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iStock.com/by-studio City, the capital of the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg. A lmost exactly 175 years ago, the first of a wave of immi- grants from the tiny western European country of Luxembourg completed their arduous journey across the Atlantic Ocean and into the of America’s heartland to settle in Northeast Wisconsin. They built homes and churches and established com- munities across the region, embracing the opportunities afforded them by making a new start in a new land. Today the descendants of those pioneers, and thousands of other Americans of ancestry, are making long journeys of their own—back to the land of their family’s origin to reclaim citizenship in the country their ancestors behind. I never intended to embark on an epic quest to get back in touch with my family history. The opportunity just sort of pre- sented itself. In the spring of 2017, a family friend, also of Luxem- bourgish heritage, mentioned to my sister, Leslie, that their adult son was attempting to reclaim Luxembourg citizenship and sug- gested we might want to do the same. Intrigued, my siblings and I decided to look into it. After doing some online research, my brother, Bruce, contacted the Luxembourg American Cultural Society (LACS) based in , Wisconsin—about an hour’s drive from where my sib- lings and I live in the western suburbs of Milwaukee. He spoke with LACS representative Scott Deheck, who inquired what we knew of family’s history. It wasn’t much. Bruce explained that our great-great-great grandparents on our mother’s side had emigrated from Luxem- bourg sometime in the mid-1800s and settled in a small com- munity called St. Donatus, south of Dubuque, Iowa. Subsequent generations remained in that area until our mother met and married our father, and they eventually moved to Milwaukee. Deheck was familiar with St. Donatus and its history as a settle- ment for . Based on this information, he believed we were likely candidates to reclaim our ancestral Luxembourg citizenship and become dual citizens. When Bruce asked why we should consider doing so, Deheck explained there were several reasons. The obvious is that it was an opportunity to recon- nect with our family heritage. But there were also more practical benefits. First, a Luxembourg passport is like a global “golden ticket,” providing visa-free access to virtually any country in the world. Also, not our children, but our children’s children, and every generation thereafter, would qualify for subsidized higher education at nearly any college in the . Considering projected higher education costs, that’s a benefit on par with any precious family heirloom. Still, we had questions. For starters, why was Luxembourg allowing descendants of those who left the country long ago to suddenly become citizens again? The answer, Deheck explained, is that many of those who left never actually ceased being Luxem- bourg citizens.

Winter / Spring 2021 | 49 Back in the 1800s, when emigrants left Luxembourg, most guage!), observed any of the country’s traditions or ever really didn’t renounce their citizenship before leaving. They simply mentioned Luxembourg. Heck, I would have been hard-pressed packed up their belongings, bought passage on a ship and set sail. to locate Luxembourg on a map of western . Upon arriving at their destinations, they applied for citizenship We knew nothing about our ancestral homeland—its history, in their new countries and Luxembourg eventually struck their its culture, its traditions—or why tens of thousands of Luxem- names from its records. bourgers decided to leave the country and travel halfway around But at a time when women were denied suffrage and other the world to make a new start in the United States—including rights, there wasn’t much point for female immigrants to regis- Wisconsin, of all places. ter as United States citizens—so they didn’t. Though they became It was time for a crash course in all things Luxembourg. U.S. residents, they legally remained citizens of Luxembourg. What’s more, their children were born citizens of Luxembourg. Luxembourg, Abridged In short, Deheck explained, all blood descendants of female Lux- Perhaps my siblings and I could be forgiven for not knowing embourgers who never became naturalized U.S. citizens inherited much about our family’s country of origin. It’s easy to overlook. the right to claim citizenship of their ancestor’s home country. In fact, Luxembourg is one of the smallest countries in the world. There was, however, a catch. Luxembourg was only opening Just thirty-five miles wide and fifty-one miles from top to bottom, the opportunity for such descendants to reclaim citizenship for the entire country is about the size of the state of Rhode Island. a ten-year period, originally ending on December 3, 2018. (The Luxembourg is also landlocked, wedged between to its deadline has since been extended.) As the reclamation process east, to its south, and Belgium to its north and west. was time-consuming and involved, and required traveling to Lux- While Luxembourg separates these countries geographically, it embourg, we had to act fast. Fortunately, the LACS could assist joins them culturally. Luxembourg’s culture can best be described us—for a fee, of course. as a mix of French and German influences, which essentially It was a lot to take in. Reclaiming citizenship and embracing means its citizens enjoy their as much as their beer. The our family heritage sounded like a great opportunity. But doing country recognizes three official languages: French, German, and so wouldn’t be easy and it certainly wouldn’t be cheap, especially its national language of Luxembourgish. factoring in a trip to Luxembourg. Though small in size, Luxembourg’s strategic value was enor- We debated: was it really worth it? After all, my siblings and mous right from the beginning. The country’s capital and domi- I may have been of Luxembourg ancestry, but little of that her- nant urban center, , can trace its foundation to itage had been passed down to us. While our grandmother had 963 when a count named Siegfried acquired a fortified outpost certainly made us aware of our ancestry, it wasn’t like she or left over from Roman times. Known then as Lucilinburhuc, any other relatives spoke Luxembourgish (yes, it’s an actual lan- meaning “little castle,” the stronghold was ideally situated atop a

