On The Rhine

And so we arrived at the end of our journey to the Rhine. We boarded a ship here at Bacharach and sailed down the Rhine, marveling at the countryside and the number ancient castles that dotted the landscape. We have come the the end of our fabulous trip and have a renewed appreciation of the valor, sacrifice, hardship, drama, and tactics that are characteristics of thus our Greatest Generation. Lopez out.

Gen George Patton's Grave

And finally here is George Patton's grave. He wanted to be buried with his men so this is the appropriate place.

The Cemetery

The cemetery is beautifully laid out and was required to be "pleasing to the eye". There are 5,500 graves here with 101 unknowns, 2 Medal of Honor awardees, and one female nurse. We arrived just as it opened so we stood at attention and saluted as a 3-gun salute, taps and the star spangled banner was played over this solemn site. It was very moving.

The Chapel

The entrance to the chapel has 8 panels with a picture of a warrior in each depicting the characters of a warrior; Valor, physical fitness, proficiency, fortitude, fidelity, sacrifice, family ties, and faith.

Inside the Memorial

Here is the first structure you see when you enter the park. It is majestic and just jumps out at you that this is a special place.

Battle of the Bulge Memorial

Our first stop on this last day was at the Battle of the Bulge Memorial in Haam. This was built by Luxembourg to honor our American war dead in that campaign. Here is the entrance, with two golden laurel wreaths on the gate, the ancient award for valor. Gilded eagles surmount the stone pillars with 13 stars below each one. It is a beautiful entrance into a serene and peaceful site.

Hqtrs, 101st Airborne, Continued

The area of the headquarters is resplendent with old pictures like these from the Battle of the Bulge. In many towns in the area are either Sherman Tanks sitting in town squares or the turrets sunk into pedestals. The people here really love Americans, especially the US Army.

Hqtrs, 101st Airborne at Bastogne

In the background of these tanks is the headquarters of the "Screaming Eagles" during the Battle of the Bulge. They are in the process of restoring the entire site. The tanks in the foreground are an M18 Hellcat and M24 Chaffee. This is a really cool place!

Ardennes Forest

Here's a look into the Ardennes forest where the 101st take up defensive positions. Pretty dark in there. If one did not have overhead cover, the German rounds landing in the trees exploded such that the shrapnel was multiplied tenfold.

Tribute To E Company, 2Bn 506 Regt

Here is a moving tribute to Easy Company (Band Of Brothers) for those who lost their lives during the battle to take Foy, on the East side of Bastogne. The name of Tom Hanks, HBO, Steve Spielberg among others are on the side plate as donors.

At One of The Points in the Star

Here we are at one of the points in the star. The copper plate in front of us tells the story of what happened in the direction pointing.

Unit Name Panel

All the services who fought have their names and patches displayed just like this.

Memorial To America At Bastogne

Our first stop this morning was at the beautiful memorial to the American armed forces who fought at Bastogne. The monument is shaped as a 5 point star; at the top of the memorial each star points to a specific battle site and is diagrammed on a copper plate in the middle of the point. 48 state names ring the top of the memorial with the vertical facades containing the names and patches of the units involved. Around the inside of the ring is 8 panels that tell the story of the Battle Of The Bulge. Very moving monument.

The Malmedy Massacre

Here is the field in the small town of Malmedy where 150 captured American soldiers were gunned down by Joachim Piper's Rear Guard because they could not be bothered with prisoners. 70 escaped as the shooting began, but news of the 80 others who did not electrified the soldiers all along the line of the bulge. A beautiful memorial to the soldiers is in the town square across the street from the field; there is a stone wall that contains all their names. The memorial is not next to or in the field because the Belgian who owned the property was a collaborator and they did not want dishonor the fallen.

The Battle of The Bulge Begins

Back in Belgium our first stop was in a small town called Lanzareth. Here is where one of the first and legendary actions happened. This is a picture of the monument to the 18-man Intelligence and Reconnaissance Platoon, 396th Regiment, 99th Infantry Battalion, led by Lt. Lyle Bouck. He was one of the first Americans to see the German attacking columns led by the notorious Joachim Piper of the 1st SS Panzer Regiment. Lt Bouck had the high ground (just behind me us as we took the picture) in well prepared positions just inside the dense forest. The platoon was able to ambush and hold off a full strength German SS Parachute Battalion for an entire day. After running out of ammunition they were all captured. The efforts of these heroic men delayed Piper enough so that he was not able to meet his time table for reaching Antwerp and thus the attack failed. This was the most decorated platoon in WW II and received the Presidential Unit Citation.

