Toured the Battlefield

[DAKSY]

Just got back from a three day visit to York & Gettysburg, Pa. Wow. Thursday Afternoon we took the Steel Toe Tour of the York Harley Davidson Manufacturing Facility, & since I retired from a very large machine shop environment, I probably got more out of it than the other white collar types I was with. Spent all day Friday touring the battlefield, museum, & Cyclorama. Way Freekin Cool! Had a guided bus tour, with a licensed tour guide from the National Park Service who took us through the three-day sequence of events on July 1, 2 & 3 1863. Historically interesting & emotionally draining to think of American citizens killing & maiming each other, while actually standing in the very spots where it all occurred... The Cyclorama of Pickett's Charge was incredible. The Battlefield Museum was great. Seeing the personal belongings, diaries & letters of those who marched, encamped & fought really brought the whole thing close to home...
On Saturday, we took a tour of the Eisenhower Farm & that was amazing, too. Just a regular, everyday US home. No real flair or glamor, considering who DDE was & his importance in helping to shape the world we now live in.
350 miles home in the pouring rain on the bike is something I could have done without, but overall the trip was
great. I'd recommend it to anyone.

 

[BrotherBart]

emotionally draining to think of American citizens killing & maiming each other

Yeah. A problem I have always had with the glorification of the Civil War around these parts.

 

[begreen]

I can appreciate that. Felt that way at Verdun. I was overwhelmed for a couple days. I have that problem with the glorification of war in any parts.

 

[mass_burner]

I can appreciate that. Felt that way at Verdun. I was overwhelmed for a couple days. I have that problem with the glorification of war in any parts.

I haven't been to either area, but are they glorifying it? Hitler used to glorify war; so does ISIS.

 

[gzecc]

Gettysburg is an amazing place. Its just unbelievable to me how they continued to kill each other year after year. Standing in open fields, hand to hand, no real medical care to speak of. Just amazing.

 

[firefighterjake]

When I was in Gettysburg the word that came to mind for me was "sobering."

Sobering to imagine brother against brother in some cases . . . Americans against Americans . . . fighting a long, vicious war . . . and especially sobering to be standing on the ground where the 20th Maine and 47th Alabama fought hand to hand . . . and yet there I was attending a class with a fellow American who just happened to be from Alabama.

Gettysburg and the Holocaust Museum . . . two places where folks should visit . . . and remember the lessons of the past.

 

[begreen]

I haven't been to either area, but are they glorifying it? Hitler used to glorify war; so does ISIS.

Oh no, quite the opposite. The somber message is more about the absurdity, horror and vanity of war. It is done in the hope of stopping a slaughter like that from happening again.

 

[sportbikerider78]

I can appreciate that. Felt that way at Verdun. I was overwhelmed for a couple days. I have that problem with the glorification of war in any parts.

I agree in many ways. The civil war was a travesty.

Think about how many millions more of red blooded Americans we would have walking the earth if we didn't lose so many in that war...regardless of which side you favor.

 

[BrotherBart]

The reenactments here sure never seem to have a somber message.

 

[begreen]

Maybe not a sober message either?