Richard Ratay Above Le!: A map of Luxembourg and surrounding nations. Above Right: !e author and one of his sons visit the grave of their ancestor, Mathias Manders. Opposite: A sign in Ozaukee County memorializing Luxembourg immigrants.

50 | Voyageur rocky promontory overlooking a U-shaped bend in the Alzette its independence and declared neutrality, Luxembourg was still River, offering it protection from invaders on three sides. subsequently invaded by German forces during both world wars. Over time a town sprung up around the fort, which prospered Amid the turmoil, Luxembourg has long prospered economi- and grew larger. Meanwhile, Siegfried’s heirs gradually acquired cally. For centuries, the fertile river valleys surrounding Luxem- more of the surrounding territory—and with it, more power and bourg allowed farmers to raise bountiful crops to provide for their prestige. In time, the ruled over a vast families. Following the discovery of large iron-ore deposits of rare region and produced three Holy Roman Emperors, including phosphoric content in the 1840s, steel quickly became the coun- Henry VII. try’s leading industry and remains important today. Renowned Given its prime location, Luxembourg was always a target for for its remarkable strength and durability, “Luxembourg steel” ambitious rulers and their armies. Over its history, Luxembourg is still specified by builders of the world’s most noted skyscrap- was conquered by the Romans, (who converted the people ers, including the Emirates Tower in Dubai and New York’s One to Catholicism), , Spanish , the French under World Trade Center. Louis XIV, Prussia, and the French (again) under . After Following the downturn of the steel industry in the , Lux- Napoleon’s defeat at the Battle of Waterloo and the end of the embourg focused on establishing itself as a global financial center. in 1815, Luxembourg was granted its indepen- The move proved prescient. Today, Luxembourg is considered dence by the (a formal meeting of European one of the world’s leading banking hubs and many of the world’s ambassadors) and its status elevated to Grand Duchy, meaning the most familiar technology companies maintain a presence there, nation’s ruler was bestowed the title of Grand Duke or Duchess. including Amazon, , eBay, and PayPal. Because of its However, even after this agreement, disputes over the coun- small population and incredibly high GDP, Luxembourg is con- try’s status lingered. Eventually, Luxembourg was divided nearly sidered one of the wealthiest nations on the planet. in two, with the French-influenced western portion being ceded Luxembourg has also taken a prominent role on the world stage. to Belgium in 1839. The remaining Luxembourgish-speaking Not only was the country a founding member of the European region became the state of Luxembourg that exists today. Despite Union (EU), Luxembourg City was recently selected as one of four official capitals of the EU, along with , , and Strasbourg. It’s also the seat of the European Court of Justice, the highest judicial authority in the EU. That’s not for a country of just 614,000 people, making it one of the least populous coun- tries in Europe. Luxembourgers in Wisconsin A long and proud history. A wealth of natural resources. A thriv- ing . Luxembourg seemed to offer its citizens so much. So why did many choose to leave the country beginning in the mid-1800s? Much of the answer can be traced to a set of laws introduced decades earlier, when Luxembourg was still under French rule. Collectively known as the Code Napoléon, these edicts mandated that, upon a landowner’s death, his property should be divided equally among his children. The law proved disastrous for the country’s vast number of Catholic farm families, which tended to be large. Within two generations, many farms had been split into parcels so small the children who inherited them had little hope of pro- viding for a family. The situation was compounded by a crop blight in 1846, essentially forcing the country’s young farmers to seek opportunity elsewhere. Many looked to the United States of America, which offered the promise of freedom—and most importantly, land—in abundance. It was this hope for better prospects that drove the first wave of

