Communications Breakdown

Communications Breakdown
Well, to the few folks out there who actually read the blog, my apologies. I had very good intentions of being more prompt with my blog updates but as it was my first trip to Italy, I did not realize that the “soft underbelly” has yet to enter the 21st Century and my web connections were few and far between. So, in the spirit of better late than never, I’ll do my best to bring everyone up to speed.

Despite the lack of an Internet connection, Italy was great. The first stop was Venice, which was really pretty cool. In addition to the Doge’s palace and the must see stops, I had a chance to check out some of the 18th Century collections, which were great. I got to scratch an itch that I have been away from for awhile, which was super.

It was, I admit, a little strange being on the back end of a bus instead of the front and it was a bit hard to take in all the beauty of the city given how crowded it was. It really was amazing though, and the food was great.

A word of warning, however, don’t get a cup of coffee in the Piazza San Marco. 35 Euros for two coffees and two waters-ouch. The food was great though and it was super to see my wife again, I was starting to forget what she looked like.

Best parts of the trip, however, had to be the food and throwing my hands up in the air when people asked me what to do-I got to say, sorry, I’m just along for the ride…..

After Venice it was on to Tuscany. We stayed in Sienna. Very impressive and beautiful-many, many hills but after the next set of museums if I ever see another picture of the last super or the Madonna and the baby Jesus, my head would explode-guess I need some more art appreciation classes. Skipped Florence to catch up on some work, but I know Anna enjoyed it. She was able to make some unkind comparisons between the David and me! If Michelangelo had only had me as a model the course of art history might have been completely different.

We skipped a day of wineries to go down to Pompeii. I figured with a steady stream of World War II in her life, Anna deserved some time to do her archaeology thing. I’d never been, and I must admit that even for the uninitiated like me, it was pretty amazing. The guide told us to set aside three or four hours for the visit but we hadn’t even gotten three or four buildings into it by the time we had to leave. Did get to also make a quick stop at Casino, which you have a hard time understanding unless you can see it first hand. Anna said I could stop longer, but I’m guessing that unless I have three or four days to devote to it I should probably wait-looks like the next sight inspection is shaping up!

Back to Sienna and a great day seeing little villages and dinner and tasting at a Winery. One thing that really struck me while we were motoring around the countryside was how all the villages were located on hilltops. Now I know why Bradley said what he said about the infantry-“behind every hill was another hill, and behind that another….”

Well, from Sienna, the plan was to go on to Rome via rental, but little did we realize that rental companies really don’t care if you have a reservation if you plan on returning the car to another city, go figure. A couple of hours wandering around Sienna with suitcases and little luck ended in a private driver to Rome.

Only a day in Rome, but did get to squeeze in the Forum, Coliseum and Palacia. It was impressive, but there were no signs and the interpretation was awful. Of course, given the group I was with it probably was not very helpful to tell Anna that it all looked like a bunch of old bricks to me. Seriously though, thinking about the thousands of years of history that transpired there, it certainly helped put the four years of World War II in perspective.

I left Anna the next morning to meet the group in Brussels, but from what I understand, the end of trip party was quite a success.

While the rest of the Finpro crew was having a ball in Rome, I headed to Brussels to meet the Bulge group. I snuck in a day early, so was able to make a quick stop at Waterloo.

The next day was spent at the airport waiting for everyone to make it in and fortunately after many trials and tribulations, we got everyone together. The Sadler’s win the prize for the closest call in G-2 history-Don was making one last pass through the airport when they finally arrived.

Once we got onto the battlefield, things moved pretty fast. Our first day included stops at Lanzerath and the site of Lyle Boucke’s stand and sights associated with the 99th and 2nd Divisions. Next on the hit parade was to follow Kampfgruppe Peiper’s path, including a stop at La Gleize to visit the new G-2 command vehicle-I promise I’ll get pictures up soon.

Two days were then spent with our vets finding their spots and having George K, John Primerano, Herb Suerth, Earl McClung and Paul Rogers along was amazing. George was able to share his memories of division HQ and Maxwell Taylor while John took us to some places I had never been. The stories were wonderful. The three Easy men were also a great help in piecing together the details of the attacks on Foy and Noville.

The other big plus of the trip was the two interview sessions we had with all the vbets. The evening before we went to the battlefield we spent about three hours on two nights interviewing the guys. Everyone had a chance to ask whatever question they had and we were able to ask whatever questions they had of the vets. Once I can figure out all the footage, we’ll try to make copies available to folks.

After finishing up in Bastogne, we were able to cover the stand of the 28th Division at St. Vith and then move on to Diekirch and the southern shoulder of the Bulge and finally the stand of the 106th Division outside Saint Vith. The one constant comment was that folks seemed to have no idea of just how huge the Battle of the Bulge was. Joel was happy because he was able to find a German shovel, and one of the other guests found a pretty huge piece of shrapnel.

After finishing up in Bastogne it was up to the “51st” where we spent our first day on the island. We were met outside Nijmegan by a column of eight World War II vehicles and everyone had a great time driving around the battlefields of October 1944 in the half track, trucks and jeeps.

Back in Eindhoven we visited the sights around Eindhoven and hell’s highway, including divisional hq and the DZs of the 501 and 506 as well as the house where John landed, which was very cool. We also had a chance to hook up with Ed Shames and pump him full of questions.

Today was the long drive to Gosnay and an afternoon visiting the trenches and tunnels at Vimy Ridge. Back in the hotel now and trying to get caught up. The weather has been great (only one day of rain) the vets super and a great crowd. I hope to do better with keeping up the blog in the days ahead-particularly after I finish up this trip and set out on our site inspection of WWI sites. God Bless to all,
Chris