Had a somewhat distant relative that was captured during the battle of the bulge. He never really talked much about it but never had anything good to say about the Germans. The others in our family who served during WWII (Navy & Marines) eventually opened up to me without my asking. I cherish the memories of the stories they told me and will always remember and never forget those men, we miss you Brownie & Norm. Thanks to all now serving, those who have, and those who will in the future. FLY NAVY!!!
As seems to be a common practice when discussing the aid station in Bastogne the work of Augusta Chiwy is left out. In a commendation request from battalion surgeon Jack T. Prior, Lemaire was described as "cheerfully accepted the Herculean task and worked without adequate rest or food...", that she "changed dressings, fed patients unable to feed themselves, gave out medications, bathed and made the patients more comfortable...", Most soldiers remember her because they were most likely conscious when she was comforting them. Augusta Chiwy had become nurse in 1943. She was working in a hospital in Leuven, 90 miles from Bastognes. Some soldiers had objections about being treated by a black nurse, to which Dr. Prior answered that they could also join the frozen corpses outside. Chiwy showed remarkable courage, taking care of the worst cases, and going outside to retrieve wounded soldiers under intense enemy fire. Most soldiers don't remember Chiwy because they were unconsious while she was assisting the doctors during surgery. Not to take anything away from either of these two brave women, but let's give credit where credit is due. Chiwy assisted in surgery while Lemaire held soldiers' hands, fed them, and changed dressings.
Visited Bastogne with my daughter in July 2013. Reg Jans was our tour guide. A lot has changed since then. I guess the preservation of the area got to the point they had to make some changes. Thanks for the video Jerad.
Very well done! Thanks for "the story behind the story". I have seen Edwin Popken on "WW2TV". Excellent tour guide indeed. Thanks again for posting this.
Love that your channel has reached more subs. I was around 20 and made a lot of commercial for your channel, because i love your knowledge that you give us!
Wow, I remember walking through the Easy Fox Holes many times on evenings about 18 years ago (before there was ever any fencing). Kind of a shame that it had to be put up, but even then you could tell there were people digging around those foxholes looking for artifacts. Henri Mignon is the best Belgium guide for the Bulge.
we spent one afternoon/early evening there. it gets dark very quickly in December! i'll always remember how very silent the woods were. difficult to describe, but since you've also experienced it, i could only say that the silence is so loud, it 'roars'. it's stunning for me to learn that there's fencing there today. i couldn't have imagined that coming.
@@TheAmazingSnarf Me neither, feels like it would ruin it. The opportunity to go there and be by yourself in the quiet appears gone. Only positive is that it clearly shows people are still very interested in that part of history.
Thanks for this, Dr. Jared. nearly twenty years ago, my dear friend and i also travelled to Bastogne to spend the Christmas Holidays there. Our hikes throughout the area will remain cemented on my memory for the rest of my days. i have, in my closet, the same set of boots, muddied on the unpaved road from the Bizory area /Bois Jacques back into NE Bastogne. of particular note: Christmas Eve Midnight Mass in the city's Cathedral, the German cemetary at Recogne, and the scarred bell tower in Foy. Safe travels, and Godspeed!
As an added note to my July 2013 visit a lightning strike a few day before exploded a tree in the Bois Jacques. Splinters of wood were everywhere. That made a great memento to bring home.
Spent time talking with Wild Bill and someone asked about Dike and Bill said how "He had the HQ guys dig his hole as big as a hotel" had so much fun listening to the stories from Wild Bill / Babe / Maj Winters, Shifty, Jack Agnew, John primo ect...the good old days in E/506th Reenacted and the Battle of the bulge event at FIG, PA - also Joe M has his "The Battle of the Bulge Tour" dec 13-21 think he still has some open slots
Good video, highlighting some important points. Point about US NPS was lost on me. Definitely a national treasure but how does that relate to the Belgian Govt. having to cordon an area off to limit Hollywood tourists trampling all over it?
