A Time to Heal |
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| 17" x 21" |
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| 1,200 Signed & Numbered |
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| Unframed - $150.00 | Framed - $325.00 |
(click image to see larger)
In early winter of 1944, in the mist-shrouded forests of Huertgen on the Belgian-German border, the first one of the most heroic and humanitarian truces of the Second World War was forged between Allied Commanders and the counterparts.
The preceding months of fierce battles to control the Kall River Gorge had left casualties on a horrific scale. In and around that roughly fifty square mile area, more than 24,000 American soldiers were either killed, or injured, with German forces suffering an estimated 28,000 casualties.
November 7th, on the treacherous and muddy terrain of the Kall Trail, Doctors and Medics from both sides of the battle lines converged during a cessation of arms to retrieve their wounded comrades. Despite barriers of language and ideology, and with scarce attention paid to rank or allegiance, these medical personnel came together not as bitter enemies, but as healers of fallen soldiers.
Although the Battle of Huertgen was one of the bloodiest and costly of the E.T.O., it was fundamentally overshadowed by the Battle of the Bulge, and even today remains largely unrecorded. But in those desperate days of winter, in the darkest hours of an ill-conceived campaign, the brilliant light of compassionate acts would never be forgotten.
As Ecclesiastes 3 so poignantly notes, "To everything there is a season, and a time to every purpose under the heaven." This was a time to heal.
The preceding months of fierce battles to control the Kall River Gorge had left casualties on a horrific scale. In and around that roughly fifty square mile area, more than 24,000 American soldiers were either killed, or injured, with German forces suffering an estimated 28,000 casualties.
November 7th, on the treacherous and muddy terrain of the Kall Trail, Doctors and Medics from both sides of the battle lines converged during a cessation of arms to retrieve their wounded comrades. Despite barriers of language and ideology, and with scarce attention paid to rank or allegiance, these medical personnel came together not as bitter enemies, but as healers of fallen soldiers.
Although the Battle of Huertgen was one of the bloodiest and costly of the E.T.O., it was fundamentally overshadowed by the Battle of the Bulge, and even today remains largely unrecorded. But in those desperate days of winter, in the darkest hours of an ill-conceived campaign, the brilliant light of compassionate acts would never be forgotten.
As Ecclesiastes 3 so poignantly notes, "To everything there is a season, and a time to every purpose under the heaven." This was a time to heal.
