Battle of the Bulge Tour: Ardennes, Bastogne & Band of Brothers 15th Anniversary

🎖️ Battle of the Bulge Anniversary Trip (Ardennes, Belgium & Luxembourg) – Band of Brothers 15th Reunion

Welcome back readers (and hopefully fans) for my blog.

I am writing this post on 26th December, just a few days after the anniversary of the Battle of the Bulge (Ardennes Offensive, December 1944–January 1945).

This trip was not a return to Bastogne alone — that was covered in a previous visit with author Ian Gardner focusing on the 3rd Battalion perspective. Instead, this post covers something very different: attending the 15th anniversary celebration of Band of Brothers alongside veterans, actors, and historians connected to the Second World War.

As anyone who knows me will confirm, I was not going to miss this opportunity.

🚗 Luxembourg to Houffalize – Into the Heart of the Ardennes

This was a quick trip, which meant an early “0-dark-thirty” departure from Luxembourg City into Belgium.

Given the popularity of the anniversary and the usual seasonal commemorations, Bastogne was always going to be busy. We managed to secure a room at the Hotel du Commerce in Houffalize.

For those familiar with the Battle of the Bulge, Houffalize holds significant historical importance. It is also ideally located just a 15-minute drive down the N30 into Bastogne, passing through Foy along the way.

Fans of Band of Brothers will immediately recognise Foy from the scene where Speirs runs through the village..

 

 

🪖 Foy – Foy (Bastogne Sector) – Easy Company and Band of Brothers Battlefield Location

The view from the bridge on the N30 gives a clear perspective of the church and surrounding village.

A Tiger tank recovered from the river after the battle remains one of the most striking physical reminders of the fighting in this area.

The landscape still reflects the intensity of the 1944–45 winter fighting, even decades later.

🍺 Arrival in Houffalize – Belgian Beer and Ardennes Atmosphere

After checking into the hotel came the obligatory Belgian beer — and a reminder that some of them are deceptively strong at around 8%.

With that appropriately handled, we headed into Bastogne for some evening sightseeing.

🎤 Band of Brothers 15th Anniversary VIP Event – Voices of History

The evening was dedicated to a VIP reception hosted by WW2 Foundation head Tim Gray, honouring veterans of the Battle of the Bulge and marking the 15th anniversary of Band of Brothers.

The event began with a Q&A session featuring both cast members and veterans, including Vince Speranza and Bob Izumi.

Hearing both veterans and actors discuss the meaning of the battle from their different perspectives was a genuinely unique experience and something that will stay with me for a long time.

🎬 Meeting the Band of Brothers Cast

Following the Q&A session, there was an opportunity to meet the actors, take photographs, and collect autographs.

Nadia had more success with photos than I did:

Nadia with Doug Spain...

Nadia with Rick Warden and James Madio....

Nadia with Rick Gomez and Ross McCall...

I didn’t leave empty-handed though.

One of the highlights was meeting Captain Dale Dye, who was incredibly generous with his time and spent a great deal of effort engaging with fans

🤝 Friends, Veterans, and Shared History

The event also provided a chance to meet people connected through history and social media.

The photo above is me with Linda Cautaert and Chris Langwah. What is great is that Chris is the grandson of Doc Roe, played by Shane Taylor in BoB, and an all round really nice guy. I am honoured to have been able to meet both Linda and Chris. I also had the chance to catch-up with, and say hi to, a few other friends that I've met before including Joey Van Messen. Now Joey is definitely worth knowing as he produces one of the best WW2 history VLOGs out there, specialising in metal detecting across Europe, the kids a star!

🌍 Margraten American Cemetery – Remembering Market Garden

The following day, we took a break from Bastogne and drove north into the Netherlands to visit the American Cemetery at Margraten.

This cemetery is the final resting place of over 8,000 American servicemen, many of whom were killed during Operation Market Garden.

Whilst visiting the cemetery we paid our respects to an Easy Company member killed during Market Garden...

🌉 Remagen Bridge – Crossing the Rhine

From Margraten, we drove east into Germany to Remagen.

The Ludendorff Bridge at Remagen became one of the most significant crossings of the Rhine in 1945. The remains of the bridge now house a museum containing artefacts and historical displays related to the battle.

After visiting the museum, we drove back past the Eiffel Forrest skirting Luxembourg and back to Houffalize, Belgium...three countries in six hours which has to be a new record for me!

🏛 Bastogne War Museum – Modern Interpretation of the Bulge

Back in Belgium, we visited the Bastogne War Museum, located near the Mardasson Memorial.

This modern museum features interactive exhibits, immersive displays, and historical vehicles including a battle-damaged Sherman tank and a Jagdpanzer.

It is one of the most effective interpretive museums on the Battle of the Bulge and well worth visiting.

The war memorial is just outside of the museum. The memorial is imposing and gives a fantastic view of the surrounding area including Bastogne....

🪖 Bastogne Barracks – Armour and Living History

Next stop was the Bastogne Barracks, an active Belgian Army site that also contains one of the most impressive collections of military vehicles in the region.

The collection includes Centurion tanks, German armour, and a range of support vehicles. The site also functions as a restoration and preservation facility.

Unexpectedly, we also encountered members of the Band of Brothers cast again during the visit.

⚰️ Hamm American Cemetery – Luxembourg

Our final stop was the Hamm American Cemetery in Luxembourg, located near Luxembourg City airport.

This cemetery contains numerous burials from the Battle of the Bulge, including members of Easy Company:

Alex Penkala, Skip Muck and John Julian

 

 

The final part of the visit was to pay our respects to the most well known of those buried at Hamm, general George S Patton.