May sound crazy cause I love action scenes in movie and shows more then anything but the episode Bastogne is my favorite episode in band of brothers because I love the snowy scenery and I enjoy how they have the episode done through the medic point of view of eugene I enjoyed the guys just chillen in this episode and just relaxed if there not fighting in combat.
8:52 that's what happened to me in Iraq. They blew up a building we had been going to for a couple weeks every Wednesday morning. One week we didn't go there, and it blew up at the time we typically brought our State Department guy to his meeting with his local counterparts for ePRT.
While I obviously prefer movies/TV be as historically accurate as possible, I do appreciate when if they do decide to use creative license, that they don't alter or betray what actually happened. Just last night I showed "Thirteen Days" to my mother and while It's not very accurate in that it attributes a lot of actions to Kenny O'Donnell that he didn't actually do, I explained to her that it's still very good at "The spirit" of real events. I feel much is the same with this episode of "Band of Brothers" with respects to Eugene Roe.
Love you stuff but.... Wouldn't it have been cool to do during winter... I think my dad's Uncle Ziggy, was in Bastogne. He would never talk about it. Like it never happened.
I am glad that it is finished off. I live in a southern area of the United States that had a lot of battlefields and monuments to both Union and Confederate soldiers. Play stood on molested for years and years. Is the demographics of our areas change, people have done a lot of vandalism and pranking on the preserved battlefields in monuments. And I'm not talking about the removal of Confederate monuments by local governments.
@@SamEppie That ticks me off. Almost reminds me of the guy who carved his and his girlfriend's names into the Coliseum, or the environmentalists who threw black pain in the Trevi Fountain, causing Italy to waste over 300,000 liters of water to wash the mess away. To me, Curahee is a sacred place.
As a European I find it a bit strange to hear you shout “Thanks god for the United States national park services”. It now seems as if everything in Europe is dilapidated and we don’t pay attention to it? I share your opinion about the Bois Jacques 100%. But I also hope that you realize that large parts of Europe have been battlegrounds and are difficult to preserve in the state they were, nature also does its thing. Europe has beautiful nature reserves that are well maintained. The Ardennes, the Alps, you name it. It is not necessarily better over sea in America…
I appreciate your distinctions, although I respectfully stand by my words. I've explored battlefields in ten countries. Exploring federalized American Civil War battlegrounds in the U.S. and WWII battlefields in Europe offers a stark contrast in uniformity and narrative structure. At best, Normandy battlefields are privately owned and the museums therein often present interpretations that are at odds with each other. At worst, WWII Italian battlefields are completely neglected with hardly any memorialization or safeguards. I'm happy to concede that many western European communities have done better in preserving/restoring the historic fabric of their towns, but battlefields are an entirely different matter. Thanks for hearing me out. Plus, I am biased, having worked for the National Park Service myself! Jared
@@ReelHistory The difference is quite enormous everywhere. As you indeed indicate, the Italian battlefields and museums are terrible. I myself collect stuff from the 34th division and still plan to go to Italy. However, it is difficult to plan something well without doing your own research. There are almost no museums and monuments to use as highlights in a trip. It is a great pity. Fortunately, I live in the Netherlands and there are still many bunkers from the war, many museums and private museums. I think we both agree that there are never enough museums and guards for historical grounds!
I wouldn't know. I'm disabled and would never have the energy or the money to travel to Europe and see anything. I'd love to see Normandy but the Ardennes?? Have they even cleaned out all of the mines?? And talk about haunted!!
I can't make a comparison. But i have visited a battlefield in Georgia of the American Civil War. It was well maintained and the guides were knowledgeable about the battle. They even had a service to trace ancestry to the battle. This is pretty much par for the course with Civil War history. I grew up in Galena Illinois where General Grant lived before deploying to the war. The Galena Historical Society takes its job seriously and our region never saw a shot fired. Gettysburg and Antietam and the major battlefields all keep it up to snuff and can be visited.
