Archive for the ‘March 2010’ Category
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All American – Part 1
By Carol Schultz Vento, daughter of Arthur ‘Dutch’ Schultz, 82nd Airborne, 505 PIR, World War II
He fainted. My boxing champ, team captain, never run away from a fight father had no memory of his first training jump. The moment he descended from the massive C-47, he blacked out, from fear and shock at the jumpmaster’s barked command to exit. Consciousness didn’t return until he landed with a thud on the red clay drop zone at Fort Benning, Georgia. Dutch had never in his young life been in an airplane and would have preferred to enjoy is maiden flight. He was afraid, but – he jumped.
After successfully completing the arduous physical training and required number of practice jumps, 20 year old Dutch Schultz became a member of the elite 82nd Airborne, an achievement which influenced his view of life and his subsequent fathering methods. According to dad, wearing shiny airborne wings meant you were special – intelligent, excellent physical condition, motivated and individualistic. Those paratrooper wings also symbolized a young man who was a risk taker, arrogant and not too fond of following the rules. My dad had the above traits in abundance. This unique mix played a significant role in his postwar successes and unfortunately too often in his failures. It wasn’t until later in my adulthood that I realized that my father’s identity as a paratrooper and his war experiences created a template for both his life and mine.
The Time of High Tide – Part 4
by Ilene Baker
Jean-Michel walked me all over the island, showing me places my father would have seen and explaining that it would not have been unusual or surprising if my father had hired his father, Jean, as a guide around the island and to take him to the best small islands for duck hunting. He took me around the 365 tiny islands in Jolie Brise, his canot chausiais, or boat of Chausey, especially adapted to the dangerous navigational conditions of the archipelago. When the tide was in, Jean-Michel wound in and around the tiny islands in serpentine fashion, Jolie Brise skimming over the menacing rocks beneath the surface of the sea within my arm’s reach. I realized that one would have to have grown up on this island to know how to avoid the treacherous rocks and guide someone through the archipelago, as Jean-Michel was doing for me. As his father, Jean, did for my father, Joe. Only the naming of each island and the cries of the seabirds that must have sounded exactly the same sixty-two years before, broke the silence. It felt like we had stepped back in time.
Behind the Kitchen Door
Imagine you have been planning the dinner party for weeks now, it’s a few hours before the guests arrive, the starters are prepped, the wine chilled and the table laid when you get that dreaded phone call, “Hi, did I tell you that my guest doesn’t eat fish or maybe it’s onions or mushrooms and it always turns out to be a major ingredient in the culinary feats that you have sweated blood and tears over all day.
Lost in Translation
Ferry Funny!!
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Sometimes a funny experience just ups and bites you. We made our first crossing on the over night ferry having been allocated a cabin that although comfortable seemed to have been placed right next to the engines. As an ardent fan of eight hours sleep anything less is like managing on a cracker instead of a three course meal. Bedraggled and groggy we made our way to the car-deck, bypassing breakfast in fear of holding up the rest of the ferry drivers.
As the ramp came down we realised that we were the first off. Driving into a dark and cold Normandy winter’s morning we edged our way into unfamiliar territory followed by two hundred other cars. As leaders of the convoy we tried to follow the signs directing us around the ferry port, being ever watchful for the exit and aware of the hundreds of people following our lead.
As a lack of sleep and food depleted our normal good senses we came to sudden halt when presented with a closed gate. The realisation dawned on us that unlike Moses we had not led the travellers to the promised-land but to a dead end at which time we began to panic somewhat.
After five minutes trying to decide whether to abandon the car and disappear in the dark from what would surly be a lynch mob, a builders van laden with materials and hefty labourers from the back pulled out and proceeded to creep up besides us. In fear for our lives we locked the doors and scrambled for our mobile phones as it sidled up besides us. To our amazement instead of slicing up our car with their shovels and setting our feet in their bags of concrete ready to be thrown into the harbour, they continued to drive at increasing speed towards the closed gate. My God we thought, they’re going to ram it when at the last minute before impact a sensor automatically opened the gates and allowed the vehicle to safely pass through.
