Like a band of brothers, we set out for the French countryside on May 6th like our fathers did 80 years ago fighting the Germans in World War 2.

Together, we went on a fact-finding mission to retrace the footsteps where our fathers battled in and around the beautiful, picturesque commune of Herrlisheim, France, which was liberated by United States Army and French forces in 1945.

We arrived in Herrlisheim not knowing what facts we would find, but we left with a clear understanding of what our fathers went through and experienced during that freezing battle that occurred in January 1945 — just 4 months before the war in Europe ended. The battle was the start of Adolph Hitler’s last major offensive against the allies in France called Operation Nordwind.

My fellow travelers were Ted Glogovac from San Jose, CA, Paul Rivette, from Huntsville, AL, and Geoff Lackey, from Columbia, TN. The fathers of Ted, Paul, and Geoff and my father-in-law, Haig Derderian, all fought alongside each other in the U.S. Army’s 12th Armored Division, nicknamed The Hellcats.

Mikalya Spivey, director of the 12th Armored Division Museum in Abilene, TX, also traveled with us along with her mother, Cindy, and the museum’s manager Jax.

Geoff’s dad, Mac Lackey, was a tanker in the 23rd Tank Battalion, Company A; Ted’s dad was Nick Glogovac, with the 494th Field Artillery Battalion; Paul’s dad was Al Rivette, with the 56th Armored Infantry Battalion; and Haig was in the 714th Tank Battalion, Company B.

We had been invited by government officials in Herrlisheim to take part in their 80th anniversary celebration of the liberation from the Nazis. The celebration was scheduled over two days that week, May 7th and 8th.

Ted, Paul, Geoff and I each are members of the 12th Armored Division Association. Ted, Paul, and Geoff each are on the association’s Executive Council and I just joined the group in July 2024 when I attended the group’s 78th annual reunion.

It was a reunion for me of sorts because I visited Herrlisheim last year around the same time to do research for my book that I’m writing about my father-in-law and his life before, during, and after the war.

Last year while in France, I met with 87-year-old historian Lise Pommois from Neiderbronn, France, who showed me battle sites around the area for about 10 hours. I met with 87-year-old François Thomann, former mayor of Herrlisheim Pres Colmar — south of Strasbourg — in which U.S. forces liberated in February 1945. I also met with Commune De Herrlisehim Deputy Mayor Nadine Beuriot at the government offices and we talked for several hours about the war. She took me around town to show me important sites in the town where heavy fighting occurred in January 1945.

I never expected to visit Herrlisheim again — that is, until I received an invite by email from Nadine to attend the 80th anniversary of the liberation. Then, Geoff, Ted, Paul and I began talking and planning to attend.

For about two months, we planned the trip, identifying battle sites that we wanted to visit and how we could follow the paths that our fathers walked in during the war. We each had our bucket list of places to visit and things that we wanted to see. We squeezed them all in within less than a week.

Geoff, Paul, and I flew out of Detroit Metropolitan Airport on May 5th on the same Delta flight. We flew nine hours through the night and met up with Ted the next morning in the Frankfurt International Airport in Frankfurt, Germany. After arriving and getting our rental cars, we headed to our first destination — Lohnsfeld, Germany.

Back in March 1945, Geoff’s dad Mac was riding in his tank in the 23rd Tank Battalion when his unit was ambushed by German soldiers. They managed to kill and injure several American soldiers, but Mac was able to flee the tank, escape to a deep ditch along the side of the road, and hid from the Germans. Mac could hear enemy soldiers walking, talking and looking for him. He managed to remain hidden and was rescued later that day by American troops who were passing through.

As Geoff and I drove to Lohnsfeld from Frankfurt, he said his dad – who passed away in 2017 at the age of 96 — described the location in the road in Lohnsfeld where he hid in the ditch. In case Geoff ever visited the town, he would know where to spot the location.

Geoff and I parked in an Aldi grocery store parking lot and walked a couple hundred yards along the road in this tiny rural town. Mac told Geoff there was a bend in the road where the attack occurred. We walked on the same ground where Mac fled from German soldiers 80 years earlier. I got chills just thinking about it.

The landscape was beautiful. In front of us was a sprawling field of yellow flowers flowing over rolling hills. Traffic was sparse on the newly paved asphalt winding country road. Aldi seemed like the place to be as the parking lot was full.

