You Can Visit the Western Front This September

Since I came back from my first trip to the Western Front in 1990, I have been telling everyone that you can't really appreciate what happened in the Great War until you have actually visited and walked its battlefields.  From 1991 to 2018 I led World War One tours to France, Flanders, Italy, and Gallipoli and I can't remember a traveler who said the experience had not changed his thinking about the war.

This year my old outfit, Valor Tours, Ltd.,  is providing the sort of tour I can strongly recommend to our readers.  Below are some details from the brochure.  You can download the full brochure HERE.  MH

Highlights

• Explorations of the major American battlefields in France, including their memorials and cemeteries

• Stops at Verdun, the Somme, Champagne, Chemin des Dames and Marne battlefields 

• Compiègne Armistice Glade

• Museums Include: Musée de la Grande Guerre, Château-Thierry Visitors Center, 14-18 Museum en Argonne, 1870 Museum, Main de Messiges Trench Complex, Musee Somme 1916,  Cambrai Tank Museum

• Some Special Places: Reims Cathedral, George Patton's First Tank Attack, the Red Baron's Crash Site, WWII Fort Driant, Verdun Memorial and Ossuary, Fort Douaumont,  Thiepval Memorial, Cavern des Dragons, Lochnagar Mine Crater 

• Opportunities for fine French cuisine and a Champagne cellar tour

Some Details

Your Guide

Tour Director Mike Grams, an American citizen, was born in Verdun where his father was based; his mother worked as a  translator at St.Mihiel. He has lived and traveled extensively throughout France and speaks French fluently. Mike and his wife now spend most of the year in France, where he has escorted many groups and individuals around France since retiring from the wine business.