Winter / Spring 2021 | 51 emigration from Luxembourg in the 1840s. Later waves would hand-carved wooden statue of the Virgin Mary, the patron saint follow, especially after the Homestead Act of 1862 made free land of Luxembourg, brought by the immigrants from their homeland. available west of the Mississippi. Curiously, the statue is wrapped in a real cloth robe that conceals Land speculators in Luxembourg purchased large swaths of its lower half. fertile farmland in Wisconsin (which didn’t officially become a The explanation for the garment provides some insight into state until 1848) and other regions from the U.S. government at the character of the people who settled there. During their peril- $1.25 per acre. They then sold smaller parcels to ordinary farmers ous voyage across the Atlantic, passengers were told by the ship’s intent on seeking greener pastures in the United States. captain that the vessel was overloaded. He ordered all unneces- For most Luxembourgers, getting to the United States required sary cargo to be thrown overboard—including the statue. selling nearly everything. First, train tickets had to be purchased Instead, the group came up with a plan. First, they sawed the to reach a “deep water port” on the coast. Then they had to buy cherished figure in half and wrapped each piece in a blanket. tickets for an entire family to sail across the Atlantic Ocean. While some members of the group hid the top portion—the head Aboard ship, conditions were abysmal, and the food worse. and shoulders—below deck, others made a big show of marching The journey often took several weeks. The first documented the wrapped lower half past the watchful captain before throw- group of Luxembourg immigrants to reach Wisconsin crossed ing it over the ship’s side. The ruse worked. The upper half of the the Atlantic in 1845 aboard a ship named the Silvanus Jenkins. statue was saved. It was then conveyed to St. Nicholas Church, Setting sail from Antwerp, Belgium, on May 25, the ship finally where it remained on display for well more than a century. For arrived in on . decades, children of the parish would constantly beg to look After disembarking in the Port of New York, the families of the beneath the figure’s robe to view the saw marks for themselves Silvanus Jenkins immediately made their way across the state to and confirm the truth behind the tale. The statue now sits behind board another ship to sail the Great Lakes to Escanaba, Michi- glass for its preservation. gan. Finally, they reached the Green Bay area just before the end Another interesting tale involves the names of the towns estab- of 1845. For a group of families who, like nearly all Luxembourg lished by these early settlers. After Wisconsin became a state in immigrants after them, had probably never previously ventured 1848, individual communities began formally incorporating and more than fifty miles from their farms, it was a truly epic journey. registering for names with the U.S. Postal Service. Luxembourg- A remarkable story concerning these early arrivals from Lux- ers who settled near Green Bay submitted the name “Luxem- embourg can be found in the community of Dacada, a small bourg” for their township while a group of Belgian immigrants in community straddling Ozaukee and Sheboygan counties. There Kewaunee County filed for the name “Belgium.” As legend has it, a you’ll find the small but charming St. Nicholas Church, hand- clerk at the Postal Service mistakenly switched the names and the built by settlers and dedicated in 1848. Inside the church sits a two towns became stuck with each other’s choice. Consequently, Belgium, Wisconsin, became the “Home of the Luxembourgers.” It’s a great story. The only problem? It’s not true. The actual explanation for the confusing name is, sadly, a bit less colorful. As you may recall from the previous section, a huge region of what was once Luxembourg had been annexed by Belgium just years before people from the area began departing for the United States. Though these immigrants were ethnically Luxembourgish, they were technically citizens of Belgium. So, when this group arrived in Wisconsin, people in the surrounding communities began referring to the site where they settled as the “Belgian Area.” In time, the town at the heart of this community became known as “Belgium.” Though many people of true Belgian heritage also settled in this area, both the towns of Belgium, Wisconsin, and Luxemburg [sic], Wisconsin, are predominantly home to folks of Luxembourgish ancestry.

Richard Ratay Le!: !e author and his sons display their Luxembourg papers. Opposite: A Luxembourg passport.

