My dad was a navigator on B-17's during WWII. He was shot down behind
enemy lines and was saved by the Free French. This travel log includes a
return to the site of the air battle over the Czech Republic and the site of the
crash landing in France. The most amazing aspect was the reaction of the
locals in both countries. The respect and appreciation for the Americans
was overwhelming. They held special ceremonies to honor him with the town
folk turning out in significant numbers. My dad was very touched by their
sincere affection and appreciation. This trip was shared with my sister
Candy and her significant other Stan. On with the excellent adventure...
September 12th to 23rd, 2002Prague to Paris
(9-12) It’s
hard to believe that we arrived just yesterday…. We left Dulles on 9-11 – some
angst about the date, and the airport was practically deserted when we arrived
three hours before our departure! New security precautions were a roadblock for
truck inspections and armed soldiers and mean looking German shepherds in the
security area. The Red Carpet lounge was a welcome oasis for the long wait, but
activity was back to a moderate pace by the 5:25 flight time. The flight to
Frankfurt was uneventful, though sleep was fitful for Dad and I. Transfer from
UA to Lufthansa for the last leg was smooth, with that flight taking just one
hour to Prague – arriving early. We had to wait ~ one hour for Candy and Stan
to arrive, since their Air France flight from Paris was late. After a wild
minibus ride, we arrived in Prague about noon.
Hotel Betlem Club is a
perfect location in the Old Town – clean and friendly. Our room on the first
floor (2nd floor in the US) is delightful, with two large windows
(plenty of sun and street noise!), 15-foot high ceilings, and a modern bathroom,
complete with hairdryer. Candy, Stan and Dad have rooms on the 3rd
(“attic”) floor with lower pitched beam ceilings and smaller windows. Dad asked
“when would they be putting the bedclothes on?” --- He’s not used to the
euro-style low beds with simple bottom sheet and duvet.
During the afternoon
we took turns resting – the guys did a local Czech beer tasting and after
unpacking we wandered through the narrow, interesting streets of the “old town”
(Stare Misto). At 7:00, after a shower and change, we walked across the Charles
Bridge to the “Little Quarter” (Mala Strana) where we were scheduled to meet
Steve’s friend – Simona Agnolucci – at a restaurant called U Mecenase, located
in a medieval wine cellar (Malestranske Namesti 10, tel 57531631)
The restaurant was
fantastic – superb ambience and beautiful furnishings, with friendly staff, excellent service and
authentic Czech cuisine. The groups’ choices (after a typical
Czech
salad of minced vegetables and cheese) included beef or pork tenderloin and
Roquefort sauce, Goulash, and stuffed turkey –
served with dumplings or potato pancakes. For drinks we started with a
delicious Czech sparkling wine, had local wines for dinner (good, but
not great), then the local Slivovitz (for the brave) and coffees. Dinner lasted
a very pleasant three hours thanks to our delightful hostess.
Simona is a treasure
who lights up a room with her beautiful presence – we were all smitten by
her natural Italian beauty, intelligence, charm and humility. Only on gentle
prodding did she reveal that she graduated from Stanford in 1998, met Steve
during the year she worked at E-groups – then worked in NYC before coming to the
Czech republic one year ago. She took a job with a prestigious British law firm
with offices here because she “always wanted to learn a Slavic language!” (Born
in Chicago to Italian parents, she’s lived many places and speaks fluent
English, Italian, French and Spanish already!) Her excellent Czech got us some
special service – not to mention the beautiful face and figure! Next year she
hopes to attend Yale Law School – then spend an additional year of study in
Paris, which will allow her to be licensed to practice in the US and/or any EU
country. WOW.
She seemed to enjoy the gift bag
of goodies (“like a care package from my mom!”) and, after a leisurely walk back
across the Charles Bridge, with views of the city lights and
illuminated castle, we reluctantly said good-bye. We hope she’ll come to visit!
Day one ended on the little
hotel 3rd floor patio with a nightcap and
very full bellies. Alas – sleep came easily for all but yours truly (perhaps
the espresso?..)
Today, Sept. 12th,
brought another day of perfect weather – sunny and cool. I skipped the hotel
breakfast to get a little sleep (5:30 – 9:00), then at 10:00 we
headed
out for a leisurely walking tour – including Old Town Square (huge, with a
fascinating variety of architecture, the famous Town Hall Astronomical Clock –
and, unfortunately, too many tacky street vendors wrecking the ambience and the
view of the Jan Hus statue), Wenceslas Square, and the Haveski open-air Market.
The boys enjoyed yet another beer tasking (the Czech republic is known for great
beer), while Candy and I did a little shopping. We had a wonderful late lunch
at Restaurant U Plebana
(recommended by Rick Steves, but discovered by Paul and Stan yesterday)
right next to the hotel! Their local wine was very good, and the food
delicious. We sampled salads, ham rolls with horseradish cream sauce, game
pate, and outstanding thick potato mushroom soup served in yummy bread bowls.
