Ghost Hunting in Europe

Saturday, March 15, 2008

Ghost Hunting in Europe

Shooting at the WWII Seminary in Luxembourg (now part of the University of Luxembourg) that housed many Ghost Army soldiers in the Fall of 1944.  From here they would sally out to to conduct their operations, and return when the deceptions were done.

We set out from Paris early on a Wednesday morning in February, our tiny Peugot crammed with suitcases and video equipment. Our goal for the week long trip was to retrace some of the steps of the Ghost Army--partly to get a better feel for the story, partly to do a little filming.

Ghost Hunting in Europe
In the Normandy town of Trevieres we visited the church sketched and painted by John Jarvie, Arthur Shilstone and numerous Ghost Army soldiers shortly after their arrival in France.  A bombed out hulk at the end of the war, it wasn't fully restored until 1953.  

Ghost Hunting in Europe
In Verdun, where the Ghost Army spent Christmas of 1944 (after retreating from Luxembourg during the Bulge) we visited the famous World War I cemetery and a World War I fort painted by several GA soldiers.

In Luxembourg we stopped at the building where many Ghost Army soldiers were billeted for several months during the war.

In Trier, Germany, we were able to stand on the very spot that Ned Harris and others used as a vantage point to paint the damaged city in March of 1945. Once in Germany we trekked all the way to the town of Krefeld, right on the Rhine, where the Ghost Army staged their last and most successful deception.

Ghost Hunting in Europe
The last night of our scouting trip we spent in Bastonne.  When we woke up we found it was snowing heavily, reminding us of the heavy winter weather faced by soldiers who took part in the Battle of the Bulge in December of 1944.   Spooky.

 

updated 2 months ago