Book review: SEUL by Michel Reins

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I received a signed copy of this book as a gift from a friend. The author Michel Reins is his colleague.

The book is in French, so a bit more difficult for me than English, but I am very glad now to have read it during the Christmas holidays.

Márton Angeli, the main character of the book, is a Hungarian boy from Veszprém who is lifted from the streets in his home town and drafted into the Wehrmacht. After basic training, he ends up at the front in the South of Holland, near Venlo, facing British and Canadian troops.

He has a very hard time of it, and looses a number of his comrades, but he survives and ends up as a POW in Belgium. After the war, German soldiers get to return to their country, but Márton is warned by his mother that he cannot return home because the Soviets have occupied Hungary, and that they send anyone who served in the German army to the gulag or a firing squad.

So he ends up staying in Belgium, working in the coal mines near Charleroi. Márton actually existed and experienced most of what happens in the book, but it’s a novel, not a diary or history book.

The book is very well written, and captivating. You can really see yourself in his shoes.

More info + buy the book here

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Another paratrooper sweetheart pillow cover

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This one was sent to me in by Eileen Flohr. Her dad sent it to his mother (her grandmother) before he was married in 1960. So it’s postwar, but I thought it would be nice to included it, as it’s in the same style as the other ones. Variations of these pillow covers keep turning up.

It features a flying boat with paratroopers jumping from its tail gate. Very cool.

Thanks everyone for sending me pictures of new variations.

View all pillow covers in the updated article

US Paratrooper pillow cover Fort Bragg, NC 1960

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80th Anniversary Battle of the Bulge

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Saturday, I visited Bastogne and Manhay in the Ardennes, for the commemoration of the 80th Anniversary of the Battle of the Bulge.

We arrived in Gouvy the night before. The B&B was great and our hosts were really friendly. The nearby restaurant at the Brasserie Lupulus serves delicious beers with steak and fries.

When we left for Bastogne in the morning, it had just started snowing. This would make for great pictures!

We were lucky to find a parking spot at the Bastogne Barracks lot. Tanks and other vehicles and reenactors were everywhere. The German group with the horse-drawn “Gulashkanon” field kitchen sure deserved the prize for the most elaborate display, but the others were great too. GIs from all over Europe had come to Bastogne to fraternize. The big attention grabber was the Tiger II tank from Saumur, the only one still driving. A unique experience.

In the afternoon, we drove on to Manhay, where many vehicles and reenactors had also gathered. The fields behind the MHM44 museum had been taken over by tanks, and even a Bailey bridge had been put up. The tank from “Fury” was the star of the show.

There were a lot of paratroopers, of course, but many reenactors also went for something different. A good time was had by all.

I already look forward to next year!

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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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