Belleau Wood, France : May 27 – 31 – So, Live; Through Travel

I was so excited for this trip. After the 2020 ceremonies were cancelled I was really eager to get my chance to visit Belleau Wood, even better that it was Memorial Day weekend.

The Marine Corps sent me to my 22nd country on my 27th GOLDEN birthday! No complaints. –For those who don’t know, a golden birthday is when you turn that age on the day you were born – 27 on the 27th!

The day started kinda rocky with lots of back and forth meet at this time, now this time, and again at this time. But we finally got all our stuff, mostly mine, packed into the car and off we went. I love driving so five hours of open road ahead of me was great.

Before making it to the meeting place, we had gotten a little off the main course and ended up outside of Lucy where we passed field after field of yellow flowers. I couldn’t not stop and I’m so glad I did so Cpl Lewis could snap these photos of me to document my day.

Finally we made it to the Aisne-Marne cemetery where camped for the night. We camped behind the cemetery area up on a hill and it was nice to enjoy the outdoors all evening. Hotdogs and smores over a fire and an impromptu ‘happy birthday’ song for me, then watched the sunset and called it a night. It was actually ridiculously cold that night. Sleeping on the ground is one thing but being freezing all night while sleeping on the ground is even worse. Not the most fun time.

Friday – PME

Friday was a full day of driving around the local areas and learning all about the history of the 5th and 6th Marine Regiments here alongside U.S. Army soldiers and the French, fighting the Germans. Come to find out, the Marines never actually made it into the town of Belleau. Very, very close but not there exactly.

I walked through the wheat fields, I saw the distorted grounds showing distinct fighting foxholes, I saw structures still marked by artillery and bullets. Its truly remarkable to walk through these cute little villages knowing that 103 years ago men were fighting and dying .. with no idea that we’d all be allies and walking through learning their history now. Gives me chills.

We visited the 1775 bar. This sweet older lady and her husband have a bar, in *, France, dedicated to Marines. Its really special. We all had a beer and then the unit historian donated a large painting to her and establishment of a Marine depicted in uniform from WWI.

After the PME was over, that evening we went to the city center of Chateau Thierry where Dan had put together a champagne tasting for us. It was a cool experience but I didn’t love the tasting, unfortunately. It was a beautiful place and the owner was quite a hoot. The first pink-ish tasting was alright. I wouldn’t say I’m a huge champagne fan. The second was his world champion. It was really good! Third was something that smelled worse than it tasted, like the barrel had been moldy. Lastly was something like a bourbon. I really didn’t like it. During this exciting event there were some other people there I hadn’t ever met before. Turns out the band CWO4, the top Colonel of my field, and the one star general of CD were there. What a small world. They were obviously in France for the big events during the weekend, but I didn’t imagine running into them at a champagne tasting. Turns out they were really great to chat with and I’m thankful for that time to speak to them one-on-one in a relaxed environment.

After tastings we were all out the door to find something for dinner. The restaurant we wanted to go to was completely packed with no chance of getting in, and with a curfew coming soon it was off to find anything available. We ended up at a small Indian restaurant, a couple tables down from the CWO, Col, and BG from just a bit before. I had really been craving Indian food but don’t think I’ve had it since I was in Africa in 2015. I was hesitant what to get but decided on the butter chicken. It was the best Indian food I’ve ever had. (updated end of June, after two other local German Indian places and still the best) We ordered so much naan it was stacked four high, we had tons and tons of rice. It was so great. We quickly paid and hurried back to the hotel before curfew.. even though not everybody was following the same rules.

Saturday – Rehearsals

On the road at 8am to the Aisne-Marne cemetery. Glad we got the rehearsal time so we could see what was going to happen and be prepared for the big movements and plan the right shots. During lunch we went into the closest little town to a bakery. Luckily we had a CWO there who was on the trip solely as an interpreter which really comes in handy! We got some sandwiches and a little dessert. While waiting we saw these gigantic saint bernard dogs. There was one, then two, then three, and at one point five of them were up on the gate looking at us all. I couldn’t help but wonder what would happen if that gate couldn’t hold them all. After lunch we went to the Oise-Aisne cemetery for a very short walkabout to see what the real deal ceremony would be like the next day. After both ‘rehearsals’ we went back to the hotel and got ready for the first legit event that evening.

Coverage of the first event did not go anywhere near as planned. It was a lot quicker and smaller than I was expecting so we were trying to capture everything we could to show what did happen during the ceremony. Our General met with a German General for a wreath laying ceremony in the german cemetery just outside the Aisne-Marne cemetery grounds. There were more Marines there than Germans which only slightly made my photos unbalanced and needed supporting captions. It was done and over just a fast it started. We were told the General wanted to go to a small french cemetery in Belleau just down the road and see the gravesite of a Marine there. So we rushed there and waited.. Turns out that little ceremony was actually a whole thing for the french. I dont have a clue a single word that was said, what they were doing, or why they did it this evening. But we got photos and videos of it anyway.
This Marine is buried here in this cemetery because he actually survived the war but had such bad survivors guilt and PTSD that he came back to the grounds after the war and committed suicide. Because he didnt die from the war he wasn’t allowed to be buried on the ABMC grounds but the people of Belleau allowed him to be buried in their town. It was so nice that we still honor this Marine.

