New Visitor Center at Margraten American Cemetery

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Actually, it was new last December. When I last visited the cemetery in November 2023, the building was finished, but it hadn’t been officially opened yet. That happened last year in December.

Last weekend, I briefly visited it again, on my way from Valkenburg (see previous post about the exhibition ‘Through Their Eyes’).

The cemetery itself is always worth a visit and is one of the most beautifully landscaped I have ever seen.

At the Visitor Center, the exhibition goes all around and at the center, there’s a small cinema. The displays around it show the various theatres of war where soldiers buried in Margraten were killed: the air war, Market Garden, Hürtgen Forest, the Bulge, Germany…

The texts and photos are really interesting. Not too long and not too short. The display cases are very nice and modern, but the items on display are often replicas, which I think is a pity for such a prestigious new building. A replica paratrooper helmet, even replica ration boxes and sweets. Surely, it wouldn’t break the bank to procure original items, and they would be very well protected here.

There certainly are some very interesting original period artefacts too, such as a pilot helmet display, parts of a glider, a tank commander’s M43 jacket etc.

More about the new Visitor Center

Also read about: The Faces of Margraten

And John M. Beatty’s Purple Heart

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Gift of 9th Army items to ‘Through Their Eyes’ exhibition

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Last weekend, I visited Valkenburg to hand over a gift of 9th Army secret maps and documents to the curator of the exhibition ‘Through Their Eyes’. I first visited the exhibit at Museum Valkenburg at the end of September. It is really well put together, with many large-size period photographs on the walls and artifacts from collectors in the area.

I bought this 9th Army lot 15 years ago, because it was from the area where I grew up. But it has remained in a box, as it didn’t really fit with the rest of my collection. After talking to David Loozen, the curator of the exhibition, I decided to offer the items on permanent loan. Hopefully, this exhibition will become permanent, for everyone to enjoy and learn from.

The items came from the 9th Army surgeon. As a member of General Simpson’s staff, he must have been on the circulation list of all these official documents and maps. The documents mostly cover logistics and operational issues and many South Limburg towns are mentioned in them. The 9th stayed in Limburg from October 1944 – March 1945. Other American troops remained in South Limburg until August 1945, and as a result, the region became the most ‘Americanized’ part of the country so their impact on the local community was strong (more on US Embassy website).

Do visit this exhibition in Valkenburg! And while you are at it, I recommend you swing by the new visitor center / museum at the Margraten American Cemetery. It’s nearby. I will add a post about this shortly.

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Book review: Another River, Another Town

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This book is a little gem. Not about a paratrooper this time, but about an 18 year old tank gunner at the end of the war. The author Jack Irwin recounts his experience with a tank crew. He arrived in the ETO in August 44, and the story is completely set in March and April 1945, when their unit slugs through Germany, all the way to Dessau near Berlin. The Germans still fight over each little town and Jack quickly learns the reality of combat.

I couldn’t help but see the similarities with the movie ‘Fury‘, which may have been partially based on this book. The author vividly brings to life some of the other crew and unit members, most notably the ever intoxicated tank driver.

At some point, their M4 Sherman is destroyed and their crew is issued the only M26 Super Pershing in the ETO at that time. Like the normal M26, it had the new 90mm cannon, but with a longer barrel. And more importantly, extra frontal armor. This extra protection did save the crew and tank in several engagements in the book.

At 170 pages, it’s a light read, and you will be absorbed by it, and sucked through it in no time. John Irwin is a gifted storyteller. In a short few months between arriving in Germany with no idea of anything, and the German capitulation, the author became a teenage seasoned combat veteran.

Next review: ‘Battle of the Bulge’ volumes 1-3 by Stackpole Books.

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Book review: Surrounded by Heroes

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The third book on my summer reading list, again about the 82nd Airborne Division. Not the 508th PIR this time, but Division Headquarters. Written by Len Lebenson, who served with the division from the very beginning, but didn’t earn his jump wings until after D-Day. From North Africa, to Sicily, Italy, England, Normandy, Holland, all the way to the Elbe in Germany, we follow his story told from a very different point of view. In his capacity as a typist and draftsman with G-3 (Operations) Lebenson had many encounters with the great leaders of the time, such as generals Gavin, Ridgway and Patton. He was fully ‘bigoted’, so cleared on the operational details, but not a combat soldier like we see in most other books.

I can really recommend this book. Lebenson brings up some interesting details that I hadn’t seen in other books. Such as how after the German capitulation, the high-point men were transferred to the 17th Airborne (they would tear off those Talon patches as soon as they arrived back in the States). Some of them were leaving on a program callled “the Purple Project”. This would take them on a long detour back home via Africa, across the South Atlantic to Brazil and then North to the States.

Book review: Surrounded by Heroes - Len Lebenson
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T-5 Modified Market Garden parachute review

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In the run up to the 80th Anniversary in September, and after a lot of research, I finally did it. I decided to buy this reproduction of the T-5 Modified as used in Operation Market Garden, and I’m very happy with it.

Read all about this beautifully made parachute, but also the history behind its development, use and further evolution after the Holland jump. I also go into how the parachute was typically worn.

Joshua De Jong of The Rigger Depot is well known for his expertise and workmanship, and he provided some insights into aspects I could not find in reference books.

Still, I’m interested in finding out more details about this type of parachute. So have a look at the review and see if there’s anything you’d like to add or ask.

Read the full article

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Book review: Jump into the Valley of the Shadow

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The second book from my summer reading list is another one about the 508th PIR. This book is not as big as the previous one and is told from the perspective of one paratrooper, the author Dwayne T. Burns. He wrote this book with his son Leland Burns.