52 | Voyageur Of course, Luxembourgers established many more communi- ties across Northeast Wisconsin as well. The list includes Port Washington, Lake Church, Holy Cross, Fredonia, and Waubeka among others. As word spread back to the Old Country of the plentiful land and limitless opportunities available not just in Wisconsin but other areas across the Midwest, more Luxembourgers followed in the footsteps of the original settlers. Between 1840 and 1880, more than 87,500 Luxembourgers are believed to have left for the United States of America. Today, Wisconsin remains home to a large number of residents who claim Luxembourgish ancestry. In terms of its rank among other states in the category, Wisconsin sits behind only Illinois and Minnesota, and ahead of Iowa and Ohio. Rediscovering Our Roots According to Sara Jacoby, director of operations for the LACS, an estimated 10,000 Americans have either reclaimed or are still in the process of reclaiming Luxembourg citizenship. Many of these people, of course, live in Wisconsin. Shortly after our initial contact with the LACS in 2017, my siblings and I decided to join The third phase was optional. This step was for those who this group of aspiring dual citizens. wanted to obtain the desirable Luxembourg passport, which If nothing else, my brothers, sister and I reasoned, it would be permits holders to travel to virtually any country without obtain- a great way to teach our respective children about their heritage ing a visa. It required an additional trip to the Luxembourg and introduce them to the family members who preceded them. embassy in Washington, D.C. or other official offices in San Fran- Because our parents had passed away years before, our children cisco or New York. never really got to meet or know their grandparents, much less Though daunting at first blush, my siblings and I navigated our grandparents. Perhaps this endeavor could, in some small the first stage with surprisingly little difficulty. Our LACS advi- way, help make up for that. sors provided helpful guidance in a series of conference calls. As Our spouses were a little less enthusiastic about the idea. An importantly, our grandmother and my oldest brother, Mark, had unfortunate stipulation of the reclamation program is that only done much of the genealogy legwork years before, compiling a direct blood descendants qualify for citizenship. However, the nearly complete family tree. possibility that Luxembourg might extend citizenship to spouses We were fortunate in that, once our ancestors had settled in in the future and the promise of a combined family trip to Luxem- Iowa, they mostly stayed put. This meant gathering many of the bourg went a long way in enlisting their support. necessary certificates involved contacting a single Iowa state gov- We learned the process consisted of three stages. The first ernment office. Thanks to a particularly helpful employee, we stage primarily involved proving our lineage back to a female were able to obtain most of what we needed in several weeks. ancestor who emigrated directly from Luxembourg, To do so, To locate a critical final document, Mark located and contacted we would need to collect copies of the original birth, marriage, a small Iowa parish that fortunately kept records of all marriage and death certificates of every family member going back to our ceremonies performed on its premises back to its founding. great-grandmother, who actually came to the United States years As luck would have it, my wife, Terri, our pre-teen sons, Rainer after our first family members did so. and Reed, and I had the opportunity to visit Iowa during this time. In the second stage, we would need to provide certified copies Reed played on a travel baseball team and their season’s highlight of our own birth certificates and passports, get fingerprinted was to participate in a baseball tournament in Dubuque and on at the local police station, pass background checks by both the the actual Field of Dreams (filming site of the 1989 movie of the Federal Bureau of Investigation and Grand Duchy of Luxem- same name) in nearby Dyersville. It presented the perfect oppor- bourg, and physically run three laps around the country itself. Or tunity to make a quick side trip to St. Donatus, where my family’s so it seemed. We would then have to travel to Luxembourg City to Luxembourgish ancestors had originally settled. present our formal application for citizenship and required docu- Nestled in a scenic landscape of rolling farm fields, the Village mentation (translated into French) at the appropriate government of St. Donatus is so small it doesn’t even merit a stoplight on the offices. Afterward, we would have to wait for approval, a process highway that runs through town. Though I had not yet visited that could take six months or longer. Luxembourg to know for sure, it struck me how much this place

