The Pennsylvania Military Museum is an attractive facility in Boalsburg, right around the corner from State College. There is a particular focus on the 28th Division.
Its collection includes good exhibits on WWII and its extensive grounds contain a number of monuments, including one Bulge monument erected by our predecessor, VBOB. Its regular programs include a 28th Division commemoration, in May, and a WWII weekend, usually held on Memorial Day.
BOBA is looking for ways to become more involved in this museum’s programs.
Nice program in the national cemetery in observance of the 79th anniversary of the start of the Battle of the Bulge. Eisenhower National Historic Site ranger Dan Vermilya led the program. He observed that Gettysburg “is hallowed ground not just for what happened here in July 1863, or in November 1863.” He noted that Gettysburg is one of few places “where you can see in a small area the grass of people who died defending freedom in 1944 and in the Pacific and in World War I through Vietnam.”
Dan will be on of the speakers at our Gettysburg conference on January 27. Two other speakers, BOBA member Tom Vossler and Bugle editor Leon Reed, also attended.
Count on our friends in Ettelbruck to come through. About a month ago, we posted a query requesting information on a stained glass window in the church in Ettelbruck. (See below.) It referred to “Ettelbruck 1944,” so it seemed probable that it was connected with the Ardenns campaign. But how?
Susan Tyson of Ettelbruck’s Patton Museum was the first to come through with information.She wrote telling us the artist was named Probst.
But our member Joseph Dondelinger, a native of Luxembourg who enthralled the audience at our 2023 reunion with his presentation on Luxembourg Then and Now, truly came through with information. His letter is reproduced below.
“The triple window on the right side of the Ettelbruck church is part of the church restoration and significant architectural remodeling done between 1946 and 1948. The church was heavily damaged in the Bulge. The window(s) depict(s) the suffering of the town/parish patron saint, St. Sebastian, and the phases of his martyrdom, linking it to the martyrdom of the town. The bottom shows some of the major and most familiar buildings in Ettelbruck. The Latin inscription reads A FAME MORTE (IN?) BELLO LIBERA NOS DOMINE ETTELBRUCK 1944.
“Regarding the Latin, the translation could be “From a fate of death in war, free our town” (or “free us Lord”). I need to verify the latter.
“The window was designed by brothers Emil and Josef Probst and produced in the shop of the Linster Brothers in Mondorf. (Mondorf is in the extreme south-east of Luxembourg and the location of the place code named “Ashcan” where the top Nazis were incarcerated before their transfer to Nuremberg.)
“Please give all credit to my younger brother Albert who still resides in Luxembourg for tipping me off about the resource to find the answer.”
BOBA thanks both Joseph and Albert Dondelinger for coming through with information.
We’re starting a new feature here on the BOBA web page. Every week, we’re going to make note of a Battle of the Bulge monument, in the US or overseas.
For the most part, these monuments are simple tributes to the American GI who fought in this campaign.
This week’s monument is located in Patton Park on the outskirts of Ettelbruck, Luxembourg. Ettelbruck was near the southeast corner of the Bulge and was the site of intense fighting between German forces and the 80th Division. This monument was erected in 1994 to mark the 50th anniversary of these events. It was erected by the Cercle D’Etudes Sur La Bataille Des Ardennes (CEBA) (“Circle of Studies of the Battle of the Bulge.”)
If you have a favorite Bulge monument, submit a photo and brief description for this feature. Send your information to boba.editor@gmail.com.
Speaking of stained glass windows, we came across this beauty when we visited 80th division sites in 2011. The legend “Ettelbruck 1944” suggests this is some sort of commemorative about the battle, but I couldn’t find anything to document that. Does anyone know where and why and by whom this stand glass window was installed? If you know, write boba.editor@gmail.com and you’ll be identified as this month’s “Bulge Expert” in the next edition of the Bugle.. Thanks.