The Dragon's Teeth At Aachen

We left Belgium briefly to enter Germany. We stopped just inside the border to see the remnants of the "Dragon's Teeth", the cement obstacles than run for 1000 miles along the German border to form the Siegfried Line. The building of these obstacles put many of the German people to work before and during the war, however the US Army went around them when they entered Germany.

Arnhem, Holland

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> The British 1st Airborne Division jumped the farthest into Holland to capture and hold the Arnhem Bridge over the Rhine until British 30 Corps could relieve them and gain a toe hold into Germany. It was a legendary heroic stand by the Pegasus Division but were ordered to withdrawal when British 30 Corps could not make it past Nijmegen before 1st Division ran out of ammo, food, water. Of the 10,000 airborne and gliderborne troopers who went in, only 2,400 escaped without being killed or captured. Thus, the Arnhem Bridge was a bridge too far. There is a wonderful airborne museum in Arnhem telling the story of this legendary battle; here's a picture at the entrance. While there we talked to a docent who was a 14 year old Dutch lad at the time of the battle and remembers it well. It was a real special experience to talk to him!
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Maas-Grave Bridge

Here's the original bridge over the Maas River that was captured. The earlier Eindhoven Bridge captured by the 101st Airborne has been replaced and we could not get to the Nijmegen Bridge because of road construction. The 82nd Airborne captured the Nijmegen Bridge after a daring boat raid but the German's put up stiff resistance about 2 miles North of the bridge and the operation consequently failed to go any further.

Memorial to E Co, 505th Reg, 82nd Airborne

There were 24 key bridges that had to be captured on the way up to Arnhem. One of them was a bridge across the Maas River near the town of Grave. E Co, 505th Reg, 82nd Airborne was assigned to capture the bridge with a parachute drop attack. As the C-47's approached the drop zone, the navigator in the first plane toggled the green light to jump. In the trailing airplane, the jump master, Lt. John Thompson, recognized that it was the wrong drop zone and held off until they were over the right one. The platoon of 30 paratroopers jumped in and took the bridge without sustaining any casualties. Here is a memorial to Lt Thompson and his troopers. The countryside all the way up "Hell's Highway" is marked with numerous memorials to the battles fought in Market Garden.

Operation Market Garden .. Attacking the Bridges

We left Paris this morning by high speed rail to Brussels. From there we boarded the bus for the trip to Arnhem, Holland by way of the very important and strategic bridges of Operation Market Garden. Here's a picture of an old Catholic Church, St Petrus Kerk, from which the Easy Company Commander, 2nd Bn 506 Reg, 101st Airborne provided command and control as the company blockaded both ends of the village square from German troop and tank attacks. The Company was fresh from helping capture the bridge at Einhoven.

Horsa Glider at Pegasus Bridge Museum

One crash landed in these gliders .. the wheels were designed to shear off during landing and only friction and a drag chute (or a wall) could stop them. The bridge was originally called the Benouville Bridge after the small town. However, the symbol of the British 6th Airborne Division is a gold Pegasus from Greek metrology, consequently the bridge was renamed Pegasus Bridge. These were very brave men indeed, give me a parachute any day!

Rollin' Down the River

Fred is chatting with one of our fellow travelers who helped us with the French language. He is a docent at the WWII museum in New Orleans. Notre Dame in the background.

Moment of Truth

We took the river boat down the Seine from the Eiffel Tower to the island that Notre Dame is on. The sky provided a great backdrop for us and we just couldn't get enough of this beautiful cathedral, inside and out. We were able to light candles, reflect, and just take in the serene magnificence of it all.
Between 1220 and 1250 the "judgement as the moment of truth" was placed above the central Cathedral door. This is the whole church gathered in everlasting joy: everyone united around Jesus.

At Notre Dame

After a quick boat ride we got to Notre Dame, which is on a small island in the middle of the Seine. It is an absolutely breathtaking cathedral. The first stones for the church were laid in 1163. There are numerous portals outside and inside the church that had been built over 600 years. Each has a special significance and meaning. For instance, the doors are adorned with foliage that links wood planks together to form fences that represent the entrance of the Garden of Paradise once more open to mankind. Upon entering the church you are immediately overwhelmed with the length and height of the interior. The light comes only from the huge stained glass windows along the walls and around the ceiling, and the literally hundreds of candles of offering burning in each portal. This has to be the most beautiful, historic church we have ever seen.

Paris, We Have Arrived

Got to Paris this afternoon after a beautiful ride through the French countryside. Our hotel is about two blocks from the Eiffel Tower, we can see the tip of it from our room. A half hour later we were on the street with a group of friends heading for a boat on the Seine for a short trip to Notre Dame.

