Winter 1944

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While I was in Belgium, I took a slight detour off or the 75th Infantry WWII route to go to a museum dedicated to relics from the Battle of the Bulge. The 75th Infantry had served in the Battle of the Bulge but that was in the Winter of 1944, almost a year before my father 1st lieutenant Arthur Thorspecken got to Europe.

The  Museum Winter 1944 is in Gingelom Belgium. When I drove into the little rural town I was a bit annoyed because the road leading to the museum was closed. I drove around the block and found a church to park next to. Then I hiked the rest of the way to the museum. As I got closer, it started to feel like a Twilight Zone episode. A nurse walked by but her outfit didn’t feel modern.

The I rounded the corner and found a phalanx of American soldiers standing around and chatting near a Sherman tank. I wasn’t expecting this. The sketchbook immediately came out of my art bag. There were dozens of vintage American WWII vehicles parked in the street. Before I started sketching I walked up to the solders and asked what was going on. Thankfully one spoke in broken English. He explained that there was going to be a battle in a couple of hours. The Germans had a camp set up an camp outside of town in a field and the Americans were planning an attack.

Though I wanted to go in the museum, it would have to wait, since history was coming alive right in front of me. I did go into the museum after the battle was over. I loved that there was an artists watercolor kit which is almost identical to what I use.

One vehicle had a loud speaker that was playing tunes from the 1940s. Once in a while a solder would look over my shoulder as I was documenting the scene and say “zeer” or “leuk.” I repeated the one phrase I had learned best in Belgium which is “bedankt.” Which means thank you, in Dutch. Some solders also spoke in French, but I didn’t pick up any loud boisterous American slang being thrown around.

As I was finishing up this sketch, all the American Army trucks fired up their engines and they drove off. I was told they were parading the vehicles around the town. When they were gone, I walked up to the one vehicle that did not drive off, which was the Sherman Tank. An American flag fluttered above the tank harkening back to a time when the Stars and Stripes truly represented well ingrained patriotic ideals.

Loading the Troop Carrier

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As the sun set, the final preparations were being made to break down the American Military Camp. A large canvas tent had been folded up by two soldiers and I believe a nurse. Such preparations would have happened weekly or daily for the men of the 75th Infantry, C-Company.
I was all sketched out and wanted to collapse into a warm bed.  There was still a lot of work to be done to break down the camp, so I found Flourent and let him know that I was going to drive back to the hotel and bed down for the night.
When on the front lines and one the move infantry soldiers didn’t always have the luxury of a full camp set up. Soldiers would sleep wherever they could, be it in abandoned homes, barns or churches.

I showed the woman who was so welcoming, my father’s military identification card. He was just 22 years old and going to Europe as a 1st lieutenant. A first lieutenant is the highest rank where you are out in the field with boots on the ground. Any rank higher and you are behind a desk. A company commander was often a Captain.  C-Company  had 3 platoons with 50 to 200 soldiers. Platoons are broken down into 3-4 squads with 18 to 50 soldiers, then each squad has 6-10 soldiers. A First lieutenant often would lead one of the platoons himself. Often acting as the tip to a spearhead.

A platoon leader was usually a 2nd lieutenant or 1st lieutenant. He would be armed with an M1 carbine rifle.

There would be 1 platoon Sargent or technical Sargent armed with an M1 carbine rifle.

There would be 2 light truck drivers, armed with and M1 rifle and M7 Grenade launcher each.

There would be 2 messengers, each a Private First Class armed with an M1 rifle each.

The platoon headquarters was mounted in 2n1/2 ton trucks or jeeps with trailers acting as weapons and ammunition carriers. One truck would be armed with an M2HB heavy machine gun for local anti air defense. Three bazooka were in the Company weapons pool. Each rifle Company would consist of three rifle platoons, a weapons platoon and a ead Quarters platoon. Each platoon was commanded by a 2nd Lieutenant or 1st

The 75th Infantry’s  1st, 2nd and 3rd Battalions worked together with one battalion often protecting the flanks of another. For this European sketch research trip, I decided I was only sketching the movements of the 1st Battalion, C-Company which is the company Arthur would have been leading. Different Battalions would often set up camp in different towns. It is hard enough to keep track of the movements of one Battalion and Company, I can’t imagine keeping track of all 3.

About February 17, 1945 Le Havre, France

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Traveling to Le Havre, France by train from Paris was a challenge. Le Havre is the French port city that the 75th Infantry history notes at the port troops arrived at from South Hampton, England. I might be flying to England later in this trip to sketch South Hampton and to buy several weeks away from Schengen European countries so that I can attend a huge WWII reenactment in Belgium which features the 75th Infantry. I have 90 days to finish this project and I might need to extend the time spent by skipping away to England for a time.

I got several hundred dollars in Euros at an ATM machine in the airport for emergencies. Today at a restaurant the waitress told me they don’t take credit cards. I tried a credit card, a debit card, and neither worked. Thankfully I still had a few Euros inn my pocket. I spent an afternoon trying to get Euros from Western Union but was tld, they can not use a credit card to exchange money. It has to be cash to cash. I don’t have much American cash, s I am stuck.

My first day in Le Havre, I sketched this WWII Memorial, called the Monument Aux Morts. It was built in 1924 to honor the dead from WWI but later plaques were added t honor the dead from WWII. This monument would have been standing when my father, Arthur Thorspecken first arrived in Europe. It commemorates the 6,638 residents of Le Havre who gave their lives in the first World War, the Second World Wat and in Indochina and Algeria. One plaque was a tribute to the resistance fighters of Le Havre who were deported and died for France during WWII. Another plaque was for the Soldiers who died for France between 1939 and 1945. Another plaque was for the civilian victims who died during theh bombings of Le Havre during WWII.

