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Going on a trip? Stopping by a museum or sightseeing some historical landmark? Well…share! If it's WWII, we wanna hear about it!
I've walked part of the route of the Bataan Death March.
I've been to Corregidor.
I was at Iwo Jima for the 40th anniversary.
I've been to Okinawa and Shuri Castle and Naha.
I've been to Pearl Harbor.
I've been to Intramuros and seen the battle scars.
I've been to Ground Zero in Hiroshima.
I've been to the area of the Pusan Perimiter.
I've stood on the DMZ in Korea.Semper Fi!
ScottIf you want to see the Mitchell monument (only mainland casualties of WWII) let me know, it's about 90 minutes from the house (way up here in Klamath Falls, OR
-PaulThe USS Midway is pretty cool. Pearl Harbor also. The Military Cemetery on Oahu has a pretty cool series of maps of the Pacific Campaigns. I drove through the Ardennes once long ago, through Bastogne, Stavelot, St Vith and Elsenborn Ridge. Unfortunately didn't have time to get out of the car, but did get a pretty good feel for the terrain. I lived in West Berlin back in the late '70's…The Kaiser-Wilhelm-Gedächtniskirche was pretty interesting. Teufelsburg, where I worked, was a mountain built of the rubble collected from the City after the War. Still were quite a few buildings there (particularly in the East) which still had war damage.
While stationed in Hawaii I visited all the sites on Oahu; Pearl Harbor, USS Arizona, USS Missouri, USS Bowfin, Schofield Barracks, Hickam Field, Bellows Field, the Kole Kole Pass, Kahuku Point, and probably others that slip my mind. Also while there I visited many sites around the Pacific; Wake Is., Midway Is., Kwajalein, Guam, Okinawa, the real bridge on the River Kwai, and flew over the speck of an island Iwo Jima.
I've also been to Normandy four times in the past few years and visited the Bocage and the Beaches as well as two trips to Holland to visit the Market-Garden sites and “The Island”and Belgium twice for “The Bulge” sites. I've also been to all of the US cemeteries in northwest Europe.
Sad..replying to my own teaser….
Ok so my trip along Peiper's Route during the Battle of the Buglge was a two-day tour de force. We started our journey on the extreme NE corner of the “Bulge” and actually chatted a bit about the American assault planned for this time in December to take the vital dams that had dominated the Ruhr valley the past few months.
We then moved to Peiper's assembly area and from there literally drove along the route that Peipers KG took throughout the campaign. At the end, we did a little excursion south into KG Hansen's area of operations and then finally returned home to Simonskall near Vossenack in the Hurtgen area. An incredible two days.
Let me stop a second and just quickly mention that I happened upon an incredibly detailed and useful book just prior to my trip “The Devil's Adjutant” by Michael Reynolds. If you are at all interested in Peiper's role in the Bulge, this is an absolute must read. It is detailed to the squad level and his research was highly cross-referenced. I just wish he had added more than the 15 or so maps and 20 pics that were in the book…but I am a visual kinda guy.
Along the route, we stopped off at two museums. The first is a new one (as of 2008) in Baungez, the Baugnez 44 Historical Center, and is tentatively centered on the Massacre at Malmedy. I found it interesting but not overly so. You walk through the halls of showcases with a handset that discusses the items you are seeing before you. THere is also a small theatre that plays a 20 min movie about the fighting and the massacre. Overall, however, the feeling is that this was created less for historical information and more for making a buck. Still, they had some interesting displays. Sadly, it was with some regret that we realized that the parking lot for this museum is literally sitting on part of the area where the massacre occurred.
The second meseum, established a while ago, is the December 1944 Historical Museum next to the church in La Gleize. This museum was terrific. Two floors crammed with diplays, walls of photos and maps. The overall area was about he same between the two museums, but this one seemed to really have quite a bit more to see. No guided tour here but my “Tour Guide”, Herr Henkelmann, was all too happy to walkthrough and chat about things. As you wind up and around the narrow steep hill that hairpins around the church, the first thing you see of this museum is the 60-ton King Tiger sitting out front. According to the info at hand, this tank is the only one in Europe on display that was actually usd in combat. And given the three 75mm craters on the bow and the artillery shrapnel marks on the turret, I'd say it saw some action. One of the sherman shells actually hit the exact bow of the tank's front armor…where the upsloping underside meets the downsloping front…and there is a crumpled crater where the 75mm round failed to penetrate and ldged in the armor. The other hits were large divots caused by ricochets.
This museum also had one other surprise. On the second floor, as you round the turn form the stairs there is a large display case. Inside is a goliath. Very very interesting. Like a squat little tank chassis about 4 feet long and 3 feet wide, it stood just above my knees. I kept trying to think how many pounds of explosive you could fit in it and what that would do when it detonated. Still, just seeing it was a highlight.
Ok, so let me end this bit by saying that though I was well-versed in all the fighting that went on during Peiper's advance and retreat, I was totally unprepared for the actual terrain. Even given 64 years of time, the roads felt narrow, the lines of sight often short and the waterways numerous. Even if you only had the chance to drive the route withuot a guide pointing out every area of conflict, you quickly appreciate exactly how futile the effort to navigate this terrain must have been for tanks. The elevation changes are incredible, the channelling effect of sudden drops scary and the chokepoints numerous. Experiencing the terrain was the biggest blast of the trip.
So I have about 200 pics and an hour of video to cull through. Maybe I'll motivate and post some pics here….do we have a gallery set up yet, Paul? The video will have to wait till you guys drop by and visit me…
Matt C.
Nice Info… Can't wait for the pics. I guess that means I need to load up the gallery component
-Paul
California Military Museum
A couple of months ago I was in Sacramento enjoying the taxpayers money with a free hotel (my wife was presenting at a state teachers conference), and I found my days free…so I drug the kids down to Old Town Sacramento to check out this museum.
The museum is pretty small, occupying three floors (basement, ground, upper) of one of the historic waterfront buildings. The upper floor is a “auditorium” where they have guest speakers and a couple of ship models on display…on the day I was there, they were setting up for guest speakers later in the day; a P-51 pilot, a Corsair pilot, and a B-25 pilot (I was not able to stick around for them unfortunately).
The ground floor houses the main collection. The room that the displays are in in only about 30' x 30', but they got a lot of stuff crammed into that small space. Most of the displays are rifles, swords/sabres, pistols, personal gear, maps, pictures…but it covers all periods of California military history, from Fremont's excursion and the Bear Flag Revolt, Gold Rush, Civil War, WWI, WWII, Korea and Vietnam.
WWII displays featured a .30cal water cooled HMG, a Japanese 81mm Mortar, nambu pistol, Japaneese officer's sword. They also had a display of American military medals, including a Medal of Honor (first one I've seen in a museum)…I think it was the Army version if I remember correctly. Downstairs they had a Harley Davidson motorcycle and a 75mm pack howitzer.
Overall, the museum was nothing remarkable, pretty small, and run by the typical angry, old people…but if you find yourself in Sacramento looking to kill an hour or so, go check it out.
Semper Fi!
ScottI just remembered…a couple of years ago my sister-in-law spent a semester at the Royal Shakespear Accademy in London. She writes a letter and says that she went to the Imperial War Museum and asked if I had ever heard of it…grrrrrr
I hate when undeserving people get to go to places that they don't appreciate!
Semper Fi!
Scott
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