After it all I realized it was nice to be back in action behind a camera and taking news worthy photos! We finally made it back to the hotel and I was up all night editing stuff from the first day and writing captions based on very lose information I had. I did take a quick break and had dinner with some people at this little Italian restaurant right next to the hotel.

Sunday – The big day

The big day. Its tarted pretty crazy, just as expected. On the road at 8 to get to the first cemetery for the first event. The whole thing was a lot smaller than past years and even smaller than I was expecting considering the rehearsal the day before only had a handful of people who needed the information. The bright white steps made it difficult to capture photos because the shadow lines were intense. But we did it and were already hot and the day was just getting started. *This photo was picked up by 1st Marine Division social media, I dont know why, but it makes me really happy.

The next event was at the Iron Mike statue, which I wasn’t planning on covering but was told at the end of the Oise-Aisne event that we needed to have photos. So we hurried our way to there, after a brief back and forth with the French police who had all the roads blocked off and I needed to convince I was in fact a Marine and was there as the photographer, we got in place and waited for the General. Again, a super small event. It was only four people as part of the official party so I did a whole circle around the area to capture as much as I could to make it seem bigger and better. The photos actually turned out really well and I got some good individual portraits for the Marines and the french bugler.

Then we rushed back down the hill side road and into the big cemetery. We were running around setting up a main camera, checking audio, reviewing the sequence of events. Once things started it was all out to capture every single detail I could. I literally ran around the field getting photos, making sure I got enough different shots that told the story of the event and could be used later to show the scale of this event since it was such a unique year. There were a few big things we knew were going to happen so right on cues we were in and out of places to capture what we needed. As soon as I heard my next cue from the narration I took off through the trails to get behind the chapel for the flyover. I sprinted up the hill to get in place because I wasn’t sure what time the flyover was actually going to happen or where the aircraft would be exactly but I couldn’t let myself miss it. After the flyover, the official party departed and that was it. I was exhausted by the time it was over.

After the ceremony was over I changed into my blues to go to the reception area down at Devil Dog Fountain. I wanted photos in front of the fountain in my blues of coure. I had a nice glass of red champagne in a cool new (and free) shot glass and got the iconic, beloved photos. We did some on camera interviews, group photos, and tried to enjoy ourselves in the heat after a long half day of quick work.

This was also the first time I met the new General of our command. He said he had heard good things about me already and was impressed with my hard work over the last couple of days. Such a good feeling to hear that and know I’m doing something right!

All four shoots for the day were finally done and we drove back to the hotel around 2 pm. Finally back at the hotel I could take my uniform off, pack everything up, start dropping content and editing. We headed out to dinner at a nice restaurant with a majority of the Marines who went on the trip. It was nice to socialize so much with people and genuinely laugh. I ate escargot. Two actually! I had it once before in KC on a French club field trip, so I only had to hype myself up a little bit. When it came out still in the shell I wasn’t about it anymore but I had agreed that I would eat one, so I did. After three chews I realized it actually wasn’t bad, just tasted like garlic and butter, and I was super proud of myself. I was worried about the texture being too chewy but it wasn’t bad at all. Then we had to hype up some of the others at the table to try it on their own. I eventually had a second one, which was definitely not as good as the first one because it was bigger and gritty for a couple bites like it was sandy.

We got back to the hotel for the night and again I worked until 1 am when I finally called it a night, closed my laptop, and close my eyeballs. The 0630 sun the next morning was not my favorite thing but thankfully some breakfast and coffee helped. We spent the next several hours editing and posting photos to social media since it was Memorial Day and all my photos were right on cue.
Finally at noon we left and headed to Paris with the band. (Read on for the second half of the trip getting to go to Paris to cover the 1st Marine Division Band.)

Overall thoughts –

Again, I was just really glad I finally got to France and especially Belleau Wood. It’s been such a big part of history and knowledge in the Marine Corps for me and even more so after being stationed here. It was awesome to be a part of this unique year as well. It was truly an honor to get to photograph the whole weekend and know that everything from the 2021 ceremonies is from me (and my corporal). It was especially nice to have a day to drive around, learn the history in detail, and understand the movements of the battles and the war itself. Its so much better than reading or sitting in a classroom to learn about it.

Would highly, highly recommend Marines go here, spend some time, visit all the places, and take a moment to sit, listen, and be still to think of all those who gave their lives right here on this soil. And especially to think about how far we’ve come since then.. That the relationships with the French and Germans is so different today than we could have imagine 103 years ago.

Check out my released content:

My photos

https://www.dvidshub.net/image/6674457/aisne-marne-103rd-belleau-wood-ceremony

https://www.dvidshub.net/image/6674435/oise-aisne-103rd-belleau-wood-ceremony

https://www.dvidshub.net/image/6674469/belleau-wood-iron-mike-wreath-laying

https://www.dvidshub.net/image/6674309/us-marines-support-german-wreath-laying-ceremony

My video

https://www.dvidshub.net/video/800501/we-remember-103rd-belleau-wood-anniversary