Interesting find.
For most of my life, all I knew of my Uncle Eddie was what I could see in a painting done by my Uncle John. Too, there was a photo of my father and Eddie in London when they found themselves together on one of Eddie's few leaves. But that, and just a few stories my father imparted, were all I had to go on.
He was a mystery that tugged at my curiosity for years. Before all the WW2 veterans are gone, and we can no longer commemorate and mark their sacrifices with them in our midst, I wanted to forge a closer connection to the uncle I never knew.
Earlier this month, I took a Jeep Wrangler from Berlin to the Huertgen Forest to see the place where my Uncle fell, and then on to Belgium to the American cemetery where he is laid to rest. Why a Wrangler? Jeep is celebrating its 70th anniversary this month. The brand started with the Jeep Willys MB, and the Wrangler is the mechanical descendant of that Jeep, which General George Marshall said was "critical" to winning the war.
I know that the only time my father visited his brother Eddie's grave was during the war. And he drove a Willys Jeep MB from Liege, Belgium to his initial battlefield resting place. I thought I would recreate that visit as closely as the modern day allows.
Watch the video here, and journey with me into history. We hope it may inspire you to find your family's connection to the war that so defined what author and newsman Tom Brokaw called "The Greatest Generation."
http://autos.aol.com/article/jeep-wrangler-germany-video/?ncid=webmail6
For most of my life, all I knew of my Uncle Eddie was what I could see in a painting done by my Uncle John. Too, there was a photo of my father and Eddie in London when they found themselves together on one of Eddie's few leaves. But that, and just a few stories my father imparted, were all I had to go on.
He was a mystery that tugged at my curiosity for years. Before all the WW2 veterans are gone, and we can no longer commemorate and mark their sacrifices with them in our midst, I wanted to forge a closer connection to the uncle I never knew.
Earlier this month, I took a Jeep Wrangler from Berlin to the Huertgen Forest to see the place where my Uncle fell, and then on to Belgium to the American cemetery where he is laid to rest. Why a Wrangler? Jeep is celebrating its 70th anniversary this month. The brand started with the Jeep Willys MB, and the Wrangler is the mechanical descendant of that Jeep, which General George Marshall said was "critical" to winning the war.
I know that the only time my father visited his brother Eddie's grave was during the war. And he drove a Willys Jeep MB from Liege, Belgium to his initial battlefield resting place. I thought I would recreate that visit as closely as the modern day allows.
Watch the video here, and journey with me into history. We hope it may inspire you to find your family's connection to the war that so defined what author and newsman Tom Brokaw called "The Greatest Generation."
http://autos.aol.com/article/jeep-wrangler-germany-video/?ncid=webmail6
