Stephen Ambrose Historical Tours presents The Original Band of Brothers Tour Walk in The Footsteps of The Men of Easy Company 15-Day Tour: May 6 – 20 / June 10 - 24 / July 8 – 22 / September 2 – 16 / September 12 - 26 2016 13-Day Tour: May 8 – 20 / June 12 - 24 / July 10 – 22 / September 4 – 16 / September 14 - 26 Immortalized by the Stephen Ambrose best- Guests have two options: seller, “Band of Brothers,” and brought to • 15-Day Tour: Begin your tour in Atlanta where we have an introductory session, reception millions more in the epic Steven Spielberg/Tom and dinner. We then go to the Toccoa training Hanks HBO miniseries of the same name, the grounds and Currahee. Guests make their men of Easy Company were on an extraordinary own arrangements to arrive in Atlanta, but journey during WWII. From D-Day to V-E Day, your tour cost includes group trans-Atlantic the paratroopers of E Company, 506th Parachute flights to London, and back to the States from Infantry Regiment participated in some of the Munich. After returning to the U.S., guests get themselves home from our landing city. war’s most critical battles and proved to truly be • 13-Day Tour: Start in London. Guest get a company of heroes. themselves to London and home from Munich. This unique tour follows the path of Easy Since there is no group flight included, this is Company from its training bases in Toccoa, a great option for those wanting to spend extra Georgia, and England into combat in days in Europe before or after Normandy, Holland, Belgium, and on to final the tour. victory at Berchtesgaden, Adolf Hitler’s Alpine retreat. You’ll stand in the very foxholes and precise locations where they fought in some of the most climatic battles of World War II. Based on the recollections of the paratroopers themselves and the extensive research of Dr. Stephen E. Ambrose and the editors of Military History Quarterly and World War II magazines, you’ll have an experience unparalleled in its accuracy and insight. Please continue through this brochure and see a day-by-day tour schedule. Please call or email us to talk to one of our historians. 1-888-903-3329 | www.stephenambrosetours.com | [email protected] Day 1 Arrival in Atlanta The tour begins in Atlanta with an informal Welcome Reception where participants will have an opportunity to get acquainted with each other and meet the historians and tour staff. A brief overview of the legacy of Easy Company will set the stage for the days ahead. Day 2 Toccoa: Birthplace of the 506th Ask any of the original members of Easy Company what made the unit so special and they will answer: “Toccoa.” This training ground in the north Georgia woods was where the bonding process of the 506th began. As it did for so many of the men of Easy Company, our tour of Toccoa will begin at the train station where recruits for the 506th first arrived. The station also houses the Stephens County Historical Society, the 506th Museum and the unique collection of artifacts and memorabilia from Camp Toccoa. Following lunch, we travel to the site of the Camp and then proceed up Mount Currahee, the 1,000 foot mountain the men Day 4 of the 506th ran daily for training. Here they Crossing the Channel drew their inspiration and motto “Currahee,” We begin our day in Portsmouth with a visit an Indian word meaning “We Stand Alone.” to the award winning D-Day Museum and Southwick House, the elegant country house Day 3 (*13-Day tour begins in London) which became the location of the Supreme England, Prelude to Invasion Headquarters Allied Expeditionary Force. In After our arrival in London, we will visit the months leading up to D-Day, Southwick Littlecote House, the historic English House became the headquarters of the manor that was headquarters for the 506th main Allied commanders: Allied Supreme Parachute Infantry Regiment for the six Commander, General Eisenhower; Naval months prior to the invasion. We will tour Commander-in-Chief, Admiral Ramsay; and Aldbourne, the tiny Wiltshire village that was the Army Commander-in-Chief, General the home of Easy Company and visit many Montgomery. Large wall maps that were used of the buildings used by the men of Easy as in planning D-Day are still in place in the they prepared for the greatest invasion in house, with markers showing the positions history. When in the village we will have an of the involved forces at the moments of the opportunity to enjoy a traditional lunch in first landings. After our visit to Southwick the same pubs frequented by the men of the House, we board the cross-channel ferry to Easy Company. France. 