Geoff and I walked to a bend in the road and wondered if this was the exact spot where his father dove into a ditch to avoid capture in that harsh winter of 1945. Regardless whether it was the exact position, Mac and his tank unit were in this town eight decades ago.

We drove into the small downtown and met up with Paul and Ted in search of a place to eat, but nothing in town was open — absolutely nothing! The four of us stood on the sidewalk next to a church and it was like a ghost town at 1 pm. We joked that the town must open up later in the evening, but we weren’t sticking around to find out, so we left for our hotel in Bernolsheim, France — about 90 minutes away.

After a night of dinner and drinks in the beautiful, historic city of Strasbourg, France, the four of us traveled the next day to the commune of La Wantzenau where we visited the MM Park museum. The museum is an impressive collection of U.S. and German military armored vehicles from World War 2. We met Mikayla and her crew and all toured the museum together.

It was the first time that I stood in front of a U.S. Army M4 Sherman tank and a half track vehicle, which Haig drove during the war.

From there, we drove to Herrlisheim and entered the town’s government building where we met with Deputy Mayor Nadine Beuriot, and Mayor Serge Schaeffer. His daughter Claire was there to help be an interpreter for us in case we needed it. She came from Paris where she works at a large international law firm.

The town had invited our group for a celebratory lunch with other dignitaries, so we walked across the street to the wonderful restaurant Au Cheval Noir. Fifteen of us sat down at a long table in the elegant restaurant, ate fantastic French cuisine, drank French wine, and drank Picon.

Aside from the mayor and deputy mayor at the lunch, other guests included U.S. Army Col. Rick Galeano, the USEUCOM Civil-Military Operations Division Chief, Lt. Col. Colleen Krepstekies with the U.S. Military Civil Affairs Division, local historian Eric Zilliox, our group from the U.S. and Jocelyne Papelard-Brescia.

Jocelyn is in charge of the adoptions by French citizens to care for more than 5,200 grave sites of U.S. servicemen at Epinal American Cemetery in Epinal, France. Jocelyn founded the U.S. Memory Grand Est France, which matches graves with volunteers from France, who look after the graves of U.S. soldiers buried at Epinal.

Later that evening, our group was invited as VIP guests to attend the Concert De Jazz Americain by the orchestra par l’Harmonie Saint Arbogast followed by a dinner, drinks and viewing in a packed auditorium of the French/American war film Paris brule t’ll? (Is Paris Burning?). The black and white film was entirely in French with no English subtitles, but our group followed along.

The next day was the celebration in Herrlsheim and we were astonished by the magnitude of the event and the 5-star, VIP treatment that the city gave us. Upwards of 700 dignitaries, military personnel, family members from the 12th Armored Division, and residents from Herrlisheim attended the 80th liberation celebration, including members from the French government and United States Embassy Consul General for Strasbourg Yvonne Gonzalez.

From our group Paul Rivette gave a heartfelt tribute speech before the crowd, Col. Galeano spoke in French and English about the relations between the two allied powers, and I delivered my best acting abilities to recite After Herrlisheim — a lengthy poem written by 12th Armored Division veteran William Waddington — that’s read every year during the liberation remembrance ceremonies. I read it with passion in English — matching the best Oscar-winning performances of all time — and that was followed by a class of school children who read the poem in French.

A key moment occurred when a stunning new monument dedicated to the 12th Armored Division was unveiled on the grounds of Saint Arbogast Church, which features other World War 2 monuments.

The hour-long ceremony ended with a parade around a few blocks of Herrlisheim of military personnel from France and the United States and vintage World War 2 U.S. Army vehicles.

A celebration party was held afterwards at the town’s exposition center where we met with government officials, townspeople, and my old friend, historian Lise Pommois, who arrived with her husband Etienne.

We ate, drank French beer and wine, and were truly treated like royalty by the mayor, deputy mayor, officials involved in the ceremony, and the citizens from Herrlisheim. Ted, Geoff, Paul, Mikayla, and I were thoroughly impressed by the hospitality and kindness that we were shown.

At one point, Mayor Schaeffer grabbed me aside and wanted me to meet their former mayor Becker Louis. Becker had been mayor for 41 years! What an honor it was to meet him!