Pegasus Bridge

After leaving our fabulous Chateau this morning we went to Pegasus Bridge on the far right flank of the British Landing Area. This bridge, key to stopping any German armor and troops from rushing to the beach, was taken by a British Gliderborne Company at 12:16 AM on D-Day. Three Horsa gliders (the size of a 737) with 90 paras landed within 50 yards without the German's hearing them. This bridge was secured within 15 minutes. A fantastic story; and a great museum here honoring all the paras.

Pointe Du Hoc

Here's a look at Pointe Du Hoc that was taken by the 2nd Ranger Battalion on D-Day. They had to scale 100 foot cliffs under rifle fire and grenades in order to get to the top. This point commanded a perfect view of both Utah and Omaha Beaches; there were numerous casements built to house 150mm guns which could have singly defeated our landing armada. By plan this was the dumping ground for all bomber ordnance on their way back to England so the whole area looked like the surface of the moon. Turns out the guns were never put in place, they were about 1/2 mile back in an apple orchard.

C-47 Dakota Fly-by

While we walking through the cemetery we heard off in a distance the steady, throaty roar of an airplane. We looked up and from the East came a WWII C-47 Dakota (DC-3) making a fly-by. It was quite an inspiring sight to see. This was one of over 800 C-47's that dropped the 101st and 82nd Airborne Divisions over Normandy on D-Day.

American Cemetery Overlooking Omaha Beach

Here's a first look at the deeply moving cemetery built above Omaha Beach. 10,000 of our soldiers, sailors, airman, and coast guardsmen who died at Normandy are here. There are 300 unknowns scattered throughout. Also buried here are four women, all nurses. It is a bright beautiful day here with a scattering of bright, white fluffy clouds .. signaling to every one of us, "we're glad you came". All Crosses and Star's of David face the West; some crosses have flags and flowers adorned while the Jewish graves have stones atop their star. If you don't shed tears here a number of times, you have no heart. The whole cemetery is well planned out with a special significance in each section and monument. We could have spent the entire day here just walking among the crosses and stars saying thank you to every one of these brave men and women. One of the many things that came to mind for me was how tragic we will not see this in any other country that Americans have fought and died in since 1945! This is truly a solemn and sacred place.

Another View, Omaha Beach

Here is another view of Omaha Beach looking to the west. Imagine it full of hedgehogs (large x-shared metal obstacles), mines on stakes, artillery and mortar rounds impacting, the zip sound of machine gun bullets all around you, soldiers going down in front, back and beside you. There are runnels throughout that are as deep as a man is tall.

We Have Landed, Omaha Beach

First stop this morning was Omaha Beach. Here's a picture looking at Omaha Beach below us and to the East. This is from gun position 73. The tide is almost all the way out; you can see the vast expanse of beach and the width of the beach from the water line to the wall our soldiers had to traverse under withering fire. Very sobering. We are in awe of the courage displayed that day!

Battle Site of the 82nd Airborne

We got to five battle sites today, two made famous from the Band of Brothers. They included St Mare Eglis, St Marie Du Mont, Avaranches, Longues-Sur-Mer and La Fran Bridge. It is 6 June and each location was filled with visitors and reenactment actors. The actors have authentic uniforms, vehicles, and civilians in 1940 dress. At one stop we had just pulled in and down the road comes an M-24 Chafee Tank and parks in the road intersection right next to us. Pretty Cool. Everywhere you go there are US, British and French flags flying! I am told these are up all year round. Had a long dinner last night talking about everything we've seen and some great anecdotes from Captain Drez, our guide. Tomorrow on to Omaha Beach at the American Cemetary.

Guns At Longues-Sur-Mer

We are at the bluffs in the British Landing Sector, looking at the gun encasements that face out to the English Channel. Here is a picture of one of the 150mm French guns.

The Infamous Catholic Church in St Mare Eglis

This is the infamous church where a company of the 82nd Airborne missed the drop zone and were dropped in to the middle of town. A reenactment of a trooper hanging off the belfry is there today .. it is a true story.

We Have Landed

Here's a picture of Utah Beach as it appears today. We crossed the channel at 0700 local this morning .. seas were tossing us enough to make it interesting. It was rainy and overcast all day, much like the day on June 5, 1944. We went to the new Utah Beach Memorial Museum; we were the first one's to enter the museum, it is to be opened to the public tomorrow so we felt very honored to be able to see it. Tried to get into St Mare Eglise but the whole area is crowded with people and cars. Since the roads are about 1 car width this is not hard to do. We are staying at a Chateau near Caen. This was the headquarters of the 3rd Panzer Division on D-Day and also the headquarters of Field Marshall Rommel when he visited this part of Normandy. A very special place indeed! What a way to spend my birthday.

