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ever visited a famous or significant historical site and not known it?


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Many years ago I owned a Fly fishing and travel shop in Northern CA and regularly took trips all over the world to include an annual trip to Tarawa to fish for Bonefish and Permit etc... We stayed in British barracks left over from WWII and fished all the all the islands, we hit all the flats and I remember standing on a rust bucket tank like thing so I could improve my view of the flats (high ground gives you an advantage on the flats). Great times for sure and memories I will hold near and dear for a lifetime. Now that I collect Militaria I reflect back on those annual trips and think to myself, crap focus on the moment may have cost me and opportunity to gain a greater understanding and appreciation for where I was and what it was that paved the way for the opportunity to fish in such a wonderful spot.

 

Anybody else?

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Well, I figured it out during the trip, but didn't connect the dots for awhile that Iraq was once Ancient Mesopotamia

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Well, I figured it out during the trip, but didn't connect the dots for awhile that Iraq was once Ancient Mesopotamia

 

For me that is a hell of a stretch but funny as hell :lol::lol::lol:

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USMC-RECON0321

I can think of several deployments while in the Marines in the 80's / 90's, like Okinawa and Philippines, surrounded by history and WWII battlefields and all we thought about was where were we going to party when we got out of the field??

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I can think of several deployments while in the Marines in the 80's / 90's, like Okinawa and Philippines, surrounded by history and WWII battlefields and all we thought about was where were we going to party when we got out of the field??

 

In my world we often speak of the luxury of focus and forget about perspective.

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While stationed at Ft. Lee, I took a weekend trip to see Fort Monroe, which of course was historic.

 

What I didn't realize at the time was my direct ancestor had been stationed there with a unit of Pennsylvania Union cavalry during 4 years of the Civil War!

 

Another...

 

There used to be an old frame house in the middle of the US Kaserne at Baumholder, Germany. It was often used as temporary guest quarters for incoming officers and NCO's. I spent a night or two there when I first arrived. Quaint, I thought but not majorly impressive.

 

Later I learned that Rommel had stayed there.

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This is a good topic! While I've had little run-ins with history, I've never had stories like these to tell!! GOOD STUFF!

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teufelhunde.ret

Guam - had a short stay on the island in the 70's. Was quite interesting to see the battle sites. It was not until many, many years latter I learned this was site of my fathers last campaign before returing to the states.

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Manchu Warrior

Many years ago I was out on a boat crabbing with some friends and they stopped at and old island at the entrance of the Baltimore harbor. I did not even recall the name of the place until I became interested in history a few years latter. That was also when I realized the historical significance of the place. What it is, is a man made island with an old army fort built on top of it. The fort is named Fort Carroll and was named after the last surviving signer of the Declaration of Independence. Construction was started in 1848 and the fort was in use throughout the Civil War and also the Spanish American War. To my knowledge no major engagements ever took place at the fort. So why then does the fort have any historical value? The historical significance is not in what happened there but in who designed and built the fort. A young officer in the US Army's Corps of Engineers designed and supervised the forts construction, his name, Robert E. Lee. Unfortunately the fort is now privately owned and well on its way to ruin. If you ever find yourself in the Baltimore area and happen to cross the Francis Scott Key bridge keep and eye out because Fort Carroll can easily be seen from the bridge.

post-1412-1339599818.jpg

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When i was a kid, we used to play baseball and soccer on civil war battlefields, and play in this old british fort near the maine-canadian border built in the 1700s

Also when my father took me to his old baseball field at princeton University he showed me all the rooms and the places where Einstein stayed and how he got around the campus, but i really didnt pay attention, since i was about 10 or so.

now i make sure i know the history of a place before i go

Ryan

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ALCATRAZ was a Civil War fort before it was a prison

 

I thought it was interesting how they built the cell house over the old army fort and the lower level still exists and was used for store rooms later and sometimes for solitary confinement

 

AlcatrazRodmangunwithcap.jpg

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Being British, history is a way of life here...we're surrounded by it. Within a mile radius of my house are Iron Age forts, neolithic burial chambers, Norman castles, Medieval castles and Roman roads/villas etc. It's so easy to take it all for granted simply because it's "there".