Winter / Spring 2021 | 53 must have reminded my ancestors of their homeland. Spot- dishes include Judd mat Gaardebounen, a smoked collar of pork ting a steeple jutting above and behind the handful of buildings soaked overnight in a spicy broth and then pan-fried and served that formed the town, we drove up a side road to the historic St. with broad beans, and Trāipen, a variation of black pudding more Donatus . Based on what I had learned from my colorfully described as “all the parts of the pig except the squeal.” brother, it was there, in the graveyard behind the church that I Other dishes feature trout, pike, and crayfish caught in the coun- could find what I was looking for. try’s many pristine rivers and streams. The four of us spread out and roamed up and down the rows of Unfortunately, my siblings had learned the restaurants that markers, carefully reading each name. Of course, most surnames served these authentic dishes were hard to find and located some appeared Luxembourgish and seemed vaguely familiar: Jaeger, distance from where we were all staying So, at least on this night, Schiltz, Bartels. And then I spotted the name I was searching for: Chinese food it was. Manders. Specifically, Mathias Manders—my great-great-great As both of my brothers and sister had already presented their grandfather and the man who brought our family to the United citizenship applications and documentation at the specified gov- States. Nearby, we also found the headstones for his sons, Mathias ernment building—called the Bierger Center—the day before, and Jean Pierre. I was anxious to hear about their experience. They informed With our busy schedule, we couldn’t linger long. I only had time me it was every bit as straightforward as our LACS counselors to explain to my sons our relationship to this man and take a few had described. snapshots. But it was long enough to feel an inexplicable sense The procedure, which I would follow with my wife and kids the of…what, exactly? Kinship? Connection? I couldn’t quite put my following morning, was a model of bureaucratic efficiency. We finger on it. I just knew it was a special moment and I was pro- entered the building and proceeded to a machine resembling an foundly moved to be able to share it with my wife and sons. In the year that followed, my siblings and I completed all of the first stage requirements and at last made our travel arrange- ments. We decided we would all visit Luxembourg together to hand over our documentation and officially apply for dual citizenship. It was time to go home. A Sort of Homecoming Our plan was simple. My siblings and I each made our own arrangements to spend Thanksgiving weekend in Luxembourg City. We’d submit our paperwork, see a few sights, get a flavor for the culture, and head home. Two of us were bringing our spouses and kids, the other two would be solo. We’d also be arriving and departing at different times, so we would only be spending a few days all together. My family and I were the last to arrive. After a long flight with a connection, we landed in Luxembourg City the day before the United States’ Thanksgiving Day (which, of course, isn’t observed in Luxembourg). The weather was cold, rainy and grey—in short, almost exactly the same conditions we left behind in Wisconsin. I felt right at home. Exhausted from travel, Terri and the boys understandably wanted to head straight to our room and crash. Knowing my siblings, who had arrived days earlier, were planning to meet for dinner, I mustered the energy to join them. Almost comically, we decided to meet at a Chinese restaurant. This was a little disappointing, since I had been looking forward to trying some authentic Luxembourgish dishes. As might be expected, the country’s cuisine, like its culture is a mixture of French and German, with a smattering of its own unique ingredients and flavors. Traditional Luxembourgish

54 | Voyageur Richard Ratay Le!: St. Nicholas Chapel in Dacada, Wisconsin. !e orgninal log church was built by Luxembourgers in 1848, and a new church was constructed in 1911. iStock.com/SvetlanaSF Opposite: !e Grand Ducal in Luxembourg City, originally built in 1572.

The remainder of our stay would be occupied by getting a better look at the country that, somewhat strangely, we could now nearly call “ours.” Our first stop, just a short walk from the Bierger Center, was the Grand Ducal Palace. Although Luxembourg is governed by a rep- resentative democracy, it’s also presided over by a constitutional monarch. Currently, that sovereign figure is the Grand Duke Henri, who resides in the palace with his wife, the Grand Duchess Maria Teresa. The building itself is an impressive structure almost resembling a sort of urban Bavarian castle. Similar to Bucking- ham Palace, it’s protected by two guards in ceremonial uniforms. One marches back and forth at the of the stairs leading to the front entrance while the other remains in a small guardhouse until the two switch duties. Next, we visited the first of four outdoor Christmas markets that had been set up throughout the downtown area in preparation for the approaching holiday. Weaving our way through the bustling crowds, we wandered past stands of vendors offering all manner of tantalizing treats, from freshly roasted nuts and tempting pas- tries to melted cheese sliced directly off the wheel onto plates passed to hungry revelers. Nearly every stand seemed to sell its ATM. The machine spat out a numbered ticket which we took own version of glühwein, hot mulled wine served in small festive and then waited for our number to appear on a large electronic mugs unique to each vendor. screen beside the entrance to a hallway of offices. The following day, we made the hour-long drive to , a When our number illuminated, we walked through the entrance picturesque town on the Our River which separates Luxembourg to our designated office. It was small and cramped, especially after from Germany. Perched on a rocky promontory high above the my family of four filed inside. Across from us behind a desk sat a charming medieval village stands Vianden Castle, one of the young smartly dressed woman. I handed her our packet of trans- largest fortified castles west of the River. On a tour of the lated, highlighted and bookmarked documents. newly restored castle, we strolled through vast halls lined with We had been told by our LACS counselor that these employ- intricately woven tapestries depicting stirring moments in Lux- ees are “all business” and advised us not to engage them in small embourg’s rich history. And from its tower windows we gazed out talk. So, we simply sat there in awkward silence as the woman over a natural landscape of almost incomparable beauty. scanned each of approximately twenty-five pages of documents. But it was two experiences on our final full day in Luxembourg After several minutes, she daubed a rubber stamp on an inkpad. that made the most lasting impressions on us. Boom! She stamped one page. Boom! Boom! She pounded a After bidding goodbye to my siblings and their families the couple more. Boom! Boom! Boom! And then, for the first time evening before, Terri, the boys and I paid a morning visit to the since greeting us, she looked up at me. “You should receive notifi- Luxembourg American Cemetery on the outskirts of Luxem- cation from the Ministry in three to four months.” bourg City. It’s the final resting place of 5,073 U.S. soldiers, most And that was it. Pending the formality of approval by a judge we killed in action during the infamous Battle of the Bulge during would never see, we were just a certified letter away from reclaim- World War II and the skirmishes that preceded it. ing citizenship in the land our ancestors left behind.

