Sept 29th (Rest of record follows) Excerpt
Dinant-Approach up Muse river-a beautiful canyon with rock formations like Logan Canyon.
Big resort hotels on highway-big barges.
City very beautiful with modern stores catering to wealthy.
Old fortress on top of high ledge.-Muse r. (river) running through city-bridges blown out- our own eng. (engineer) bridges in use-Anif. A-C guns stationed behind barbed wire-
Beautiful cathedral with ...... type spire.
Cliff Hope in his book: On the morning of 26 September our battalion headed east and then northeast on a four-day motor convoy to the combat zone at the Belgian-German border. The first day we retraced our route of the month before as far as Dinan, then headed southeast to bivouac in a large green pasture near Sen-de-Bretagne, a small village northeast of Rennes.
Alencon, which we reached on the second day, marked the end of the now-familiar hedgerow country. The gentle, rolling land was divided by fences. The people along the route were friendly. The familiar communique, "railway junction destroyed," took on real meaning when we came upon the railway yard at Alencon. It had been bombed to smithereens. We bivouacked near Chateauneuf on a giant estate rumored to be the home of Napoleon's first wife. While we slept in the woods to the rear of the large house, the officers slept inside on sheets. "Co. Lushene had four rooms," I noted pointedly in my diary. The estate's gardens, although neglected, were magnificent. Pear trees were trained along wires as they are at Mt. Vernon.
The next day was notable in that it took us past the palace at Versailles and through Paris. We went through numerous parks, crossed the Seine, and had barrages of apples thrown our way. One hit me squarely on the cheek. The scenery was great and I made mention of an important part of it in my diary: "Beautiful and friendly women, and I ain't kiddin'." We saw three truckloads of German prisoners, many of whom appeared to be Japanese and Mongols. From Paris we went northeast through Senlis, Compiegne and Noyon. It seemed to be official policy for our convoy to travel at normal speed through the countryside, but to speed up through all the towns of any size. The better to keep us out of trouble, I supposed.
After spending the night near St Quentin, we set out on the fourth and last day of our travels. It turned out to be our most glorious day as liberators. Heading east and north into Belgium, we were treated to many interesting sights and experiences. Our vehicle was given half a loaf of molasses bread in Mont DeOrigny and a bottle of hard cider in Petigny, and between Petigny and Vireaux I was kissed on the cheek by a Belgian girl. A woman in the same area gave us hot coffee. We saw steel mills and other signs of heavy industry in Belgium. Our route followed the canyon of the Meuse River from Givet to Dinant. Old fortresses lined at the top of the canyon walls and there were burned-out houses along the roadside. I was struck by the peculiar architecture of the churches. The Belgian stores seemed to be well stocked. We crossed the Meuse River at Dinant to arrive at the bivouac area around 6:30 p.m. at the end of a long, pleasant day. Naturally, the highlight of the day for me was the quickie kiss, my first kiss since leaving Diane in England. I was standing in the back of our weapons carrier when I saw the girl by the side of the road. "There's a girl who wants to kiss someone and it might as well be me, " I said to myself. I practically hung by my heels out of the vehicle to reach her and she had to run alongside. The mission was accomplished. Short but sweet.
Our camp that night was near Neffe, three kilometers east of Bastogne, in a tall spruce grove. we entered the forest of the Ardennes, little realizing that we would remain in that region for the next four months. The situation in the Ardennes, little realizing that we would remain in that region for the next four months.
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