I took this comment as an acknowledgement that most National Parks in the U.S. are free. Or rather we as U.S. citizens pay for them with our taxes, whether we use them or not. It's the reverse situation compared to the respective healthcare systems. One can say "thank God for universal healthcare" for the very same reason as I stated above.
@ReelHistory nothing wrong with you voicing your opinion about the NSP. But you cannot compare apples to pears. Belgium is not called the battlefield of Europe for nothing. If they were to preserve them all, there would be nothing else. To the Americans visitors it's holy ground, immortalised by Ambrose and BOB. To the Belgian government it's just another battlefield. The maintaining of the monuments, of which there are plenty and museums, of which there are very much and very good ones is enough. That, and ww1 projects tend to get most funding. Good video though! Looking forward to more!
Visited Bastogne with my daughter in July 2013. Reg Jans was our tour guide. A lot has changed since then. I guess the preservation of the area got to the point they had to make some changes. Thanks for the video Jerad.
Had a somewhat distant relative that was captured during the battle of the bulge. He never really talked much about it but never had anything good to say about the Germans. The others in our family who served during WWII (Navy & Marines) eventually opened up to me without my asking. I cherish the memories of the stories they told me and will always remember and never forget those men, we miss you Brownie & Norm. Thanks to all now serving, those who have, and those who will in the future. FLY NAVY!!!
You could do a larger video on this subject of the hollywood effect. That does seem like an interesting topic.
I'm sure we will delve into the subject much deeper in the future.
Professor, you really put out some amazing content. Thank you again
As seems to be a common practice when discussing the aid station in Bastogne the work of Augusta Chiwy is left out.
In a commendation request from battalion surgeon Jack T. Prior, Lemaire was described as "cheerfully accepted the Herculean task and worked without adequate rest or food...", that she "changed dressings, fed patients unable to feed themselves, gave out medications, bathed and made the patients more comfortable...", Most soldiers remember her because they were most likely conscious when she was comforting them. Augusta Chiwy had become nurse in 1943. She was working in a hospital in Leuven, 90 miles from Bastognes. Some soldiers had objections about being treated by a black nurse, to which Dr. Prior answered that they could also join the frozen corpses outside. Chiwy showed remarkable courage, taking care of the worst cases, and going outside to retrieve wounded soldiers under intense enemy fire. Most soldiers don't remember Chiwy because they were unconsious while she was assisting the doctors during surgery. Not to take anything away from either of these two brave women, but let's give credit where credit is due. Chiwy assisted in surgery while Lemaire held soldiers' hands, fed them, and changed dressings.
Visited Bastogne with my daughter in July 2013. Reg Jans was our tour guide. A lot has changed since then. I guess the preservation of the area got to the point they had to make some changes. Thanks for the video Jerad.
Very well done! Thanks for "the story behind the story". I have seen Edwin Popken on "WW2TV". Excellent tour guide indeed. Thanks again for posting this.
Thank you very much!
I very much enjoy traveling with you while in my easy chair! Thank you. Tours are awesome.
Love that your channel has reached more subs. I was around 20 and made a lot of commercial for your channel, because i love your knowledge that you give us!
This is fantastic history lesson.
Wow, I remember walking through the Easy Fox Holes many times on evenings about 18 years ago (before there was ever any fencing). Kind of a shame that it had to be put up, but even then you could tell there were people digging around those foxholes looking for artifacts. Henri Mignon is the best Belgium guide for the Bulge.
we spent one afternoon/early evening there. it gets dark very quickly in December! i'll always remember how very silent the woods were. difficult to describe, but since you've also experienced it, i could only say that the silence is so loud, it 'roars'.
it's stunning for me to learn that there's fencing there today. i couldn't have imagined that coming.
@@TheAmazingSnarf Me neither, feels like it would ruin it. The opportunity to go there and be by yourself in the quiet appears gone. Only positive is that it clearly shows people are still very interested in that part of history.
