On the second day we started at the same time, same place. We were in for another full day. I was hoping maybe Michael would be a little more interested today because we were going to see more tanks. :-) Henri was so informative and cool that we heard stories from when he was there. He said that the German soldiers stayed at his house and forced his mom to cook for them. They all slept in one room on the floor. He said it wasn't too bad until the SS came and stayed. Even the other German soldiers told them to stay away from the SS and not talk to them.
The main square in Bastogne has this bust of General McAuliffe. He is the General who told the Germans "nuts" when they asked him to surrender.
This is one of the Stones of "The Liberty Way." Major Guy de la Vasselais, Head of the French Military Mission to General Patton's 3rd Army. He wanted to commemorate the liberation and put one of these every kilometer from Normandy to Mardasson Memorial which is about 712 miles.
The boys by the big Sherman tank in the main square. It is from the 11th armoured division and was destroyed on December 30, 1944.
This is a memorial dedicated to General S. Patton and unveiled in 1963 in the presence of his grandson.
This is the Porte de Treves. It was originally intended to enable access to the town. In 1688 it was temporarily converted into a prison and a temporary refuge until the first World War.
Across from the St Peter's Church, is the WWI monument. Behind that is the University, which was headquarters to the 501st during the war.
This was Michael's face. Unfortunately he still wasn't happy with this tour, but the rest of us sure were!!!!
This is an old WWI memorial that was bombed during WWII.
This is the inside of St. Peter's Church. On the stained glass windows they have different crests for the units that fought in WWII.
These are old homes in Bastogne. They use the top as a hay loft and hauled things up there for storage. Many soldiers found that it was a good vantage point, not only for sleeping.
We headed over to the local cemetery. Here is one of the nurses that died in a bombing in Bastogne. One of the German bombs hit their temporary hospital.
This is the other nurse that wasn't killed in the bombing. She survived to an old age, and became famous when the Band of Brothers came out.
Next we headed to the Bastogne Barracks. Our tour guide Henri, was actually stationed here while he was in the Belgium army. These pictures are from WWII.
This is what it looked like back in '44.
This is what it looks like now. Not too much different than over 70 years ago.
It is so cool to stand in the same places these famous soldiers stood. These photos were placed in the exact place where it happened.
When we were here before we didn't go down into the Nuts Cave. So I was excited to go and check it out.
This is the main office during WWII for 101st airborne. This is where General McAuliffe answered the Germans requested the US to surrender with "Nuts."
A copy of the letter that was sent to the Germans.
Mom, Dad, and AJ checking out another office down in the basement.
This is a picture of all the airplanes sent in to send supplies. It would have been amazing to see the skies back then.
This is where the actually letter was written and the actual typewriter that was used.
People here had it so much better than the ones that were in the trenches. They had food, warmth, and comfort, which was the complete opposite of the men in the trenches.
Dad enjoying the tour around the barracks, looking at the radio room.
This was Henri's favorite room down there.
It has pictures of WWII veterans that fought in the battle of the bulge, and other battles. The cool thing was he has met almost all of these people. It is amazing how many people he has met and interviewed.
The boys checking out a skeleton to one of the planes that flew over the skies of Bastogne.
This is the famous Christmas dinner picture.
They set it up just like the picture. General McAuliffe is fourth from the left with his arms crossed. He has other high ranking officers with him.
As the war continued into the winter, the soldiers didn't have winter gear or camouflage. They asked for sheets from Belgium people along the way. The cool thing about it, they actually bought new sheets and took them back to the people that gave them the sheets.
Next we headed into another museum that showed different weapons that were used back in WWII.
These are items that were found just left in the ground around Bastogne. People with metal detectors went around and found all these things. Henri said he found so many things as well and there are still other items out there now, not nearly as many, but still some.
In this section of the barracks, Henri took us in and turned on the lights and found out that all of the items are owned by one man. There was over three full, I mean really full rooms of lots and lots of stuff.
These are some of his patches that he collected. He must have spent years collecting all of these.
He had items starting from WWII all the way through to Operation Desert Storm. He had small items all the way up to large weapons.
I keep thinking back to what Henri talks about with his memories as a kid when he actually saw these tanks rolling down the streets of his town.
This is where they do some of the restoration process for all different types of military vehicles, from lots of different countries.
Michael trying to shoot me. He was finally in his element!
Now there are smiles on their faces!! Henri said the boys could actually climb on the tanks. Something I would have never let them do. This was an M24 Chaffee, a US light tank.
The boys liked this one because of the nasty looking teeth by AJ's feet. This is a M5A1 Stuart, another US light tank.
Michael is such a goofball - I love his facial expression. This was a smaller tank - an airborne Light Tank M22 Locust US.
This is a British tank, A34 Comet - a little bigger than the others.
Don't they look comfortable there? They are leaning on a Heavy Wrecker Ward LaFrance M1.
Isn't this a cute little tractor from the Navy?!?
Now you see Michael........
Now you don't. There is only a little slit in that hood for the driver to look out of. I am not sure if I would want to drive in that. It is a French Renault UE Type 2.
AJ's turn - It looks like it might be a little claustrophobic. I don't see how a full grown man can fit in there.
