From August 28 through September 3, the 70th Anniversary Celebrations of the Liberation of Belgium will be held in and around Chimay. Band concerts, military vehicle parade, memorabilia fair, religious service, fly over, liberation walk, lunches, receptions, dances, and ceremonies will all take place to honor the Allied servicemen who helped free the Belgian people from Nazi occupation. Included will be ceremonies at four memorials:
Cendron – where the first U.S. troops crossed over the Wartoise Bridge from France and entered into Belgium on September 2, 1944
Monceau- Imbrechies – where the first battle took place and first Americans soldiers were killed on September 2, 1944
Macquenoise – where the B-17 Susan Ruth piloted by my father, Howard Snyder, crashed after being shot down by two German Focke-Wulf 190 fighters on February 8, 1944
Saint Remy – where eight U.S. airmen (including George Eike, Robert Benninger, and John Pindroch from the B-17 Susan Ruth) were betrayed, captured, and shot by the Germans on April 22, 1944
My wife, Glenda, and I attended the 50th and 60th Anniversary Celebrations in 1994 and 2004 and this year will be attending with our most of our family and about 20 other relatives of Susan Ruth crew members.
It’s Our Duty To Remember
I hope your book and endeavors do well! My own business is an online hobby shop and WWII is probably one of our largest niches. B-17s, Fw-190s, P-51s and two of my favorites Lancasters and Spitfires. Even with WWII being a mere footnote in a typical High School history book, it is still a powerful draw for much of the world. Not just aviation, but ground combat and naval warfare is popular too.
I believe there is a new WWII tank combat movie coming out soon and hopefully this will not be a sloppy mess like much of what Hollywood produces. Saving Private Ryan and Band of Brothers were two exceptions to the canned “fake” Hollywood movie formula that is designed to make money over a decent movie.
Overall I wish you Cheers and good Luck.
Thank you Jeremy! Tom Hanks and Steven Spielberg are producing a mini-series for HBO about the 8th Air Force that will air in 1915. It is said to cost $500 million, the most expensive production in television history; far more than either Band of Brothers or The Pacific.
I hope you consider ordering my book. It really is an incredible story.
Steve