France Day 7 - Flavigny Bridge to the light show

 France Day 7 - July 20

Dave Nore stands next to the monument at Flavigny Bridge.

Tom Gee looks at the plaque on the west side of the bridge.

The plaque on the east side of the bridge.

We started the day at Flavigny Bridge, a site where the Americans took the bridge and then were annihilated by the Germans. Two plaques adorn the bridge, one on each side. The west side honors Cpl. Thomas Downing and says “In memory of Corporal Thomas J. Downing and his comrades of the 60th Combat Engineer Battalion who fell here giving their lives for our freedom. September 10-11, 1944” The one on the east side says “In memory of Lt. Ralph T. Brennan and his comrades of the 35th American Infantry Division who gave their lives for our freedom. September 10-11, 1944”

We headed up a hill to Fort Pelissier, which has been transformed into an amusement park. We weren’t there for amusement, of course. The fort was built in 1878 and was used for artillery in World War I. From the top (and we couldn’t get all the way to the very top where the zip lines start), you can see the entire valley and then some. It’s a perfect observation point and a great place for big guns. In World War II, the Germans occupied it first, then left. When the Allies realized it was open, they took it. The Germans decided they’d made a big mistake and tried to take it back. Bad idea. Jerry said the Allied commander sent his troops into the catacombs (which you can go down into - very cool) and ordered a bomb run on his position. The Germans were unprotected on the top of the hill and didn’t last long. As Jerry said, a ballsy move. It was really awesome to get to walk into the tunnels and stuff. The park wasn’t open for the day yet when we stopped, but they let us walk around and take pictures.

This little museum had items from both the Allies and the Germans.

This volunteer was happy to share his knowledge with, from left, Connie Meyer, Jeff Hines, Alan Baldwin and Trudy Hines.

Jerry and Jerome shake hands at the end of our visit.

We stopped then at a very cool little museum called “Espace de Memoire Lorraine 1939-1945.” Jerome used his barn to display his extensive collection of World War II memorabilia. From playing cards to parts of planes, Jerome has everything. Jerome had invited everyone to come, I think. We were minor celebrities. The local newspaper was there taking pictures and interviewing people (shades of home). The local people wanted to tell us everything they know and even brought some youngsters to translate. They were a little nervous, but they did fine. I don’t know how accurately they were translating because I don’t speak French to begin with. :)

Jerome told me the first thing he found was an American helmet when he was in Luxembourg. He’s been collecting and displaying what he’s found ever since.

Dick Breuer waits patiently as Birgitta Montella (our guide), Jerry Meyer and Darin Krueger chat outside the mayor's office.

Matthieu Klein, the mayor of Nancy, addresses our group.

Celebrity status hit again when we got back to Nancy. We met with Matthieu Klein, the mayor, who thanked us as representatives of America for the freedom the French have today. He was a younger man (you’re not the only young mayor, Josh Eickmeier). He spoke very good English so Birgitta didn’t have to translate. We then recreated a photo from 1944 taken on the balcony of the Hotel de Ville. We even made the mayor’s social media feeds and were dismissed to our own devices for the rest of the day. 

From the outside, you can see through the Place Stanislas, including the statue and the Hotel de Ville, where the city's government is housed.

This would make it much easier to find a house than just numbers on a mailbox!

The Memorial Desires honors the French dead from the American War of Independence.

A group from the mayor’s office offered to take as many as were interested to see a memorial in Nancy dedicated to American independence. They showed us around the old city and were delighted with us. Birgitta told us this morning that they were very complimentary of our group and said we were very nice. They were quite knowledgable and made it worth the time to walk through the town. Peter told us about the different squares in town and why they are situated as they are. We got to see one of the city’s first gates that had helped protect the early town from invaders.

The American monument looks like the Arc de Triumphe in Paris. Plaques on the inside of the arc list the names of the French dead from the American War of Independence and other wars.

With the afternoon off, I had lunch with Jerry, Darin, Doug and Nick (I’m feeling a bit outnumbered). We had fun just hanging out and chatting (which is military slang, we learned, for the time the soldiers spent talking to each other and picking off lice). I walked around the square a little bit and then went back to my room to work on yesterday’s post.

Dinner was with Jerry and Gail. Tom and Jeannie and Jerry and Sue sat at nearby tables, so it was kind of a larger group. We ate outside at the hotel while it rained. I had the fettucini and it was very good. After the rain stopped, Jerry and Darin and I walked over to the ice cream shop and got dessert - chocolate ice cream for me. Back to the room to wait for the light show, which I didn’t see last night but decided to go to today.

I immediately thought "Go Big Red!" when the show did this.

It started at 10:45 p.m. and covered the buildings on three sides of the square. I was trying to figure out if it tells a story - I couldn’t follow if it did. It’s an impressive show, though. I’m sure it’s all computer generated, but it was neat. It lasted about 20-25 minutes.

More to come as the adventure continues.

Additional resources:

http://www.coulthart.com/134/bridge.htm

http://fortiffsere.fr/troueedecharmes/index_fichiers/Page4584.htm (I know it’s in French - I couldn’t find where to translate it)

https://espacedememoire.fr (see above note)

https://frenchmoments.eu/nancy-old-town/ (we didn’t see all of these places, but we saw some)

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Porte_Désilles