To all.

Perhaps you know that I am working as a guide in the Town Cave in Valkenburg, The Netherlands. The stone you can see is Marl. A very soft stone like limestone. I am guiding people through the cave on foot. (It is not a survival tour ). I am telling / teaching them something about different times including World War 2. I thought that some of you might be interested in the things what happened there and what you can see from World War 2 today.

Let's start here:

It is early 1944 and the Germans decided to used the caves in South-Limburg to build factories in it. They would like to produce parts of V1 and V2 rockets in it. They builded brick walls tomake the ceiling stronger. That took some time and they couldn't finish the factory. So they only build those walls but didn't produce a thing.

Here you can see a block were people scratched their names in as a memory to others. About 2,500 people came into the cave to take shelter for the heavy fightings which took place in Valkenburg. Not all the names are on this block but as you can imagine it wasn't a pleasure to be there for 10 days. Temperature is always 12 degrees centigrade and the humidity is between 95 and 98 %. Even 4 babies were born in that period.

Some American soldiers came into the cave and they scratched their names in the walls too. As you can see here. Also some veterans, who visited the cave after the war, have their names on the wall. Most of them wrote their names between 1947 and 1955. Here are some pictures of them. I will try to find more information about them.

Valkenburg was liberated on September 17th 1944. (Famous date). Here you can see a painting which was made at the end of 1945 to commemorate the liberation of Valkenburg. The people are still very thankful for the sacrifices of all the Allied troops.

To the left you can see the symbol of the 30th Old Hickory division.

Underneath the symbol you can see the signature of Frank Towers. He is the chairman of the 30th Old Hickory association. He fought with the 120th Infantry Regiment. He is still alive and I met him during the Memorial Day services in Henri-Chapelle last May. He is 92 years old now.

Another painting which shows us the names of the troops who were killed during the liberation of Valkenburg. Although there were heavy fightings "only" 6 Americans were killed. You can also see the signature of Frank Towers on this painting. You can see the symbol of the 120th IR, 117th IR, 30th Infantry Division and the 119th IR.

Lot of people used the cave to hide for the Germans. Some people lived in there for months in the pitchdark. They couldn't make a fire because they were afraid to be discovered by other people. There are 5 different lakes so they had the opportunity to drink. Some other people, who worked in the cave, could provide them of food and dry clothes. Because of the humidity they could be soaked after a while.

Well that's it. So (typical Dutch):

:lol: :lol: :lol: :lol:

If you really want to donate some you can do that on our website. All the money will be used for a monument which we will inaugurate in September.

http://www.12-09-1944.nl/index_en.php

Regards,

Frank

Here is a wonderful new project and the letter from Reg regarding it:

Cauquigny Church Stained Glass Project

Here is the letter from Reg:

Dear Mare ,

My buddy Mark Patterson , who realized the window project in Angoville au Plain , Normandy started to raise funds for his new Stained Glass Project . This time to honor the 82nd at La Fière .

People can donate by purchasing Sponsor certificates or contribute by sending in their own design of what the window should look like .

Myself , BB tours, sponsored the project .

The website is online since yesterday . You can find all info there .

I think you might want to put that link on the 82nd website or on the engineers site . Funds are needed to realize this project which is a very nobel initiative .and it has all my support !

Here’s the link : http://www.pararesearchteam.com/Stained-Gl...ny-Project.html

All the best

Hugs

Reg

Mare's note: I placed the link on the 82nd Airborne site I run, too. http://www.504thpir.net

On my recent trip to Canada I had the honour to meet Duke Warren at the Comox Museum in British Columbia. He was one of identical twins who joined the RCAF together on the 14th March 1941. They eventually were posted to the UK, became fighter pilots and flew with the RAF through to the end of WW2 and after. Of special interest to me was the fact that he operated in the Mediterranean theatre and flew from Lentini West on Sicily.

He kindly signed a copy of his book 'Gemini Flight' for me.

Colin.

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Just received this a few minutes ago. My heartfelt condolences to Elena and the rest of Ray's family. He will not be forgotten.

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Hi Marion, my name is Elena. I was looking for info about my uncle when I ran across your site.

http://www.6thcorpscombatengineers.com/RayGonzales.htm

I'm sorry to say that my Uncle Ray passed away Wednesday, July 15, 2009. He had a heart attack and never recovered.

He was always extremely proud of his military service, and although I hadn't seen him in years, finding your site reminded me of those visits when he would bring his medals and pictures over to share stories with us.

Thank you for such a wonderful site! My uncle will receive a military burial in Holly, MI on Tuesday, July 21st. If my cousins don't already know about the site, I will tell them about it then. Thank you.

Can anybody tell me something about this bridge on these photo's from the D-Day period in France ?

Peter.