1-888-903-3329 | www.stephenambrosetours.com | [email protected] Day 5 Very little went as planned during the Fortress Europe landing at Omaha Beach. Many landing crafts At the start of the invasion several members missed their targets throughout the day. of Easy Company landed in and around German defenses were strong, and inflicted Ste-Mere-Eglise, including Richard Winters, heavy casualties on US troops. Losses were Carwood Lipton and Bill Guarnere. Here we especially high in the first wave of landings; begin our historical tracings of the 506th there were 2,400 casualties on Omaha Beach in France. This is where Dick Winters took alone. command after the tragic death of Lt. Thomas We will study the battlefield and hear Meehan. accounts of the action, cross the beach, From Ste-Mere-Eglise we analyze the maps and follow the route Lieutenant imagine the courage that Winters and a handful of men saved our freedom that day. took on the first night of the Today the American invasion of Brecourt Manor. Cemetery stretches along the In 1944, the Manor was the The best way bluff overlooking Omaha site of a German battery Beach. It covers 172 acres, that threatened the invasion to understand and contains the remains beaches at Utah. of American military dead, From the Manor we proceed history is to most of whom were killed to Utah Beach and the Utah during the invasion of Beach Museum. From Ste. study the places Normandy and ensuing Marie-du-Mont, we will travel military operations in World past Dead Man’s Corner, and it was made. War II. The names of the into Carentan, the Norman Americans who lost their town that was one of the — Dr. Stephen Ambrose lives in the conflict but could Allies earliest objectives. not be located and/ We will see the site of or identified are Easy’s battle as they inscribed on the entered the town on June walls of a semicircular 12, and the square from garden to the east which General Maxwell side of the memorial. Taylor presented awards to We will spend some his men for their gallant time at the cemetery performance during the to pay our respects. invasion. In the afternoon we will visit the Day 6 bridge over the Caen Normandy Coast Canal, today called Rising early the next Pegasus Bridge after morning, we will drive to the symbol of the Omaha Beach where the Stephen Ambrose and Dick Winters. British airborne forces. Americans took the German Pegasus Bridge, captured fortifications after a by a gliderborne stupendous fight. The six-mile wide invasion company of the 6th beach is surrounded by cliffs that made Division British Airborne Troops, was the first the landing and attack extremely difficult. engagement of D-Day, and the turning point Landings here were necessary in order to link of World War II. with the British. 1-888-903-3329 | www.stephenambrosetours.com | [email protected] Day 7 joining an attack on the 506th regimental Remember September headquarters. Today we will study Operation Market Garden, You will stand in the very spots where the largest airborne operation of the war. In American and German forces stood, and will broad daylight, the 101st Airborne Division understand what Stephen Ambrose meant parachuted into Holland in a bold strike in when he said that the best way to understand order to seize bridges across rivers and adjacent history is to study the places it was made. canals from Belgium to Arnhem. Then we will head to Son, location of the 506th’s drop zone Day 9 and the bridge over Wilhelmina. Bastogne Under the command of Col. Sink, the Our next stop is Bastogne, Belgium, the site of mission was to capture the bridge over the the division’s epic eight-day stand against the Wilhelmina Canal and then advance south to Germans in December 1944. Along the way Eindhoven. We will follow the company’s route we stop at the American Battle Monuments into Eindhoven and visit Saint Catherine’s Commission’s Netherlands American church where many of the original liberators Cemetery and Memorial at Margraten to pay gathered in September 1944. Our last stop of our respects at the graves of Easy Company the day will be the Veghel battle site, where all men killed in Holland and Belgium. In of the 101st Airborne Division fought to keep Bastogne we visit the Battle of the Bulge Hell’s Highway clear of enemy troops. Museum and General Anthony McAuliffe’s headquarters during the siege. Day 8 In Holland, Where They Stand Day 10 Our travels continue along Hell’s Highway, the The Bois Jacques and Beyond route followed by the British XXX Corps as it The day starts with a visit to the Bois Jacques, attempted to reach its embattled 1st Airborne Halt Station and Easy Company’s foxholes Division, in Arnhem.