Beyond Band of Brothers

[1LtCAP 4,262]

tours. many of these look really interesting. and not overly expensive either . 

http://www.beyondbandofbrothers.com/?fbclid=IwAR3dFfCUd6NO_BTZpWDVH9q0RFjg19w4EsopJoWaXYh8Kj9ViCX7rOlT2VA

[Greenday 323]

I've looked up stuff like that and would love to do it. I have about 2.5 weeks of vacation time saved up. If I don't use any by the end of next year, I get paid out for whatever I saved over 3 weeks. Tempting to keep working and get a few weeks extra pay but time off would be good.

I want to do a WW2 tour starting in England going thru Normandy, rest of France, Belgium, Netherlands, Germany. I got to see some cool stuff in Poland (spoiler: everyone screwed them in WW2).

Its another thing is I'd like to attend WW2 lectures in multiple participating countries. See how it's taught in Canada, UK, France, Germany, Italy, Russia, China, Japan, Korea.

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[GRIZ 3,369]

I'm not one for totally packaged tours but if you don't want to miss something and you have a limited amount of time that's the way to go.

When I was stationed in Germany I was in Schweinfurt.  That's where all the ball bearing factories still are.  There were few buildings there that were older than 1946.  Got to talk with Germans who were there during WW2.

The barracks I lived in housed a German tank unit.  They survived as the Germans had built garages to hide all the tanks in and painted red crosses on the roofs to make us believe it was all a hospital compound.

[gleninjersey 2,141]

Went to France last year.  Only reason I set foot in the country was one of my sister inlaws moved there to work for the company she works for.  It was quite the opportunity for her.  She was in Paris but we visited Normandy for two days.  There are several museums that you can do on your own  It was strange seeing people relaxing, sunbathing and just hanging out on the beaches.  Visiting the U.S. gravesite is humbling, to say the least.  

We stayed at a beautiful house.  Few acres with gardens.  They converted the garage, or perhaps it was a barn at one time, into rentals.  A few of the museums in town were only a ten minute drive and from there it was 20 minutes to the beaches of Normandy.  All the surrounding towns proudly displayed the U.S. and other allied flags prominently along the streets.  While I'm sure it's to draw in and appeal to tourists, you get the sense they really appreciate the sacrifices which were made.

If you are into history and WWII,  I would devote at least a week to Normandy and the surrounding area

[GRIZ 3,369]

Interesting bit of trivia here.

They sampled the sand on Omaha Beach in 1988. They found 4% of the sand was shrapnel. This shows the volume of mines and mortar and artillery fire that was poured on our guys.

I would guess a lot of sjrapnel sank down over 44 years. If they had sampled it in 1945 I'm sure the percentage would be much higher.

 

https://www.google.com/search?q=4+of+sand+on+omaha+beach+is+shrapnel&oq=4%+of+sand+on+omaha+beach+is+sjrapnr&aqs=chrome.1.69i57j33.25828j0j7&client=ms-android-att-us&sourceid=chrome-mobile&ie=UTF-8