In the summer of 2005 Frank Jordan had the privilege and honor of leading the Haas Family from Seattle, Washington on a wonderful ten-day tour of World War I and World War II battle sites in Belgium and France.THE FREE of FREEDOMBy Gloria HaasIs Freedom Free ? Frank Haas, for many years, had been trying to come up with a plan to help his children and grandchildren answer this question of freedom for themselves. In October of 2004, with the help of Alan Reader of Orinda Travel in Orinda, California, and Frank Jordan, an expert on World War I and II, he began planning a trip that would take his family from 1914 to 1944. He called this trip the Legacy of Freedom Experience. On June 24, 2005, twenty-one members of our family, from age 7 to 73, left the United States and flew to London, England. A chartered bus took us around London centering on tourist sites and museums that featured the events of World War I and II. From London the family took a Hovercraft to Belgium where we began our study on World War I. A complete notebook had been prepared for each family unit. This included maps, pictures and personal accounts from the men and women who had fought in both wars. The battlefields around Ypres, Belgium, were visited and World War I was taught and discussed. Reims, France was then visited and America's entry into the war in 1917 was accentuated with the laying of a wreath at the American Meuse-Argonne Cemetery. The ceremony was led by several members of the family… A visit to the 1916 French Verdun battlefields helped the group understand the terrible conditions of the Western Front. Bayeux, France was the next stop…in the Normandy area. The Mulberry Harbor and Museum at Arromanches was visited and it was possible to view the actual events leading up to the Normandy landings… July 4th was celebrated with a visit to Omaha Beach and the American Normandy Cemetery. The family again participated in a wreath laying ceremony and…visiting individual graves to pay their respects. Is Freedom Free ? We do have our freedoms which are promised to us and we do tend to take these freedoms for granted, but the resounding truth felt by all the family was that Freedom Is Not Free. It has cost the lives of millions of men and women who gave of themselves so that we could enjoy our freedoms today. Our family has literally experienced the Legacy of Freedom and we have been able to honor, in person, the true heroes who made our world and our country what it is today. We are profoundly grateful. THE MEN WITH FACES AND NAMESBy Andrew Haas, Age 12Fields red now are green, Men with guns nowhere seen, Heroes lie beneath white stone, Many which have names unknown. Names with faces, faces with names, Each fought for freedom gained, Fought through hell and the insane, These Men with faces, faces and names. Your freedom was fought for by men unknown, Will you remember those under white stone? (Written in France, June 29, 2005) |
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