A Walk in Bastogne, 1945

On December 12th, we embarked on a walk through history to commemorate the anniversary of the Battle of the Bulge in Bastogne. The Bastogne Walk takes place every year and is a muli-national event for military, but also is open to the public. The walk begins and finishes in Bastogne, but primarily takes place in the surrounding countryside. Various routes and lengths are possible and we chose to do the 23 kilometer hike.

Throughout the course, we came across the campsites of U.S. paratroopers and soldiers from the year 1945. It truly felt as if I was a character in the Band of Brothers. Primarily the groups who played these soldiers were re-enacters from Holland and Belgium, speaking in Dutch and French. Accents aside, they did a superb job imitating the soldiers, cooking over an open fire, smoking Lucky Strikes, driving around in the old jeeps, motorcycles and tanks and re-creating the history of that time so authentically.

We came across the headquarters that was more of a living museum where we could talk to the various re-enacters, and view many items from 1945. There was even a medic station set up where soldiers were being treated. Although the re-enacters were happy to talk to passer-bys, it was clear that they took their roles seriously and were in the midst of war. As we were hiking, we came across a German soldier who had been captured. Unfortunately we missed the event where the partroopers did jumps out of an airplane, but we definitely plan to come back next year. 

At the end of the walk, we were asked to visit the fox-hole of two "soldiers." They were extremely friendly and let us take tons of pictures with their weapons and helmets. You could sense the pride they have in playing these roles and for them, it's not even their own countrymen they are re-enacting. That was the most striking thing of all. So many of the Belgians and Dutch are enamored with the history of the U.S. presence in WWII, that it is considered a hobby to re-enact these celebrated soldiers at these events. 

This event has become one of our favorites in Europe, and we look forward to taking part over the next few years.