Battlefield tour

After the uncasing ceremony (I blogged about it here), Monsieur Castier, a gentleman that handles military relations in the area, took all of us Americans on a battlefield tour. It began in a barn which houses the Cantigny Museum: 

It was so interesting to view such a large collection of WWI memorabilia in this tiny museum:

Here is M. Castier speaking with Erick's Commander LTC Lindsay inside the museum:

We found some evidence of a visit from Erick's previous Commander and Command Sergeant Major:

M. Castier then walked us all over town showing us where all aspects of the Cantigny battle took place. It was very cool:

A street in town is named for the US forces that fought here:

There used to be a palace here in Cantigny. Now the only thing that remains of it are these iron gates. They were removed from the palace and placed on this property:

All of the damage you see on this gate was caused in battle during WWI:

Cantigny is a very small town. This building is where they held a small reception following the casing ceremony. I believe it has not changed in the last 100 years. It was very cool. Though it does not have bathrooms. There are outhouses outside that have saloon-style swinging doors and no modern plumbing. I refrained from "going" until we found a restaurant in a neighboring town:

Continuing on with the battlefield tour, M. Castier took us through a solid wall of vines to find some abandoned buildings. We had to watch out for stinging nettle, which was everywhere. But besides that, I thought these building could have made some great family photo backdrops:

He brought us here to show us this old cellar. The room at the bottom of these stairs was used as a makeshift hospital. Wounded soldiers were brought here for treatment until they could safely get them off the front line. We walked down these steep steps in the pitch dark:

Luckily, M. Castier had a flashlight. That's how I was able to see the names and dates carved into the stone:

Take a close look. I could read the following words: Fritz, E.W., USA, 1918, and FRANCE.

Here is the actual cellar at the bottom of the stairs:

Next we drove out of town to some nearby woods:

We had to cross a field...

To get to here.

Look closely at the photos above and below. Can you see an indent in the ground that looks like it could have been caused by a small stream? In 1918 (95 years ago), it was a six-foot-deep trench. It was dug by soldiers in the midst of a horrific war. The soldiers never dug straight trenches. They zig-zagged them to make it harder for the enemy to figure out their exact location:

These huge orange slugs were all over the forest floor. I love their color:

This monument is in memory of 1st Infantry Division who took Cantigny from the Germans in 1918: