Merry Christmas to all! Below is the Christmas menu that the 3rd army enjoyed in France in 1944, 65 years ago. We hope that everyone enjoys this holiday season and we look forward to continue the work of the Monuments Men in 2010.
65 years ago this was the greeting to our troops stationed in France who had just liberated that country 4 months earlier. It was a fierce winter with more snow and colder temperatures than had been seen in any living person’s memory. The Battle of the Bulge was raging with desperate conditions for fighting men and the local populace; some feared the outcome of the war hung in the balance. But our troops then, just as they had in too many conflicts past, endured. Many found a way, even if for a fleeting moment, to pause and recognize the day and its importance. Some had the luxury of receiving gifts from home, others a chance to write a loved one a message on an Army issued Christmas card such as the one below. We came across this card in the course of my research for The Monuments Men and set it aside for use this year as a way of reminding us all how fortunate we are….to not be in a combat zone, to be able to enjoy this day with family and loved ones without risk of life or hardships of a winter outdoors with no shelter or food. I also wanted it to serve as reminder to us all about the millions of young men and women in uniform who are stationed all over the world, walking a wall, on duty, doing their best—many at risk of life—to preserve the freedom and way of life we enjoy.
The official U.S. Army Christmas Card that Monuments Man Robert Posy sent home to his wife and son in December 1944.
So this Christmas in particular, on behalf of our team and the Monuments Men and women, we say “Merry Christmas to all; peace and safekeeping”.
Until the new year, be well.
The Harvard Magazine wrote a wonderful article about The Monuments Men book and the many connections that the Monuments Men had with this university. The editors contacted us a couple of weeks ago about writing an article on the men and the book and we were delighted to help them with this excellent article. It’s remarkable how this small group during World War II has so many connection both withe university and cultural institutions across the United State. Click here to read the full article: The Art Army: Harvard’s Monuments Men at Work
Click Image to Enlarge
On December 21, 1941, directors from the great museums in America joined at the Metropolitan Museum in New York City for a historic meeting. In the aftermath of the bombing of Pearl Harbor, these cultural leaders realized that it was time to take action. Their initial concerns focused on the safety of American museums – would they be prepared for an attack on their own cities? Other logistical problems were a concern as well. In Boston, the Museum of Fine Arts had closed the Japanese galleries out of fear of angry mobs. The Met was closing at dusk to prevent visitors from running into things in the event of a blackout.
At the meeting, Paul Sachs issued a resolution, stating:
“If, in time of peace, our museums and art galleries are important to the community, in time of war they are doubly valuable. For then, when the petty and the trivial fall way and we are face to face with final and lasting values, we… must summon to our defense all our intellectual and spiritual resources. We must guard jealously all we have inherited from a long past, all we are capable of creating in a trying present, and all we are determined to preserve in a foreseeable future. Art is the imperishable and dynamic expression of these aims. It is, and always has been, the visible evidence of the activity of free minds.”
In hindsight, we know that a further attack on American soil never occurred. However, this meeting had lasting effects: it served as the birthplace of the Monuments, Fine Arts, and Archives section. After the Met meeting, Monuments Man George Stout and Harvard Professor Paul Sachs continued to reach out to museum leaders to develop a plan of action for when the Allies would inevitably arrive in Europe, for it had become obvious that it was the cultural treasures of Europe, not America, that would need protection. The Monuments Men were the embodiment the eloquent words Sachs spoke in December 1941.
December 16 marks the anniversary of the beginning of the Battle of the Bulge – the largest and most deadly battle U.S. Forces were engaged in during World War II. The Ardennes Offensive, as it is formally called, was the last major German offensive launched during the war along the western front. The fighting centered around the Ardennes Mountains in Belgium, France and Luxembourg in brutally cold weather. American casualties were over 80,000.
The letters and journals of the Monuments Men reveal a marked change of pace during the Battle of the Bulge. On December 16, Robert Posey received his Christmas package from his wife Alice and his son, Woogie. As he wrote to thank them for the phonograph Christmas greeting, he had no idea that days later he would be called up from duty as a Monuments Man and ordered to the front lines to “keep firing until you can’t fire anymore” at the approaching Germans.
Walker Hancock first found out about the Bulge as he drove to Waimes, Belgium to make a monuments inspection – he was stopped by an advanced unit and told the village was back under German control. He spent Christmas Even in a cellar in Liège, Belgium. Christmas Mass the next morning was interrupted by German bombs.
Like all the Allied heroes of World War II, the Monuments Men risked their lives to protect freedom and save the world from Nazi terror. For this, we are eternally grateful.
I’ve written often about the role “shared sacrifice” played in the building of our great nation, especially through the trauma of two World Wars. So rather than reiterate my previous thoughts, I’ll let the genius of artist Barry Blitt, courtesy of one of our country’s great newspapers, the New York Times, make my point. Think about it, please.
With veteran John Pistone during our first visit
Today the Monuments Men Foundation announced the discovery of an album containing photographs of Hitler’s most beloved works of art by German painters destined for his Führermuseum in Linz, Austria. This item, formally called the Gemaldegalerie Linz Album XIII, was taken by an American soldier from Hitler’s home in Berchtesgaden in early May, 1945. The veteran, Mr. John Pistone, in a wonderful act of grace, has worked with the Monuments Men Foundation to identify what the album was and it’s return to Germany.