Trying to act nonchalant, if red faced, we gazed calmly at the procession of cars and vans passing us by with their enquiring, puzzled or amused drivers looking at two amateurs on their début onto French soil.
The D Day Story Part 2
Preparation: The build up to D Day
After extensive planning and training the Allied forces began the Normandy invasion codenamed Operation Overlord. Many factors dictated the choosing of the Normandy beaches, including the lessons learned from Dieppe and the range of air support.
Preparations included an appeal to the British public to send their holiday photos of Normandy to help create a detailed picture of the area and covert operations involving divers collecting sand samples from the beaches that later became known as Omaha and Utah.
The gentle giant of the Cotentin…
In her heyday, she pulled the Cherbourg to Paris express. But nowadays, in her semi-retirement, the giant 68-tonne green and yellow diesel engine, named “Cotentine”, has more sedate duties – rarely travelling in excess of 15 kph.
During the summer months, twice a week she pulls the “Train Touristique du Cotentin”, along the rural ten kilometre track between Carteret and Portbail on the west coast of Manche. Each Tuesday it is her mission to take up to 150 passengers from Carteret to the bustling market at Portbail.
The leisurely journey – through Barneville, St. Jean de la Rivière and St. George de la Rivière – takes up to 45 minutes, at an average speed of just 14 or 15 kilometres per hour. But the passengers, mainly visitors but often including several locals using the service for their weekly shopping expedition, are in no hurry as the train trundles through some of the region’s most picturesque countryside and along the rugged coast.
Each time the track crosses a country lane, the train stops and an attendant walks in front of the engine with a flag to halt any traffic whilst the gentle giant inches its way over the tarmac. This happens at least ten times… thus the long duration of the journey!
Meanwhile the buffet carriage offers a selection of hot and cold drinks (local cider seems to be the most popular!), crepes and filled baguettes, and a range of souvenirs of the journey.
The 10am train allows its passengers almost two hours at Portbail market before leaving for the return journey at 12.30pm. Each Thursday during the summer months, the train reverses its route – starting at 10am from Portbail to take passengers to the equally fascinating Carteret market. The outbound journey includes a detailed commentary (in French) of the route and the history of the train.
Out of season, the train offers a number of special heritage trips between the two ports, and a particularly popular event is the annual “Train du Père Noel”, which is normally planned for the Sunday before Christmas. The train is also available as a unique venue for private functions, such as birthday parties and wedding receptions.
Such is the popularity of the train that it is always advisable to book seats in advance. This can be done on each day of operation at both Carteret and Portbail stations or through the Tourist Offices at both Barneville-Carteret (tel: 02 33 04 94 54) and Portbail (tel: 02 33 04 03 07),
Return tickets for the market trains cost 7 euros for adults and 4 euros for children aged 12 and under. Themed journeys cost 8 euros and 4 euros respectively. There is usually ample free car parking near to both ends of the journey.
by: Peter Clayton www.freelance-writing-services-normandy.co.uk
American Civil War comes to Cherbourg
By: Steven Hawkes
On the 19th June, 1864, a buzz of expectancy gripped the Normandy port of Cherbourg. The many hotels, and inns were full to bursting and the private yachts, bobbed about in the harbour,all keenly awaiting the extraordinary, and inevitable event of a pitched battle between two rival ships, involved in the two sides of the American Civil war.
Pet Bunnies Can Be Great Pets
www.petloverspalace.com
Pet Rabbits are fun to raise except when you have to go out and take care of them at 10 below zero. Considering this is the exception rather than the rule, we’ll assume that, generally speaking, they are fun to raise. Pet rabbits are gentle and inquisitive animals that are basically easy to care for, making them an ideal pet for adults and families with older children. Rabbits are typically anxious and timid animals thatfrighten easily, not a good pet for small children because they do not know how to be gentle and calm around the rabbit. Pet rabbits are natural property destroyers, so they need plenty of chew toys and digging boxes to keep them occupied. Provide them with cardboard boxes for chewing and a box of shredded newspaper for digging.