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Being British, history is a way of life here...we're surrounded by it. Within a mile radius of my house are Iron Age forts, neolithic burial chambers, Norman castles, Medieval castles and Roman roads/villas etc. It's so easy to take it all for granted simply because it's "there".

 

Ian,

 

Several years ago, I visited Ireland. It struck me then how young a country we are here in the U.S. Here, we have things hundreds of years old. Over there, you have things thousands of years old!

 

....Kat

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Ian,

 

Several years ago, I visited Ireland. It struck me then how young a country we are here in the U.S. Here, we have things hundreds of years old. Over there, you have things thousands of years old!

 

....Kat

 

That's absolutely right Kat. Modern America counts its history in a few centuries...we use millenia! It makes me smile when I see American companies with things like "Founded in 1973" in their logos. In British terms that was yesterday...know what I mean?! ;)

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Hell, Ian! I was founded in 1952, and I'm still a "spring chicken"....... :w00t:

 

 

Sure you are JS! I missed '52 by just eight days! ;)

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When I was young my father was stationed in Orleans, France. Definitely a place of historical significance. The center of town had a huge statue of Joan of Arc who we all irreverently referred to as "Joanie on the Pony". The Army quarters we lived in was next to an old nazi storage dump that the engineers buried late in the war. We were all told to stay out of the area ... like we listened.

I have been to many places in England, Germany, France, Switzerland, Belguim thanks to my Army father and Irish/English mother. All before I was 16 years old.

BEAR

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While stationed at Ft. Lee, I took a weekend trip to see Fort Monroe, which of course was historic.

 

What I didn't realize at the time was my direct ancestor had been stationed there with a unit of Pennsylvania Union cavalry during 4 years of the Civil War!

 

Another...

 

There used to be an old frame house in the middle of the US Kaserne at Baumholder, Germany. It was often used as temporary guest quarters for incoming officers and NCO's. I spent a night or two there when I first arrived. Quaint, I thought but not majorly impressive.

 

Later I learned that Rommel had stayed there.

Did you know that A.H. stood on the steps of the Rhinelander and addressed his troops?

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It wasn't till halfway through my year's sabatical on Guantanmo Naval base in 1975 that I found out there was a Span-Am battle there and that USMC Sgt John Quick received the MoH for his heroism during the battle---and my last week there we discoved a spanish fort on the leeward side of the base...exciting but not enough to make me want to stay any longer..especially when you consider our R&R site was Haiti...

Happy Army Birthday to all the brothers.

 

s/f

Al

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Did you know that A.H. stood on the steps of the Rhinelander and addressed his troops?

 

No, I didn't. That was not something they were bragging about when I was over there!

 

However, they did publish a local history showing Then and Now photos, with both Wehrmacht and later US troops on the very same parade field.

 

I was at a ceremony there early in my tour where they played the national anthems of both the US and Germany... that was interesting. Got used to it later on.

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  • 2 years later...
the330thbg

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Camp_Abbot

 

Stayed here several years back with my family and extended family. Never really understood the significance behind this location until months after we left.

 

The area was also famous for the Oregon Maneuver:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oregon_Maneuver

 

Now I wish I could go back and take a serious look around

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hardstripe

While stationed in Germany in the 1980s I went to Berchtesgaden. Lodging reservations were fouled up so we stayed in Albert Spear's former residence. He was Hitler's chief architect.

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Well I will have to find the photos (pre digital) but in 1999 me,my father and his Robbery partner spent 3 weeks in Europe. We rented a car in Amsterdam and just drove all over. Some of the places visited were Normandy (Sword, Juno, Omaha, Utah, Point Du Hoc). We also went to the battle fields of Verdun,the concentration camp at Dachu and various points of the Maginot Line.

 

Cheers

 

Mark

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