The title comes from a personal prayer that the author adapted from Psalm 23 […Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil…].

A lot of flashbacks interrupt the combat story line and make the book a bit hard to follow at times. But they serve the point of making the story human and relatable. He often tells about his youth in Fort Worth, training in California and Georgia, and his young fiancee Minerva, whom he feels destined to return to after the war to get married. It’s what keeps him going.

There is a lot of soldiers’ humor in it. You will have a good chuckle in every chapter.

One detail that stood out to me is Burns’ description of the modified T-5 parachute for Market Garden. He mentions training with it in England, as well as using the quick release on his combat jump near Nijmegen. It was my understanding that only the 101st Airborne were issued with the modified T-5s, due to insufficient available quantities.

Burns was the only one from his company to come out of the war without a scratch. The other 140 men who had made the Normandy jump had been either killed, wounded or captured.

The next review will be of “Surrounded by Heroes”, by Len Lebenson.

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Book review: Put Us Down In Hell

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Yes, I am actually reading that big stack of books I posted in June.

First is this book by Phil Nordyke about the 508th PIR, all the way from its formation until leaving from Germany at the end of 1945 as the last remaining Parachute Infantry Regiment in Europe.

As you can tell from the many strips of yellow notes, I found a lot of new information for my own research. I was hoping to find information about the 508th regimental surgeon, Maj. David E. Thomas. And I did. It filled some gaps in the bio I had made, but the parts of Nijmegen in Holland and Erria in the Ardennes are still a bit sketchy.

In the notes, the author refers to “Military Career Memoirs of Brigardier General David Edward Thomas, MC”, by Normand E. Thomas. I think this is his son. I have tried to reach out to him to get hold of a copy of these memoirs, but no luck so far. Hopefully some reading this can help me!

Back to the book then: Apart from it being a treasure trove of information about the history and members of the 508th, it is also very enjoyable to read. The index is also practical, as are the many helpful situation maps throughout the chapters.

Next up: “Jump Into The Valley Of The Shadow“, by Dwayne T. Burns, also about the 508th PIR. Coming soon (I’ve almost finished it).

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Visiting The Bridge at Remagen

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On our trip to the Middle Rhine area, we stopped by the remains of the famous Remagen Bridge, or the Ludendorff Bridge, as it was called. The bridge is gone, but the towers are still there, and on the Western bank, they house the Remagen Friedensmuseum.

Fun fact: the museum was financed in the 1970s, largely by selling stones from the bridge. It was built from stone form the hill on the other side, which is a black lava-like stone, as you can seen in the photo gallery.

There isn’t that much to see, but I liked the explanation about how the bridge came to be built, and the exhibit about the making of the 1969 movie ‘The Bridget at Remagen’, which was for the most part filmed in Chzechoslovakia, right until the invasion of the Russians. This meant the crew had to tail out of the country. This story is also explained in detail in the ‘After The Battle’ magazine, number 16.

As a first stop that day, we also visited the Arp Museum at Rolandseck, which is nearby. This is a very nice art museum. In case your wife or girlfriend is coming along, I can really recommend it 🙂

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Airborne summer reading list

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And well into the fall too… It’s a big stack of unit history books that landed on my doorstep last week.

It started while looking for a used copy of ‘Put Us Down in Hell’ by Phil Nordyke. I received a tip that it contained new information for me about the 82nd Airborne officer I have been researching: David E. Thomas. He was the 508th PIR regimental surgeon and would later become a general in Vietnam. Sure enough, this book mentions him a number of times and I am thus able to fill some gaps in his WWII period.

The other books are also mostly about the 508th or the 82nd Airborne, but sadly, they don’t all have a decent index, so I may have to actually read these books to find what I’m looking for. Anyway, that’s no punishment.

The books on the Battle of the Bulge and the 17th Airborne Rhine Crossing are a bonus. I already had a quick look in the latter, but I’m afraid there’s nothing in it about ‘our’ Jack Beatty, who was with the 513th.

When I have actually read these books, I will update the Books section, which is very much outdated.

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Alamo in the Ardennes

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This book was originally published in 2007, but I only read it just recently, in preparation of my latest battlefield tour of the Ardennes. I can highly recommend that you read this if you are interested in the Battle of the Bulge. And since you’re on this website, I am assuming you are very interested in this important battle.

I have learned quite a bit from it that I didn’t know yet. In Band of Brothers, you just see those poor infantrymen walking up to the Easy Company guys, dropping all their kit. They are almost written off as inexperienced troops who were expecting some peace and quiet on R&R in the Ardennes, but instead got run over by the Germans.

For sure, the German counter offensive came as a surprise, and indeed these men weren’t considered to be on the front line, but at least in the Bastogne area, the soldiers that were relieved by the 101st had fought long and bravely in bitter conditions. The men of the 28th Infantry Division, whom this book centers on, had first seen hell in the Hürtgen forest, only to be hit again in Luxembourg and Belgium. These brave men held off the Germans long enough for the Allies to get reorganized.

Mc Manus doesn’t focus on the paratroopers in this book, but of course they do play a big part in it. The one surprise for me was that McAuliffe, whose jeep rode well ahead of the column only arrived in Bastogne by chance. And an even bigger surprise is that his unit found him there. Because MPs directing the traffic were not aware of the change of plans. The 101st had originally been assigned to Werbomont, on the North Western side of the Bulge. That is were the 82nd would end up.

So, go ahead and read it for yourself! And stay tuned for more book reviews.

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