Last Saturday, my husband and daughter traveled to Bastogne, Belgium to participate in a walk commemorating the Battle of the Bulge. More than 78,000 Americans soldiers died here in December 1944, defending Belgium from Germany’s final major offensive.

78,000 Americans slaughtered in one battle the week before Christmas.

It’s hard to even comprehend the magnitude of that number, let alone imagine what it was like for individual soldiers struggling in the bitter cold and fog or for their loved ones glued to radios at home, praying for good news before Christmas.

During a time when the U.S. government has come under fire from its allies in Europe, I wanted to let Americans at home know that whatever Belgians think of the tactics used in the “war on terror,” they have not forgotten those who fought on their behalf in World War II.

In addition to erecting a memorial to the soldiers who died in the Battle of the Bulge and sponsoring an annual commemorative walk through the battlefields, every year the people of Belgium donate a large native fir tree to the American Embassy to serve as its official Christmas tree. It is decorated and displayed prominently in the Embassy lobby, grown from the soil that saw so much blood and heartache and desperation.

“Peace on earth. Goodwill toward men.” Our ultimate Christmas wish.