Thanks for this, Dr. Jared.
nearly twenty years ago, my dear friend and i also travelled to Bastogne to spend the Christmas Holidays there. Our hikes throughout the area will remain cemented on my memory for the rest of my days. i have, in my closet, the same set of boots, muddied on the unpaved road from the Bizory area /Bois Jacques back into NE Bastogne.
of particular note: Christmas Eve Midnight Mass in the city's Cathedral, the German cemetary at Recogne, and the scarred bell tower in Foy. Safe travels, and Godspeed!
As an added note to my July 2013 visit a lightning strike a few day before exploded a tree in the Bois Jacques. Splinters of wood were everywhere. That made a great memento to bring home.
Jared, it was a great pleasure to meet you at D-Day Ohio.
Spent time talking with Wild Bill and someone asked about Dike and Bill said how "He had the HQ guys dig his hole as big as a hotel" had so much fun listening to the stories from Wild Bill / Babe / Maj Winters, Shifty, Jack Agnew, John primo ect...the good old days in E/506th Reenacted and the Battle of the bulge event at FIG, PA - also Joe M has his "The Battle of the Bulge Tour" dec 13-21 think he still has some open slots
Thank you for this Jared. I agree that the US NPS is a national treasure.
Good video, highlighting some important points. Point about US NPS was lost on me. Definitely a national treasure but how does that relate to the Belgian Govt. having to cordon an area off to limit Hollywood tourists trampling all over it?
Thanks for sharing!
May sound crazy cause I love action scenes in movie and shows more then anything but the episode Bastogne is my favorite episode in band of brothers because I love the snowy scenery and I enjoy how they have the episode done through the medic point of view of eugene
I enjoyed the guys just chillen in this episode and just relaxed if there not fighting in combat.
I can almost hear Doc Roe's footsteps searching for morphine in the foxholes
And scissors!
@@Mag_Aoidh I came here to say that!
8:52 that's what happened to me in Iraq. They blew up a building we had been going to for a couple weeks every Wednesday morning. One week we didn't go there, and it blew up at the time we typically brought our State Department guy to his meeting with his local counterparts for ePRT.
Depending on how long it took to edit, we might have been here at the same time! I camped in Bastogne
This was filmed in July 2023. We accidentally ended up with a huge backlog of footage
@@ReelHistory I see. I’m that case we just missed you.
I was retracing the steps of my great grandfather who fought in the 501st
Here's to your great grandfather! Cheers.
While I obviously prefer movies/TV be as historically accurate as possible, I do appreciate when if they do decide to use creative license, that they don't alter or betray what actually happened. Just last night I showed "Thirteen Days" to my mother and while It's not very accurate in that it attributes a lot of actions to Kenny O'Donnell that he didn't actually do, I explained to her that it's still very good at "The spirit" of real events. I feel much is the same with this episode of "Band of Brothers" with respects to Eugene Roe.
Love you stuff but.... Wouldn't it have been cool to do during winter... I think my dad's Uncle Ziggy, was in Bastogne. He would never talk about it. Like it never happened.
It would have. It might have spoiled the other 10 or so locations we visited across Europe though.
Did you get a chance to walk over to Winters CP?
Good it’s protected. But it takes out some authencity too.
There are many more places with foxholes around the area. (According to other channels)
You were in Belgium? Wish i could´ve said hi haha
We'll be back eventually!
The foxholes are new, and the forest itself was cut several times
Yes, many of them have been recreated.
7:41 panzerfaust ??
What was that face you made at 0:10 to 0:13
I just started the video and you didn't seem happy about that comment.
There was more to the conversation that we cut out because it was someone's personal opinion that didn't need to be archived on the internet.
Walk back 50 yards and you can see foxholes all along that line of forests.
Dont have to pay a dime.
I am glad that it is finished off. I live in a southern area of the United States that had a lot of battlefields and monuments to both Union and Confederate soldiers. Play stood on molested for years and years. Is the demographics of our areas change, people have done a lot of vandalism and pranking on the preserved battlefields in monuments. And I'm not talking about the removal of Confederate monuments by local governments.
Look at the top of mount Currahee. No protecting so it's a big graffiti painting.