For the full story please click on the link to the Associated Press story. (http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/us_hitler_s_album)
Today’s news was extraordinarily well received. In fact, it was the most popular, most viewed and most emailed news article on Yahoo! today. I hope and believe that this news, and the example set by Mr. Pistone, will bring the much needed visibility to our efforts to finish the mission of the Monuments Men and assist others who may be in the possession of items “liberated” or stolen during the World War ll period.
US Army Generals Omar Bradley, Dwight Eisenhower, and George S. Patton
On the morning of December 8, 1944, General George S. Patton called his Third Army Chaplain, Msgr. James H. O’Neill. “This is General Patton; do you have a good prayer for weather? We must do something about those rains if we are to win the war.” Third Army had been fighting in terrible rain since September and Patton had become desperate.
The prayer Chaplain O’Neill wrote became famously known as the “Weather Prayer.”
Almighty and most merciful Father, we humbly beseech Thee, of Thy great goodness, to restrain these immoderate rains with which we have had to contend. Grant us fair weather for Battle. Graciously hearken to us as soldiers who call upon Thee that, armed with Thy power, we may advance from victory to victory, and crush the oppression and wickedness of our enemies and establish Thy justice among men and nations.
On the back was a Christmas Greeting from Patton to his troops – 250,000 copies were dispersed.
To each officer and soldier in the Third United States Army, I Wish a Merry Christmas. I have full confidence in your courage, devotion to duty, and skill in battle. We march in our might to complete victory. May God’s blessings rest upon each of you on this Christmas Day. G.S. Patton, Jr, Lieutenant General, Commanding, Third United States Army.
The Weather Prayer didn’t work right away, but no doubt gave the troops, including Monuments Man Robert Posey, some hope.
We set aside two days a year to honor our Veterans: Memorial Day and Veterans Day. But other days of the year border on such importance…today is one of them. More than 2,400 men and women were killed on this date 68 years ago as they innocently went about their duty and lives that Sunday morning. It was a dastardly act by Japan and it’s warlords as they sought to knock out the Pacific fleet of the United States in one swift blow. Within days the United States was at war with Japan and its allies, Nazi Germany and Italy. World War II had begun in earnest.
Less than three weeks later a meeting would take place at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City that would have far reaching implications. Visionary leaders such as George Stout, Paul Sachs, and Francis Henry Taylor, expressed concern about protecting this country’s cultural treasures from concerns about a Japanese invasion of the west coast and Nazi bombings on the east coast. In time these specific fears subsided but were replaced with an even greater concern: how to protect the cultural treasures of the western world from the path of war that inevitably would lead to the doors of the Reichschancellery in Berlin.
Fortunately we live in a world today that was spared the “what if” consequences of the Monuments Men never having been created. We can visit the world’s great museums and see the vast majority of the greatest accomplishments of man’s creative genius because of their vision and sacrifices. Pearl Harbor set them into motion.
So on this day, let us remember the brave men and women who lost their lives at Pearl Harbor. May we also acknowledge those who acted and set in motion one of the most benevolent efforts in the history of mankind, an effort that preserved much of the accumulated art, music, and culture produced by thousands of years of civilization, from the path of war: the Monuments Men and women.
One of the Monuments Men we admire most is Walker Hancock. Walker married his wife, Saima, on December 4, 1943 in a chapel at the National Cathedral in Washington, D.C. He was shipped out to Europe just three weeks later. He wrote her a very touching letter for their first anniversary, which is shown below. This letter, and many others like it, are included in The Monuments Men.
Letter from Walker Hancock
To his new wife, Saima
December 4, 1944
Precious Saima,
This is the great day of our lives—the anniversary of the happiest one in mine. And if I loved you a year ago today, I do so many times more this fourth of December. For even though we have spent such a small part of this year together, we have been together the whole time in the best sense, and you have helped me and nourished me through these interesting but trying months in a way that you would hardly have had the opportunity to do in a happy normal life at home. That will come, and our joys will be boundless, but what you have been to me during these months of separation is something that I never could have imagined without the experience. Your letters have been my mainstay. Just the simple account of what you do and think—and between letters I think about you.
Today has been rather a grind—and one of those days when one seems to have just missed accomplishing something all along the line. But I hope I’ll be able to make up for it during the week. One just has to learn that things have to be done a little bit at a time in the army—and it doesn’t pay to bite off more than can be chewed. The howling mob that moved in on us while we were in Luxuembourg have now left – and we have a few “casuals” that drift in and out. It’s much better, but I still want those ear plugs. Tonight I’m trying sleeping in a bed with a mattress! What good news about Teddy! I’m so glad he has his wings and i’m proud, though I didn’t doubt for a minute that he would win them.
There’s a Polish soldier sitting on the bunk beside me, saying that this will be his sixth Christmas in the army and away from his people. He’s pretty discouraged—but we are guaranteeing him this will be the last away from home.
Tomorrow or the next day I expect to see George Stout. I wonder if he will be coming back to the First Army. I hope so, for there is more work than I can keep up with at present. Worlds of love to you—you sweet creature—I love you—
Walker
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