WWII Trip is Underway!

The WWII in Europe Davidson Alumni trip is underway! Our Boeing 767 left Charlotte pretty much on time today, July 1st, at around 4:30 p.m. On the way down the concourse I spotted Bill ’60 and Ward ’94 Davis, so stopped into the restaurant where they were sitting and had a drink with them to talk about the trip, about the NBA draft, and about the prospects for Davidson basketball in the coming year. As we made our way to the gate we connected with Kearns Davis ’91, who had a few work-related phone calls to complete before he unplugs for the next week. I suspect that along with the four of us, that there are another seven Davidson travelers on this flight (while Ross ’72 and Robert ’07 Manire made other arrangements from Chicago).
There is a six-hour time difference from Davidson to Paris; when we arrive at Charles deGaulle at 6:30 a.m. local time it will be just after midnight back home. The first day is actually a relatively casual day spent banging around Paris before we begin our history tour in earnest on Friday. For those of you keeping score at home, I am posting the week’s itinerary below. More to come as soon as we start seeing things, and I start taking photos with the new camera Elena surprised me with this afternoon before I left!
Thursday, July 2

• Day in Paris
• Evening reception and dinner at the hotel (near CDG airport)

Friday, July 3

• Morning departure for Normandy
• Caen (and the D-Day Memorial Museum), Pegasus Bridge
• Overnight at hotel in Caen

Saturday, July 4

• Full day on the Normandy battlefields
• St. Mere Eglise, Utah Beach, Pointe du Hoc, Omaha Beach, the American Cemetery
• Overnight at hotel in Caen

Sunday, July 5

• The Bocage and Hedgerow Country
• Bayeaux (and the Tapestry), St. Lo, Rouen
• Back for another night at the hotel near CDG

Monday, July 6

• A day looking at the roots of WWII and exploring some of the notable killing fields of The Great War.
• Belleau Wood, the Meuse-Argonne region, and Verdun
• Overnight at hotel in Metz

Tuesday, July 7

• The Battle of the Bulge
• Diekirch (and the Bulge Museum), Bastogne, Malmedy
• Overnight at hotel in Hurtgenwald-Simonskall

Wednesday, July 8

• The Battle of the Hurtgen Forest
• Kommerscheidt, Remagen (and the site of the Ludendorff Bridge), Darmstadt, and the Rhine River
• Traditional German dinner in Darmstadt, including a possible connection with “locals” Don Lupo ’78 and Dennis Phillips ’65.
• Final overnight at hotel in Darmstadt/Frankfurt.

Thursday, July 9

• 11:45 flight out of Frankfurt
• Back to Charlotte by 3:15 p.m. local time!

Our group:

• Bill ’60, Ward ’94, and Kearns ’91 Davis
• Gray Bullard ’81 and son, Seth
• Mike Coltrane ’68
• Loretta Fiacco
• Bruce Darden ’78 and father, Bruce
• Ross Manire ‘74
• Robert Manire ’07 (who will turn 24 on July 8th)
• Tom Moore ‘88

So 13 of us in the Davidson family, and 24 others who are joining our trip from all over the country A great group! p.s. The entry above was written on the plane before we all connected in Paris. I will post more after tonight's dinner (for which I'm late!).