Stuffed – all but yours truly are now napping!… More tomorrow…
(9-13) After naptime,
the troops assembled for a trip above the castle, where the view was said to be
spectacular as the light began to fade. We set out at 6:00 for the tram station
– a confusing place! We were sold 15-minute tickets for the short ride, but
then didn’t know which direction to catch the #22. I asked a young man which
direction, and he pointed left… so we boarded the #22 going that way…. But after
> 30 minutes we realized that it was the wrong way! We got to see a lot
of (Section 2) Prague that wasn’t planned – but then had to get off the tram and
wait for another going the right way – retracing our route to the end of the
line – with long-expired tickets – watching the lovely light fade behind the
beautiful buildings. No photos – just memories.
Our destination was a
restaurant mentioned in Rick Steve’s book with “the most beautiful terrace view
of the city.” It was lovely – even with most of the sun gone – but too
chilly for sitting outdoors. The restaurant – Ozivle Drevo – was located on the
grounds of the Strahov Monastery above the Castle (not enough time or energy to
tour either one). The style, per Rick, was stately “country farmhouse” and we
were seated at a long table on church pews with cushions. The tablecloth was
colorful cotton; we had a 5-candle candelabra – and little cheap paper napkins!
Go figure! As we were sitting down, our waitress (who spoke no English) asked
if we’d like “appertif?”.. from a towel-wrapped bottle she was holding. We said
“certainly”, thinking it was complimentary since she poured each of us a tiny
1/3 sherry glassful. It tasted like a nice, smooth sherry, we agreed. When we
got the huge menus, printed in four languages, it appeared to be an expensive,
special place.
However, the only
other people there were Americans and British – then a tour bus arrived just to
have a beer (and their guide was paid a commission…. Hhmmm…) The food was less
than spectacular – the onions floating in my onion soup were practically raw and
the duck was overcooked. The only “delicious” meal of the five was Paul’s
sole. The bottles of wine were extravagantly priced, so Candy and I had glasses
of the local white wine @60 kc, Stan had beer, and Dad and Paul had gin @90 kc.
When the bill arrived we were flabbergasted to discover that we had been charged
500 kc each for the “appertif” !!… What a scam! Paul complained bitterly
– but all they would do was remove the “service charge” of 720 kc. The British
group overhearing the lively exchange interjected that their Prague guidebook
warned against accepting the offer of an appertif – apparently a common scan.
(The head waitress, who spoke English, told us that it was “40 year old port” –
not a chance!) So we learned a hard lesson – but that’s part of the adventure.
Paul, Dad and I returned to the hotel by cab and Candy and Stan took the tram to
Malastranka and walked back over the Charles Bridge.
We decided to check
out that night to “play it safe” – and it’s good we did! They have to
get bank authorization via phone (especially since the recent floods) – but
thanks to Candy’s MBNA connection, we didn’t
have to wait 30 minutes like a Canadian gentleman trying to do the same. We
decided to have a nightcap in the adjoining defunct clubroom, drinking bottled
beer and champagne from the hotel cooler. Lots of laughs – especially when Stan
tried to call daughter Dana and left the message “Hi! This is mom…… I mean
DAD…!”
We packed and hit the
hay at midnight, then got up at 6:00 to meet our taxi-van at 7:00 to go to the
airport car rental office to pick up our van at 8:00 for the next leg of our
trip. Prague was wonderful – need to go back someday to see more!…
Saturday (Sept. 14th)
morning we had an interesting drive to Kovarska through Czech countryside and
lots of little towns and villages, winding our way to this town that no
one
had heard of (hotel, airport, etc.)! Jan’s directions were perfect, however,
and we arrived in ~ 1 ½ hours at “Hotel Central” – 15 minutes before the
official start of the reunion. Jan came to meet us briefly, then introduced us
to Mateus to guide us to the museum. We dumped our bags and headed out on foot
– just a 5-minute walk to the “Museum
of the Air Battle over the Ore Mountains on 11th September, 1944
in Kovarska” for the 9th International WWII Airmen Reunion and
celebration of the museum’s 5th anniversary.
The museum was a huge
display of artifacts and memorabilia from the battle over Kovarska – part of the
Allied raid on Ruhland – fought by US Army Air Force and Germans Luftwaffe. Jan
Zdiarsky, the director, is a passionate ball of energy dedicated to locating
both survivors and wreckage/remains from this conflict over his home town. (He
teaches computer science in Prague during the week, and keeps an apartment in
Kovarska to run the museum on weekends.) The “reunion” was amazing – an
opportunity for veterans to establish dialogue and friendship. The Czechs (who
escaped the German occupation to fly with the RAF) acted as “hosts”, but tended
to keep to themselves. However, we heard a lot of their amazing stories as the
day progressed (including being treated as traitors after the war, when the
Russians occupied Czechoslovakia – putting some in camps for several more
years!)