101st Airborne Division Memorial, Brecourt Manor, Normandy

This is a picture of a wonderful memorial at the site of one of the first classic battles of Easy Company, 506th Parachute Infantry Regiment (Band of Brothers). There are many sites like this along the small side roads here in Normandy.

B-26 Maurader

Here's 1 of only 6 fully restored B-26's in the world. This airplane worked extremely well on D-Day. This is now in the newly restored Utah Beach Museum in Normandy.

Embarkation From England

This morning we drove from London down to Portsmouth on the southern coast of England. This was one of the major sailing ports for the ships to sail across the channel on D-Day, 6 June. Our first stop was the D-Day Museum .. it was excellent! At the entrance is an exquisite and very detailed embroidery of Operation Overlord, the attack on Normandy. It was begun in 1968, is 272 feet in length with 34 separate panels depicting various phases of the preparation and landing at Normandy. It took 5 years and 20 seamstresses to put this together. The museum had many original items including a Top Secret copy of Operation Neptune upon which Overlord was built, one of the deception dummies that was parachuted into the area North of the landing, and a wonderful replica of a C-47 with paratroopers and Horsa Glider as it had just crash landed. After lunch we visited Southwick where Eisenhower established his headquarters 60 days prior to D-Day. It is now a military base headquarters and closed to the public on weekends so we were fortunate to get in. The picture above is of the "Map Room" that was used in the planning and monitoring of events on D-Day. You can see quite vividly the ports of debarkation, the cleared lanes that had to be followed, the Nazi mine areas in white, and the attack lanes for the various beach objectives. Next door was the meeting room where Ike made the monumental decision to "OK, let's go" on the morning of June 5.

Tomorrow morning early (up at 5 AM) we cross the channel to Cherbourg and go to Utah Beach. Two special events take place which we will describe in the next blog.

In Front Of the D-Day Museum in Portsmouth, England

Fred by a British "Crocodile" Tank, in front of the Museum.

Day 3 The Preparation.

Today we began our preparation for the channel crossing by visiting some historical significant sites that told about the planning and dedication of our American Servicemen and women. In the morning we visited St Paul's Cathedral, just a stone's throw from the Thames. Anne wanted to make sure everyone knew this is where Diana and Charles were married in 1981! This 1400 year old church survived 3 direct hits during WWII. The interior has 3 massively ornate domes, each one larger as you descend from the top of the church. There are numerous chapels and alcoves that are exquisitely formed and painted. Unfortunately no pictures are allowed inside the church. At the base of the church is a crypt where many famous English are interred. At the East end is a tribute to the American dead of WWII that was built out of the bombed out rubble that took down that part of the church. Inside is a "Book of Remembrance" with the names of 28,000 American servicemen stationed in England who died in WWII. Eisenhower delivered this book in person. A page is turned each day. On the wall backdrop is the only stained glass in the church, depicting many angels, biblical characters, the flags of the 48 states at the time, significant dates in the history of both America and Britain, and the 1st Commandment in latin.
We went down to the crypt and immediately entered the tomb of the Duke of Wellington. In the alcove of the tomb is a tribute to the British Field Marshals of WWII .. including Montgomery, Waverly, Alexander.

Next we went to the Imperial War Museum and visited the WWII display. It was very impressive with many original documents such as Eisenhower's message to the troops on D-1, the Top Secret minutes of the staff meeting just prior to D-Day, Rommel's death certificate and Hitler's Poland Invasion Directive with his signature.

Lastly we visited the Cabinet War Rooms and Churchill Museum as it was set up and utilized during the war, from 1939. Especially impressive were the many Churchill speeches that you could listen to while touring the museum. The picture here is Fred with our London Guide, a retired British cold war pilot and wonderful historian.

Tomorrow we are off to Portsmouth, one of the points of embarkation for the D-Day landings.

Imperial War Museum Front

In the foreground is a pair of 16" naval guns .. very impressive up close!

St Paul's Cathedral, South Courtyard Entrance

On the East end of the cathedral is the Jesus Chapel dedicated to the American dead from WWII.

London Palace Guards Museum

2 days in London and we are looking for alternate transportation! We have toured the city, travelled the Underground, visited Buckingham Palace, viewed changing of the guards, and taken in the theatre to see Wicked. We had traditional Fish & Chips at Hereford Arms Pub. Tomorrow we meet our tour group, we are anxious to get started.

Queen at the Palace