of G.I.’s.
In the early morning of December 16t, 1944, the tramping sound of hobnailed jackboots broke the stillness of that cold silent night, as Nazi troopers, with visions of past glory, strutted upon the field of battle as they marched to the line of departure and formed into assault formations. The early morning stillness of the fog shrouded forest was suddenly shattered with the thunderclap of a massive artillery barrage landing on the Americans. The onslaught had begun. The German name for the operation was, “Autumn Mist.” The Americans called it, “The Battle of the Bulge.”
Initially outnumbered by overwhelming enemy forces and suffering from sub-zero temperatures, the U. S. Troops in Luxembourg and in the Belgian Ardennes fought bravely, and this means men like you, dear veterans of the 106th Infantry Division in the area of St. Vith and Parker’s Crossroads, slowing down the enemy advance in The Ardennes.
Under the brilliant leadership of General George S. Patton, Jr., you guys succeeded in driving back the aggressors and by eary February 1945 Luxembourg was free again, liberated once more by the American troops. You did not fail us, you did not fail your country. Your legacy-Victory-in the greatest battle ever fought by the United States Army.
But the cost of victory was high. It was a time of great sacrifices. There on the cold brutal field of battle, 19,000 young American lives were cut short during the crowded hours of combat. An open field near the Luxembourg village of Hamm became the sacred burial ground for these valiant American soldier who gave their lives in order that the coming generations might live in peace and freedom. Here, in this cemetery 5,076 valiant men their final rest.
Here too, your father, dear Vicki, Pfc. Victor F. LaCount, Co B, 1st Bn, 506th PIR, 101st AB Div. KIA, 10th of January 1945 at Bois de Niblamont, north of Bastogne, was laid to his final rest. The grave of your father, as all graves at this cemetery will forever and ever be the graves of dear friends, whose memory we cherish, whom we will include in the prayers for our own beloved dead. And, they all fought for freedom too, yes, they made the ultimate sacrifice and with their death gave life to a new freedom in all the countries of the western world, among them a very small one, called Grand Duchy of Luxembourg. A country most of them had never heard of to that day.
Dear friends, Luxembourg has not forgotten, Luxembourg will not forget their sacrifices and their suffering. From the depths of our hearts we made ours the noble words of President Abraham Lincoln, “We highly resolve that these dead shall not have died in vain. It is for us, the living to be dedicated to the unfinished work which they, who fought here, have thus far so nobly advanced.”
Dear Vicki, dear veterans, today we have the pleasure to present to you, in deepest gratitude for all you and your loved ones did for us in 1944-1945 in and around Luxembourg, The Medal of Honor of the U.S. Veterans Friends, Luxembourg.
Please step forward and let our Committee member, Jean Thiry, to confer on you the Medal.
Photos and story submitted by
John Schaffner, 106th Infantry Division, 589th FAB