Lancaster Monument

"Forgive, but do not forget":

These words are usually mentioned every time a war memorial is inaugurated to remember one of the many cruel or heroic events during World War II. The establishment of a memorial for fourteen young men after exactly sixty years (thirteen of them were killed when their two Lancaster bombers were shot down) is evidence that this phrase is not an empty slogan.
Shortly after that tragic night, our local doctor Delvaux expressed the desire in his diaries to erect a monument in honor of these brave heroes, and this commitment has remained alive in the minds and hearts of many residents over the years.

In almost every village, war memorials have been inaugurated to commemorate the many fallen Luxembourg soldiers. Here, also in Weiswampach, a monument was erected for American soldiers who fell nearby during the Battle of the Bulge.

Finally, at the suggestion of some men who were still children or teens at the time, a committee was formed, and the residents of our community spontaneously engaged in financing this noble project. It should be noted that not only older residents contributed to fulfilling this commitment, but that a handful of young people, most of them family fathers born many years after the war ended, were the dynamic force behind the realization of this great project.

In developing this project, the events of that terrible night were repeatedly recalled. That night, all the residents stood in front of their houses and could only await with fear and tears what would happen in those terrible scenes of lightning and thunder in the sky above their heads during those aerial battles. Most of them only realized later that young men from England, Canada, and New Zealand had died out in the fields for our freedom when their planes crashed.

Imagine the pain of the families of these young men when they learned that their loved ones had died in a remote field somewhere in the Ardennes. Imagine young local men being sent from here to New Zealand to risk their lives down there, the most distant place in the world from home, to prevent a terrible dictator from dominating the world.

Perhaps one day, relatives of these heroes will pass by this memorial, see the grateful gesture of the locals, and read the names of their loved ones. Then they will gaze over these peaceful hills, they will see all these people moving from one country to another, without fear, without danger of oppression or even arrest. Many of them will not even realize that they are crossing democratic national borders. We believe that these families will recognize that the sacrifice of their loved ones was not in vain. When you come to this place one day, stay for a while, sit near the chapel, perhaps for a short prayer of deep gratitude for these heroes.

Translated from English

Source and further information: www.lancaster.lu

Eddy&Rita