@@SamEppie That ticks me off. Almost reminds me of the guy who carved his and his girlfriend's names into the Coliseum, or the environmentalists who threw black pain in the Trevi Fountain, causing Italy to waste over 300,000 liters of water to wash the mess away. To me, Curahee is a sacred place.
They’re are Tons of foxholes around there. Those are just holes done up over n over by reactors. Dumb they fenced it🤦🏻♂️$$$
As a European I find it a bit strange to hear you shout “Thanks god for the United States national park services”. It now seems as if everything in Europe is dilapidated and we don’t pay attention to it? I share your opinion about the Bois Jacques 100%. But I also hope that you realize that large parts of Europe have been battlegrounds and are difficult to preserve in the state they were, nature also does its thing. Europe has beautiful nature reserves that are well maintained. The Ardennes, the Alps, you name it. It is not necessarily better over sea in America…
I appreciate your distinctions, although I respectfully stand by my words. I've explored battlefields in ten countries. Exploring federalized American Civil War battlegrounds in the U.S. and WWII battlefields in Europe offers a stark contrast in uniformity and narrative structure. At best, Normandy battlefields are privately owned and the museums therein often present interpretations that are at odds with each other. At worst, WWII Italian battlefields are completely neglected with hardly any memorialization or safeguards. I'm happy to concede that many western European communities have done better in preserving/restoring the historic fabric of their towns, but battlefields are an entirely different matter. Thanks for hearing me out. Plus, I am biased, having worked for the National Park Service myself!
Jared
@@ReelHistory The difference is quite enormous everywhere. As you indeed indicate, the Italian battlefields and museums are terrible. I myself collect stuff from the 34th division and still plan to go to Italy. However, it is difficult to plan something well without doing your own research. There are almost no museums and monuments to use as highlights in a trip. It is a great pity.
Fortunately, I live in the Netherlands and there are still many bunkers from the war, many museums and private museums. I think we both agree that there are never enough museums and guards for historical grounds!
@@SamEppie, amen!
I wouldn't know. I'm disabled and would never have the energy or the money to travel to Europe and see anything. I'd love to see Normandy but the Ardennes?? Have they even cleaned out all of the mines?? And talk about haunted!!
I can't make a comparison. But i have visited a battlefield in Georgia of the American Civil War. It was well maintained and the guides were knowledgeable about the battle. They even had a service to trace ancestry to the battle. This is pretty much par for the course with Civil War history. I grew up in Galena Illinois where General Grant lived before deploying to the war. The Galena Historical Society takes its job seriously and our region never saw a shot fired. Gettysburg and Antietam and the major battlefields all keep it up to snuff and can be visited.
64th
Although I appreciate Stephen Ambrose bringing all of this to film I also recognize that he took some liberties.
He very often does but I don't think they are taken in bad taste
For the love of god…it’s pronounced “bwah zhock”.
“Thanks god for the United States national park services”... rather immature comment.
How so?
How, in any way is that immature? And I notice you haven't answered Jared's own question about your slightly inflammatory comment.
I took this comment as an acknowledgement that most National Parks in the U.S. are free. Or rather we as U.S. citizens pay for them with our taxes, whether we use them or not. It's the reverse situation compared to the respective healthcare systems. One can say "thank God for universal healthcare" for the very same reason as I stated above.
@@fosterfuchs, well said.
@ReelHistory nothing wrong with you voicing your opinion about the NSP. But you cannot compare apples to pears. Belgium is not called the battlefield of Europe for nothing. If they were to preserve them all, there would be nothing else. To the Americans visitors it's holy ground, immortalised by Ambrose and BOB. To the Belgian government it's just another battlefield. The maintaining of the monuments, of which there are plenty and museums, of which there are very much and very good ones is enough. That, and ww1 projects tend to get most funding. Good video though! Looking forward to more!
Visited Bastogne with my daughter in July 2013. Reg Jans was our tour guide. A lot has changed since then. I guess the preservation of the area got to the point they had to make some changes. Thanks for the video Jerad.
Reg is great.