Winter / Spring 2021 | 55 From the moment we entered the parking lot, the site seemed Afterward, we had one final stop to make before returning to busier than expected. We also noticed several U.S. Marines out- our hotel to prepare for our early flight the next day. I drove the fitted in their “Dress Blues.” Unaware of the reason, we simply family to a rural area just north of Luxembourg City and pro- proceeded through the entrance gates. Walking into the grounds, ceeded down a long dirt road. At its end we found a compound we noticed a podium with microphone set up in front of the of old barns, garages, and workshops enclosed by a formidable immaculately maintained lawn filled with countless rows of white wall covered in yellow stucco. The complex was surrounded marble crosses and grave markers in the form of Stars of David. by farm fields, picked bare during a recent harvest and lying Soon, a crowd gathered, and a speaker greeted the audience of dormant under the chilly November sky. perhaps 200 people, all of whom had clearly come specifically I got out of our car and walked up to the gate to get a closer look. for the event. The speaker introduced several dignitaries seated A sign nearby informed visitors that this was a “commune,” or behind him. Among them were the U.S. Ambassador to Luxem- collective gathering place, for farmers in the area and these were bourg and a high-ranking official representing the Grand Duchy historic buildings slated for renovation. The sign also displayed of Luxembourg. the name of this place, though I already knew it—Birelerhaff. Finally, we were able to ascertain the reason for the gathering. My great-great-great grandfather, Mathias Manders—the man The group hosting the event was Wreaths Across America, an whose gravesite we had visited in Iowa—lived and worked here. organization dedicated to honoring the nation’s fallen soldiers by In 1852, he left from this very spot to depart from his homeland placing wreaths or, in the case of soldiers of Jewish faith, decora- and seek better fortunes for himself and the family he had yet to tive rocks on their gravesites. The group had chosen to visit Lux- begin in the United States. embourg this year because it was the seventy-fifth anniversary of And just as on that summer day in the cemetery of St. Donatus, the Battle of the Bulge. I was overwhelmed by a strange feeling. Only now, I knew exactly When the speakers concluded their remarks, the gathered what it was—gratitude. Gratitude to a man I never met for the life crowd—us included—was invited to help lay wreaths on each I know in a country I love. Gratitude for all the family members of the thousands of headstones. We knew it was an opportu- who had come before me and the chance to return to the land of nity we couldn’t pass up. My wife, sons, and I gathered armfuls our origin to discover more about who I am. And gratitude for of assembled wreaths and walked out into the rows of white the opportunity to share this unforgettable moment with my own marble markers. wife and children, and even future generations of my family I will As instructed, we stood before each gravestone we selected never have the opportunity to know. and read aloud the name of the warrior engraved on its face. We offered a word of thanks for the soldier’s sacrifice and laid a wreath on the ground in front of the cross. It was a simple act, but Richard Ratay incredibly poignant and powerful—particularly when we came A Christmas festival in Luxembourg. across the marker for a young soldier from our own home state of Wisconsin.

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