Look at the brotherly love!!! It really does happen!!!!
This is the last stone marker for Liberty Road by Mardasson Memorial, which is where we were headed next.
This is for the 101st Airborne Division and all its attached units. The eagle symbolizes the sacrifices and heroism.
The Mardasson memorial is dedicated to the eternal friendship between the American and Belgian people, which was forged in their common fight against the enemy of all free people. The monument is in the shape of a star with 5 points that is 31 meters long and 12 meters high.
This plaque lies in the center of the star. It says "The people of Belgium remember their American liberators."
You can see how up we were, that is Mom way down there.
AJ representing Washington!!!! They have all fifty states around the star.
The crypt in a hollow in the rock, shelters three altars for worshippers of the Catholic, Protestant, and Jewish faiths. It is decorated in mosaics based on the sketches of the artist Fernand Leger.
These are boxes filled with dirt from different battle grounds of WWII.
This was dirt from Luxembourg.
This was a bunker used in WWII - it was used by the 4th armored division of Patton's 3rd army met with 101st airborne division, breaking the encirclement of Bastogne.
AJ was very interested in these cows - they are Belgium Blue. Their steaks go for a high price
This is the Peace Woods. There are 4,000 trees that were planted in the year of the 50th anniversary of the Battle of the Bulge. They are dedicated to the American veterans who fought in the Ardennes, to the Belgian soldiers as well as to all civilian and military causalities of the winter of 1944-1945. When looked from above you can see that they are laid out to form the UNICEF emblem, a mother and her child, the symbol of human tenderness.
They had trees from all over the world. They have interesting facts for each tree.
They also had these plaques for the men and women who died.
The family checking out all the different names. You can you see the plaques in front of all the trees.
This is another monument to 101st airborne "E" company. It is placed in front of where they dug their foxholes in the Bois Jacques Woods as part of the defence perimeter of Bastogne City.
Heading into the woods to check out the foxholes.
Michael in one of the foxholes. While the "E" company was fighting, they were under constant mortar, rocket, and artillery fire, snow fall, temperatures below -28 Celsius at night with little food and ammunition.
AJ found another foxhole. During this time the field hospital had been captured so little medical help was available.
The boys found a foxhole big enough for both of them. Most of the foxholes were the same from over 70 years ago. On December 24th the "E" Company position was attacked at dawn about 45 enemy soldiers. The attack failed and "E" Company held their position with 1 casualty against 23 of the enemy.
I was looking at this view and remembering the movie Band of the Brothers and just thinking about all these soldiers went through for our freedom. It was humbling to think about all the lives lost and taken during WWII. They were fighting not only for our freedom but for other countries freedoms as well.
As you walk through the woods you come to this clearing. The soldiers had to get across this clearing, sprinting to find cover.
Then there are my boys, running free and playing in the same field where so much fighting and blood shed went on.
You can see the bullet holes around the window and can only assume that somebody used it as good vantage point.
Behind this monument is the site of the Foy American Temporary Cemetery from 1945-1948. It served as a temporary resting field for 2,701 Americans killed in action. You can see the Christian cross and the Jewish star.
This is a school house and it was the first dry place that the soldiers stayed in.
This is the tree of liberty the Henri actually helped plant for the "E" Company 101st airborne Band of Brothers.
This monument is in Noville and for the 1BN/506 PIR and the 412 men that were lost in the fight on December 20th, 1944 and two other battles that were fought.
This is a German cemetery. You can see the difference between American ones and the German ones. Americans have white crosses, clean, open, and well taken care of.
The other difference is in German cemeteries, there are usually three or more bodies buried per cross, Americans only 1.
This memorial is specifically for American Indian Soldiers.
Right across from that is where they have a bison farm. The boys got a kick out of seeing them.
The family with a tank turret In the village with Champs. We are a handsome crew! The 502nd Infantry regiment of the 101st Airborne were surrounded and resisting fiercely. The German tanks were destroyed and the fighting ended hand-to-hand in the village, from one house to the other, from one cellar to another.
The boys do love checking out the tanks around the area!!!
Henri showing Mom where the US had one of their headquarters.
It is now a privately owned hotel. In the circular building is where the high ranking soldiers stayed. I think most of the soldiers were just glad to get out of the weather.
This one is for the 17th airborne division in the area of Flamierge.
Picture this over 70 years ago with tanks moving over the grass. This was in Mande-St Etienne and one of the bigger battles.
This is where the Division Clearing Station of the 326th Airborne Medical Company and was overrun by enemy forces. They were attacked on December 19, 1944. The hospital was sprayed by machine-gun fire for a period of fifteen minutes and many soldiers were killed or wounded. Those who survived the attack became POWs. During our drive back to Bastogne Henri told us about when the German soldiers left their house, they had drained the well so his father went out to get some snow. A bomb went off and shrapnel got him. He made it to the house to say goodbye to his family and passed away. Even after the main fight was over there were still casualties.
After another long, education day we decided it was time for a treat. I wanted Mom and Dad to try the airborne beer, only found in Bastogne, and the boys went for some ice cream!! It was another fabulous with lots of information and places we visited. We headed back to the apartment for dinner and some more games!!!! It was great!
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