Contrary to popular belief, Patton was not originally buried at the head of his troops. His grave was relocated due to the high number of visitors causing disruption to surrounding plots, following an agreement between Luxembourg and his family.

🧭 Final Reflections – A Weekend Among History and Memory

All in all, this was another exceptional trip with a number of unique experiences — from meeting veterans and actors, to visiting key sites across three countries in a single journey.

More than anything, it reinforced how interconnected these places are, and how the history of the Battle of the Bulge still resonates strongly today.

---

💬 Reader Question

If you could attend a single WWII anniversary event — battlefield visit, reunion, or commemoration — which one would it be and why?

---

🤝 Acknowledgements

A sincere thanks to everyone involved in organising and participating in the event, including Tim Gray and the WW2 Foundation, the veterans who shared their stories, and the cast and guests who made the anniversary so memorable.

Tips for beginners hiking/visiting Zion National park, Utah

Hi everyone, over 4500 views of this blog now...incredible!!!

This post is just a quick summary of a few days spent in Zion National park, Utah.

Fist of all, as a surprise to most of my British friends visiting Las Vegas, there's actually beautiful and interesting things to do outside of the Strip (besides the Grand Canyon). :-)   Zion is one of those places, it's a national park about 2.5 hours from Vegas. Actually, there's a number of parks within easy driving from the city and that includes Red Rock (25 minutes from the city), Valley of Fire (about 45 minutes) and Death Valley (a couple hours) to name a few.

To get to Zion, just head Northeast along US15. You'll drive through Nevada and parts of Arizona before heading into the South western corner of Utah via the Virgin River Canyon. The canyon is itself pretty impressive, cutting through the mountains whilst rising to over 6000 feet. However, the goal is Zion, so keep on going!

I've included a map of the park, apologies for the quality.

The main purpose of the map is to show that the park is made up of two major sections. The first section is to the Northwest and is comprised of the Kolob canyons. The canyons are very much like mini Zion canyons with very similar geology. For me the biggest attraction is that there are less tourists. The downside is that the scenery, while beautiful, doesn't rival that of Zion.

As with the rest of the park, there are a variety of trails to choose from and a number of websites that can help you decide. Personally, I used the following website as it provided a good synopsis of the trails, basic maps and guidance for those visiting.

Joe's guide to Zion national Park

Given that we had a limited amount of time in the park (24 hours from time of arrival to departure) and were not, by any stretch of the imagination, experienced hikers. We decided on an 'easy' trail to begin with, the 'Taylor Creek trail'. The trailhead is approximately 2 miles from the Kolob Canyon Ranger Station and gives you three options (North, Middle and South forks). We decided upon the middle fork which is estimated to be a 5 mile round trip (although, by my calculations it was slightly longer but that could be due to a few 'diversions).

The hike started at 0930 which, with hindsight, was pretty poor planning on my part. Despite it being the 9th of September and being at over 6000ft it was still very hot (easily 30c by mid-hike) but at least the views were very nice...

A little trail information: The trail is doable in hiking shoes or running shoes (my choice for this hike). I actually saw a young woman in sandals but wouldn't recommend them. The trail is also well marked with only a few spots that require any real effort. There are a few creeks to cross which didn't present a challenge (although, I would expect them to be a bit deeper during Spring and Fall.

The decision point between the three forks is near the Larson cabin which is a cultural site dating back over 100 years.

We headed East towards the ultimate goal of the hike which is the Double Arch Alcove. One of the nice things about the trail is that a lot of the walking is through the forest which offers respite from the heat.

We managed to make it to the actual arch in well under 2 hours which was good considering the number of stops that we took to take photos and to enjoy the scenery.

Made it!!!!!

Okay, hike over...drive to Springdale by following US15 Southwest to US9 then head east to Springdale. Now, Springdale is 180 degrees out from kolob. Think the South rim of the Grand Canyon but a bit classier. The 'town' has a number of nice places to stay with fantastic views and features but you will pay for it, obviously.

Apologies for the blatant advertising here... :-)

I'd suggest eating at 'jack's' as the food was amazing, relatively inexpensive and they had a reasonable selection of beers, some locally produced, which is a key for me.

Just a few points about the Eastern part of the park...first of all, unless you enter the park early (as in before 8am) then forget about parking. Although the park signs say that parking is unavailable after 10am, that's not even close. Most visitors don't heed the advice and try to drive in to hike late...Don't do it! The park offers shuttle service which picks up at a number of stops before and in the park, leave your car along the road (or in the hotel) and get the shuttle.


As with the rest of the park, there are a number of great options for hikes. If time isn't a problem then I'd suggest going for some of the trails within the park such as the emerald pools trail. However, the downside of those trails is that they are usually busy...I prefer a bit of quiet so opted for one of the few trails that started at the Visitors center in Springdale. The trail that we decided upon was the 'Watchman Trail' which included a shorter 'Loop' at the end. As with many of the park trails, this one was an out and back. It is rated as 'moderate' due to the climb and the sheer drops along parts of the trail. The trail itself was a bit shorter than the 'Taylor Creek trail', only about 1-1.5 miles each way not including the extra .25-.5 mile loop section.

The trail climbs up through a canyon and winds around to a scenic overlook. I would suggest starting early (as soon as the sun rises) to avoid the heat and the 'busy' period. The views with the sun rising, whilst not on par with some of the more popular trails, are still stunning and worth the less than 2 hours roundtrip.

Okay, that's it for today. keep an eye on future posts as have a few other trips planned in the next few months.