The most fascinating
part of the reunion was Dad’s opportunity to meet three German Luftwaffe fighter
pilots – Manfred, Helmut, and Deiter. They were extremely kind,
open
and interesting – and spoke enough English (along with Dad’s little German) that
they could truly share stories. It turned out that there was a strong
possibility that Manfred’s Fockewolfe and Dad’s B-17 may have actually inflicted
serious damage on each other! It was a truly tragic battle for both sides.
Dad’s squadron of 12 planes left from England on that memorable date: September
11, 1944 – headed for a raid on Ruhland, Germany. Apparently their fighter
escort was delayed, and they were besieged by German fighters, resulting in the
11 other planes in his 349th squadron of the 100th bomber
group being shot down (all were killed or captured). Dad’s plane was hit, too,
and went into a spin, but came out of it (radioman bailed out and was
captured)…. Eventually they made their way back across Germany without
hydraulics, dumping everything they could to lighten the load (including
manually releasing all but two of the 500-pound bombs on board –
which
they couldn’t reach)… and crash landing in German-occupied France because they
didn’t have enough fuel to reach liberated Paris…. More on that later… Anyway,
Dad’s bomber fired on and hit a Fockewolfe in the tail before/after that fighter
hit them… and Manfred’s fighter was hit in the tail and he fired at and saw a
B-17 (?Dad’s?) go into a spin and come out of it. It would be incredible if
they really hit each other, with both part of the few lucky ones that were able
to crash land and live to tell about it!
After the reunion, we
walked to the town square for a moving Memorial Service, attended by most of the
townsfolk (population of Kovarska = 500 – down significantly
since the war). There were many speeches
(from Jan, Dad, Charlie Stein -- an American veteran from another bomber group
shot down and captured -- Manfred, and a representative of the US Embassy in
Prague), wreath laying ceremonies, a fly-over, etc. Afterwards, the veterans
were bombarded with requests for autographs by the locals (some to save, some to
sell, we were told).
From there we went to
the hotel for a delicious lunch --vegetable noodle soup, tender beef in gravy
with potato-bread dumplings, wine, beer, etc. Conversation was lively with the
Germans at our table – another Luftwaffe vet and the son of another – and locals
who witnessed the battle as children (most hiding in the basement of the
school). The next event was held at the school across the street (a plane
crashed into it during the battle) where they had a competition for the school
children and townsfolk in artwork and models pertaining to WWII.
The veterans were all
seated at a long table and for ~ one hour took questions
from
the public. In summary, these veterans – then in their early 20’s – just
“wanted the war to be over!” (Some who went to POW camps had to wait longer –
and the Czechs, who left to fight with the RAF were later charged with treason
when Czechoslovakia became communist in 1948 under the Russians and some were
imprisoned until 1955!) Autographs galore were provided by the visiting
“celebrities”!
After the prizes were
presented for the local competitions, we had just enough time for a stop at the
“pub” before heading down the street for a concert at the local church. (Dad
opted for a nap.) The concert performed by high school kids from a town ~ 25 km
away was outstanding, and the acoustics amazing. We returned to the
hotel to wake Dad, had cocktails in the bar – then went to the hotel restaurant
for dinner – more delicious meats and (cold) vegetables. When no one else
appeared, we called Jan to discover that the rest of the group had gone to the
museum – So off we went for another tour – more signings – and lots of
fascinating stories. We learned that the Germans did not have a “tour of
duty”, but were expected to serve until the war was over. Helmut flew over 50
missions and was shot down many times. When asked what he thought about the
outcome, he claimed that they knew from the outset that they didn’t have a
chance to win the war….
It was an exhausting,
but incredibly special day. We all had a chance to meet some very special and
dedicated people, and Dad had a chance to bond with his former “enemies” and
bring some closure to the loss of so many of his friends and fellow airmen at
this place (11 planes x 9 crew = 99 + l radioman = 100) – explaining the pain
when he and the remainder of his crew (minus one severely injured gunner)
finally made it back to an empty barracks in England over a week later… (I’ve
left space here for Dad to record his thoughts… but to date he’s reluctant to
put a pen to my journal…)
(9-15) We were able to
“sleep in” at last, and met for breakfast at 8:30 – typical German fare (fruit,
buns, bread, sliced meats & cheeses, cereal, yogurt & coffee). Then came our
next dilemma – paying the hotel bill! The guy behind the counter spoke only
Czech and German (same for the barmaids and waiters!) and we discovered they did
not take credit cards! We had less than $20. in Czech currency – but finally,
with my “survival Deutsch” and eventually some help from Jan, we got him to
accept my Euro traveler’s cheques. The spartan rooms cost just $40.40 a night
and dinner for 5 the night before was $38.00!
Return to Joigny continues here