Ardennes--October 2008

Diana,

This is great! (And I can't think of a better location for this thread). I look forward to seeing the next additions here. Heuem... interesting that you have gone back here. I knew that some of the engineers were here at the onset of the bulge. My father (service battery of the 590th at the time) was also billeted here. The 590th was in 4 houses in Heuem. Carl and I have pinpointed the house in which Dad was billeted and look forward to seeing it. From what Dad said, I am wondering if some of the engineers may have been in the same large house in which he was billeted... Anyway. I look forward to seeing the Heuem and Schönberg photos next.

Connie

PS for those not accustomed to working UTube posts, know that if you want to see this slide show as a full screen presentation, just click on the rectangle at the bottom of the slide that shows arrows in the corners.

Here are views from my drive through Vielsalm, Stavelot, Ennal, Grand Hallieu, and a few other towns in that area. I took plenty of photos of tanks and of other WWII vehicles when I saw them, because my grandpa trained to be a tank mechanic, and because his lifelong hobby was restoring cars.

I had hoped to see the new WWII museum in Ennal when I was there. Eddy M recommended it. But unfortunately, it was not open at the time I was there. That museum is one place I want to visit when I go back.

This is one of the longer chapters, at just over 8 minutes.



PS I re-uploaded this video today, because the colors seemed too dull in the one I posted last night. This is now the corrected version.

Next chapters will be Bastogne and Houffalize.

Diana - The videos have been wonderful....what a trip you must have had!! Thanks so much for sharing them.

I was not able to open the 1st video in your last post....says it is blocked in our country. I wonder if this was a problem for everyone?

Roger

The Bastogne video still seems to play fine when I click on it a second time (after the copyright warning appears). It opens a separate Youtube window and begins playing. So I'm going to leave it alone for now, since monkeying with it could make it even less accessible. But if anyone still cannot play the video even in a separate window, please let me know.

This next chapter is a return to the war around St. Vith. This is the Poteau '44 Museum. Like others have said, this museum is a gem. I consider it a must-see destination. The hours and open season are a bit restrictive, so it may take some extra trip planning to make sure you can be there when the museum is open. I just happened to be there on Nov. 1, the last day they were open in 2008. That's now close I came to not being able to see the museum. The museum isn't heated, so they close for the winter.

Jacqueline, one of the owners, was working there the day I visited. She is very nice and accommodating. I appreciated that photos were allowed. So many museums here don't allow photos. But I wanted to be able to share what I saw there with people who may never get the chance to see the museum in person. That being said, the photos are no substitute for seeing the museum in person.

There is an indoor part to the museum, and then an outdoor part, which was a battlefield. I was touring the outdoor part at about 2 in the afternoon. That is important to know when you see how dark it is in the adjacent forest. It is like night time when you take a few steps into the trees. And much cooler.

Toward the end of the video, there are remains of two foxholes in the side of a hill. The foxholes are hard to make out through the Autumn leaf cover, but there is an old photo that follows, showing GIs in those foxholes. So that will hopefully complete the picture.

This video is 9 mins long. About halfway through, there is a "hiccup" where the sound stops and starts again. That is not your computer. That is in the DVD, unfortunately. I couldn't get it corrected when I made the DVD.



There are two more chapters to go: Ligneuville and Malmedy are next. Then the Henri Chapelle American Cemetery and Memorial.

I'm so sorry about that, Roger. I'll give some thought to how else I might be able to post the Bastogne video. There must be a way to make it work.

This slideshow is about Ligneuville and Malmedy. In Ligneuville I stopped and took a photo of the Hotel Du Moulin, where eight GIs were massacred just a few km from the Malmedy Massacre. The story of the Du Moulin's owners' role in saving all but those eight GI's caught there by the Nazis is told elsewhere, so I won't go into great detail here (because I assume most of you know it already), but it is a fascinating and memorable story.

At the Malmedy site, there is a brand new museum. They also allowed photos, for which I am again grateful. Then you will see the field where the massacre took place, and then the lovely memorial across the road. This was such a serious moment in my trip; I will limit my words to that.



This video may also show the blocked content warning, but clicking on it a second time opens the window and it plays. If there are problems, just let me know. Sigh.

Update 8/3: The Youtube audio swap is complete now on this video. It should play with music substituted from some selections Youtube offered. The important thing is, it will play.

Ok. Time to fix the videos. I think I will have to remove the sound and make them silent. Stay tuned.

Update: I'm using Youtube's "audioswap" feature to replace the music with some generic music that is not restricted from viewing. The generic music is a poor substitute for what I originally set the slideshows to, but it will make the videos play, which is the important thing. I set up the swap last night, and this morning the audio swap is "still in progress." So when they are ready, I'll post them.

Here are the two videos that I think were blocked for some. I'm sorry I had to eliminate the audio. The choice in music is a personal thing which admittedly might not have been to everyone's taste, but I thought it gave a better "flow" to the slideshows. Anyway, here are the silent Bastogne and Ligneuville & Malmedy videos.





I'm adding a link here to the Baugnez-Malmedy museum page. It has a video of the museum, which includes parts of the collection that I did not photograph. (My stop at this museum was early in my trip, and I hadn't yet realized I would want to capture everything on film.)
www.baugnez44.be/en/video_presentation_museum.php

The Henri Chapelle video will be next. It is muted as well.

Thank you, Carl. No, the Poteau museum had ended the halftrack tours for the year. So, I'd like to go back and experience that sometime.

And, thank you for all you do for those of us who want to know all we can about the Ardennes and the Battle.

I'm glad they finally played for you, Roger. I'm so sorry for the problems.

This is the final chapter. I visited the Henri Chapelle American Cemetery and Memorial. This is a 5-minute slideshow. In silence, the pictures will seem cumulative, because this chapter was originally made as a tribute set to music.

What makes this slideshow different from other Youtube videos of this cemetery: I visited each of the GIs from the 81st CEB who rest there. There are four, plus one on the wall of the missing. The last couple minutes of the video show the beautiful, vast countryside the cemetery overlooks. The last 20 seconds shows my grandpa's graveside service.

One other bit of information about the Henri Chapelle memorial: A small 2-lane highway runs through it. The cemetery is on on side of the highway, and the scenic overlook on the other. There is a crosswalk painted on the road for those going back and forth. When someone at the cemetery approaches the crosswalk, the oncoming cars stop. It's very respectful and touching.

Thank you, Roger, and you're welcome. My visit to Henri Chapelle was very special. I'll be interested to know if you do make contact with Clayton Bills' family. A similar story: When I got back from my trip, I showed an acquaintance how to do a search for GIs buried in Europe. They found their relative within about 5 minutes. Up to that point, they'd tried for maybe two decades or more to find where he was. (He's buried at Luxembourg.)