Wednesday March 28th - The  Vet's 87th Birthday - and we visited the Luxembourg American Cemetery and Memorial.  This is a place of honor for Americans, with 5,000+ military dead at rest.  The Vet will place flowers on the graves of 28 fallen soldiers from his 194th GIR unit, plus another on that of General Patton.  We will also visit the grave and honor 1LT David Chrystall of the 550th Airborne Infantry Battalion.  Lt. Chrystall was among those killed in January 4th, 1945 at Renuamont near Dead Man's Ridge.  (David's nephew - Mr. David Seckler from the US Embassy in Belgium - was in attendance at the dedication ceremonies in Homount on Sunday.)

The Vet honors his fallen comrades and his General.

This was a special birthday surprise for John J.  I took the picture on the left (below) as we concluded our tour and visitation.  A couple minutes later, the superintendent told The Vet "will you and your son come with me and help me lower the flag?", which we were honored to do. Taps and the national anthem were played.  We folded the flag in the traditional manner.  Then, the flag was presented to The Vet on behalf of the United States.  A pretty special way to end the tour. 

It would be hard to beat that....



We did a little picnic lunch at the Cemetery before heading to Germany.  The next couple of days will be for returning to the birthplaces of John J's parents.  First - to Michelbach...

 This is the village where John J's mother - Freda (Frank) Schumacher was born.  We were able to visit the church, and could identify more than a few other buildings - such as the old school - that were on postcards sent between family members in the early 1900's. 

The old school...

The old church still has great pipes!










We spent the night at the Gastehaus Frank (no relation, but the proprietor - Marlene Frank - still left a birthday gift for John J) at a nearby village.  We enjoyed some good German food, and were ready to get some rest...

John J had a great birthday.  More to come tomorrow...stay tuned.