Besides the dark metal plaques at the foot of the sculpture the large stone base was covered with names of the dead carved into the stone. Lady liberty spreads her wings on one end of the sculpture while the grim reaper bows his shrouded head looking over the names of the dead.

This was a good first day of sketching. At night I ate at a restaurant right in the building I was staying in. Then I went upstairs and started to book a room for the next day. The next stop was several hundred miles east of Le Havre just West of Colmar France. While trying to book a room, Seacoast Bank contacted me and said they suspected fraud with my Debit card. I had only bought a train ticket and several meals. The Le Havre room had been booked from the United States. Looking through the expenses they questioned, everything checked out except an attempted purchase of a plane ticket to Amsterdam. I had no intention of flying to Amsterdam, so sure enough someone had somehow hacked into my debit card account. Maybe I should not have ordered a Nathans Hot Dog at the airport. I still had the card, but was told I had to cut it up. I had a Revolut card that I decided to get for emergencies before I left the states. It now became my life line. Seacoast Bank however is holding my savings hostage and will not let me transfer funds to my Revolut Visa travel card. I also have an American Express card but it keeps failing, when I try to use it. Every day has become a battle, wondering if I will end up homeless in Europe with no access to my bank account. Raymond, a service rep for my bank refused to help saying, “I don’t know anything about that Revolut card and neither does my supervisor.” It seems ignorance is a sad excuse for poor costumer service.  Though the victim of card fraud, I feel like I am being treated as the criminal. Fourteen days into my Europe WWII project and the banking battle continues.  I have started eating fallen pears and apples to keep food expenses down so that the funds don’t run out before a solution is found. I just keep moving forward and hopefully it will all work out.  “Always get there somehow.”

Bus Ride to The Woodring Wall and Museum

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Mt father was a 1st Lieutenant of the 75th Infantry Division. The 2025 reunion for the 75th was being held in Oklahoma City, so I had to go to see what I could find out that might help as I make plans to follow in my fathers footsteps through Europe.

There were several day trips planned. One to the Oklahoma National Memorial & Museum and the other to the Woodring Wall & Museum. The bus ride was a solid one and a half hours, so I had plenty of time to get a sketch done. I was also given a paperback book that was a history of the 75th Infantry so I read that on the bus ride back.

The bus driver gave us all one important warning. He said that there was a bathroom at the back of the bus but he advised against against any number twos. I’m guessing the thing doesn’t flush very well. He also advised that men sit down since he didn’t want anyone falling down with all the side to side movement of the bus.

What I recall most about the bus trip was all the gorgeous wide open countryside and and endless line of wind mills. Like an airline, there was a safety video on the multiple screens hanging over the seats.

When the buss pulled into the air field, I could see the Vietnam memorial wall. There were few name to start and then each panel filled up to it’s full height. At the far end of the long wall the names compressed once again as the wall angles down in a triangular fashion. This wall is a miniature replica of the Memorial in Washington, DC designed by then undergraduate,  Maya Ying Lin. To find the name of a loved one it is best to use the index which tells youo what panel to look at. Names on the wall are arranged chronologically, so it might take a long time to search the 58,318 names of Americans who had been killed in action. The printed index allows you to search fr the name alphabetically.

On the bus ride back to Oklahoma City, I read the 75th Infantry history ind underlined sections to double check against the list of cities and engagements I was compiling for my trip through, France, Belgium, Netherlands and Germany. Many accounts of what happened in the later days of WWII don’t pin point the actual days or even the cities, so I have to cross reference everything to come p with a unified plan of attack.

Colombian Consulate

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By Thomas Thorspecken

After driving to Alligator Alcatraz for the first time, Stella P. Arbelaéz Tascón wanted to pick up her Colombian National ID at the Colombian Consulate (280 Aragón Avenue, Coral Gables FL.) It was a quick drive across the state. The building with its Mediterranean Revival architecture blends well into the very posh neighborhood.

Walking to the consulate we passed a Pilates class and the Coral Gables Museum. A group of woman still in their tight exercise leotards must have just left the class as they passed me as I setting up my art stool in front of the Museum.  It was very early, and the museum was closed, so I was less concerned about a museum guard shooing me away.

Stella left me to watch Boo Boo her adorable tiny pup. I tied his leash to my belt as I sketched. A second group of Pilates warriors stopped to ask his name and give him all the pets. A man about half way up the block from me, seated on the sidewalk looked like he might be homeless, then again, I probably looked about the same having just come from the sweaty Everglades.

The last time Stella was here, she had to wait overnight since the line to get into the consulate had been so long, snaking around the block. This time the line did not extend past the width of the building. Also She did not have to wait in line since she was just picking up her document. The bureaucratic process still gave me enough time to complete this sketch, so she must have been inside over an hour.

With the United States spiraling into a dictatorship, having official documents is more important than ever given, the ICE raids of workplaces and family gatherings. Stella and I watched a video of a realtor talking about how many rich people are leaving the country, selling their million dollar properties. She used to see one such sale every few months but now she is seeing a flood of people getting out of the country.

I was considering purchasing a home in New York State, but now I am reconsidering the idea of buying a property in the United States. My new plan is to travel Europe, sketching each day, for eight months, following the movements of the 75th Infantry, C Company, in the final months of WWII as they defeated Fascism. My father Arthur Harold Thorspecken was a 1st Lieutenant in C Company and I am now plotting their battles, breaking it down by the day. My sketches will be dated based on the events taking place in 1945. I am pouring over several pamphlets my father had been given at the end of the war and a written recounting of the infantry’s movements based on the recollections of another 1st Lieutenant of C Company. My father never talked about the war. My brother warned me about the winter weather, but C Company had to deal with freezing conditions as they moved around Europe. I will just have to deal with whatever weather is thrown my way.