PROGRAM
(notes provided by the always friendly, Larry Johnson)
Mary Hodson (with valuable support from her husband Tom) discussed their experiences in taking a WW II veteran, Lou Celentano, in 2010 to Europe.
Background: Mary’s dad was in the 825th Tank Destroyer Batallion (TDB), but passed away before his comrades began getting together for reunions. Lou Celentano happened to be the reunion emcee, and he always talked about going back to Europe. After Lou’s wife and son passed away, Tom made the offer to take Lou.
In 2010 Mary, Tom and Lou visited several cities and sites at which the “Battle of the Bulge,” occurred, a major German offensive campaign launched through the Ardennes region in Belgium. From Dec.16, 1944 – Jan. 25,1945. British and American forces fought Hitler & his army through the Ardennes in Belgium and Luxembourg.
Results: decisive Allied victory & German operational failure, but at a cost> U.S. casualties> 19,000 killed, 47,500 wounded, 23,000 captured or missing. “Battle of the Bulge” coined by the press to describe the way the Allied front line bulged inward on wartime news maps.
Itinerary: Flew into Amsterdam, then from Liege, Belgium, to village of Stavelot. Here they met Lou’s long-time friend Marcel, a member of the Belgian military, which helped the Americans during the battle in Stavelot. Marcel and his wife Julia have stayed in touch with some members of the 825th. Julia also takes care of/decorates the graves of all of Lou’s friends, men of the 825th. While in Stavelot a reception was held for them at the Town Hall. At the conclusion, they played the Star Spangled Banner and gave Lou and Mary a bouquet to place at a monument commemorating the soldiers and civilians who defended Stavelot. Marcel had Lou sign his book of remembrance which was also signed by 2011 GSE team leader and next year’s district governor, Les Mitkos.
Mary & Tom 1st visited Stavelot in 2005 when attending wedding of former RYE student, Peter Reipen in Germany.
After leaving Stavelot they went to Bastogne, site of the Mardasson Memorial, along with Rotary friends Joseph and Roby Leunis from Leuven, Belgium. Around Bastogne fierce Allied resistance blocked German access to key roads in the NW and W. Air attacks on German forces & supply lines sealed failure of German offensive.
Town square in Bastogne named Place de McAuliffe after the acting general of the 101st Airborne. When asked to surrender McAuliffe sent the message “nuts” to the Germans. Bastogne was freed by General Patton’s 4th armored division on Dec. 26, 1944. While in Belgium and Luxembourg, when people found Lou was a WW II veteran they said “If it wasn’t for you we would be Germans today.”
Next they visited the Henri Chapelle American Military between Liege and Aachen, where 9,000 American soldiers are buried, including Lou’s best friend, John G. Armstrong.
Then on to Luxembourg City and the village of Ernzen, Mary’s maternal grandfather’s ancestral home on the Luxembourg-German border. Mary’s German cousins live on the German side of the border, just across the river from Echternact, Luxembourg. Mary met her 4th cousin Manfred, who took them back into Luxembourg to visit the WWII museum at Diekirch. Manfred’s mother prepared Mary’s birthday dinner in a wood-fired cook stove in Mary’s maternal grandfather’s ancestral home in Ernzen.
They also visited Hamm, Luxembourg, where General Patton is buried at the American Military cemetery. Patton was worshiped by the Belgians. After that, they traveled to Weisbaden, Germany where the 825th TDB was stationed after WWII ended.
Lastly they went to Hamburg, Germany, to visit Mary & Tom’s former Rotary Youth Exchange, Peter Reipen, his wife and two children. Hamburg was heavily bombed during the war, resulting in deaths of around 43,000 civilians.
Lou Celentano resides in New Haven, Connecticut, where Mary and Tom and Peter and his family, visited him this past summer.
Mary & Tom, kudos to you on your presentation, sharing your travels, meeting with family and friends, the history lesson.
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| Nov 14th | Nov 21st | Dec 5th | Dec 12th | |
| Introductions | Patrice Grant | Bruce Hatfield | Mary Hodson | CUSR |
| Invocation | Ed Perry | Marsha Reardon | Rod Roberts | Holiday Party |
| Greeters | Patrice Grant | Bruce Hatfield | Mary Hodson | Make Sure |
| Robb Patton | Allan Penwell | Ed Perry | You come see | |
| Song Leader | John McDaniel | Phyllis Mischo | Penn Nelson | Chuck Reifsteck’s |
| Notetaker | Hodson | Lintner | Conforti | Red Coat |
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Upcoming Schedule
November 14th – John Colombo, The Carle Problem
November 21st – Matt Bollant, head coach of women’s basketball at UIUC
December 5th – TBD
December 12th – C-U Sunrise Rotary Holiday program, featuring The Other Guys
December 19th –
