Post by engenious on Jun 15, 2012 21:06:56 GMT -5
My brother and I just returned from a trip we designed ourselves to retrace the steps of and key sites where my grandfather, Matthew Rozen (423/I), was. We are happy to give advice to any travelers interested in these places.
We rented a car and drove from Brussels to the Ardennes. We visited St. Vith (and the memorial), Schonberg (and found the part of the hill where he surrendered and then wandered through the nearby woods), the Engineer Cut-Off, Bleialf, Buchet, and we drove all over the L20 along the Schnee Eifel up to Losheim. We hiked into the woods and found old bunkers on the Schnee Eifel as well as dragon's teeth up towards Losheim. Seeing the towns and hills and woods and fields where the 423rd was really puts things into perspective and brings to life all the stories and accounts I've read.
We used the book St. Vith: Lion In The Way as a guide because of its excellent maps. A Tour of the Bulge Battlefield was another helpful guide for us.
We also spent a lot of time visiting Bulge sites in Malmedy, Stavelot, La Gleize and Bastogne, including the Baugnez '44 Museum and the December '44 Museum in La Gleize, both of which were, on their own, worth the trip from the U.S.A.!
I wore my grandfather's original dog tags back to his old territory--70 years later, the same exact tags made it back to the Schnee Eifel!
It was a once in a lifetime experience for sure.
We rented a car and drove from Brussels to the Ardennes. We visited St. Vith (and the memorial), Schonberg (and found the part of the hill where he surrendered and then wandered through the nearby woods), the Engineer Cut-Off, Bleialf, Buchet, and we drove all over the L20 along the Schnee Eifel up to Losheim. We hiked into the woods and found old bunkers on the Schnee Eifel as well as dragon's teeth up towards Losheim. Seeing the towns and hills and woods and fields where the 423rd was really puts things into perspective and brings to life all the stories and accounts I've read.
We used the book St. Vith: Lion In The Way as a guide because of its excellent maps. A Tour of the Bulge Battlefield was another helpful guide for us.
We also spent a lot of time visiting Bulge sites in Malmedy, Stavelot, La Gleize and Bastogne, including the Baugnez '44 Museum and the December '44 Museum in La Gleize, both of which were, on their own, worth the trip from the U.S.A.!
I wore my grandfather's original dog tags back to his old territory--70 years later, the same exact tags made it back to the Schnee Eifel!
It was a once in a lifetime experience for sure.