A highlight of the event was going for a ride in a vintage U.S. Army jeep through the fields and wooded area around Herrlisheim. Geoff and I grabbed a ride after I mightily struggled to get in the jeep. With my 5’6″ stature, and the fact that I hadn’t yet properly stretched my body, my stubby legs had a hard time getting into the back seat of the jeep.

Just ask Geoff and Ted. They both recorded me struggling to get in the jeep. You can hear Geoff laughing and saying, “Tom, don’t pull a hammy!!.”

Apparently my frame isn’t build for getting into an Army Jeep. Now a tank!?! Bring it on.

Before the celebrations ended, our group was asked to pose for a photo next to the new 12th Armored Division monument honoring The Hellcats. We also presented Mayor Schaeffer with a Certificate of Appreciation during a short ceremony with Ted giving the award.

After a full day of celebrating, we were ready for our battle tour of Herrlisheim on Friday.

Robert Scherer, who is on the Executive Council of the 12th Armored Division Association, helped arrange for us to meet with local historian Eric Zilliox, whose family has lived in Herrlisheim for four generations. Eric has an unending passion discovering the history of the battle around Herrlisheim, collecting binders full of wartime photos, maps and map overlays to show exactly where battles had taken place.

After the commune’s celebrations were over, Eric arranged to take us on a tour to see the old battle sites where our fathers walked 80 years earlier. I also arranged for us to meet with Lise, who said she could work in tandem with Eric and give us even more historical context.

Our group met with Eric at Saint Arbogast on a chilly, sunny Friday morning at 8 am. Joining our group was a large family from Ireland, who had attended the ceremonies to honor their family member Edward Somers, who had served with the 43rd Tank Battalion, Company C.

In our caravan of 4 vehicles, Eric took us to each of the locations where battles were fought around Herrlisheim between the Germans and American forces. Our 2nd stop on the tour was an empty field where the 43rd Tank Battalion had been nearly wiped out in January 1945. Edward Somers was one of the few lucky ones to survive that battle.

During the tour, Eric would show us photos from during the war in his binder, then take us to the location where the photo was taken. It was an incredible perspective seeing the scenery 80 years later in person.

Eric has a passion for a history of the battle in Herrlisheim. He often walks the farm fields and finds relics like old 30 caliber bullet shells, 50 caliber shells, a well-preserved bayonette, pieces from tanks, and even a metal Army helmet.

Our last stop on the tour was at La Breymuhl (the Waterworks), which was the site of the initial assault on Herrlisheim on January 8-9, 1945 by the 56th Infantry Division and 714th Tank Battalion, Company B (Haig’s unit).

While approaching from the town of Rohrwiller, U.S. soldiers crossed 3 intact bridges, but found that a fourth bridge over the Zorn River had been destroyed. Little did the soldiers know, but on the other side was a large force of German soldiers and Panzer tanks.

The American soldiers were under heavy fire, with many getting killed or injured.

During the fighting, a group of American soldiers retreated to the interior brick walls of La Breymuhl, which still stands in rubble today. The soldiers lasted through the night in a major battle and they put together a 100% defensive effort there, battling and pushing back a strong German force.

The group and I toured the ruins at La Breymuhl, which is covered by thick woods, vines, and graffiti. Bullet holes remain in the walls; broken and whole bricks are scattered on the ground; some walls are half-standing, while others are wholly intact.

I’ll be honest — it was creepy, but to think that a major firefight took place right there within those walls where we were standing was an incredible, surreal feeling.

Unfortunately, I had to leave the next day for a flight home from Frankfurt, so my time with the group had to end.

I only met Ted, Geoff, Paul, and Mikayla once last summer during the 12th Armored Division reunion, but I left this trip feeling like we were a family. We experienced so much together and as I reflect on it, we had an opportunity that not a lot of people get — to walk in the footsteps of where our fathers or relatives fought in World War 2.

It was a world away for us — but just a quick 9-10 hour flight back home. But for our fathers, it was a long journey there and an even longer, brutal journey back home — and that’s if you were lucky enough to survive the war or keep your sanity.

As I left Ted, Paul, and Geoff that afternoon and marveled at the friendship we had formed, I couldn’t help but feel that Haig, Mac, Nick, and Al would have developed the same friendship serving together during the war.

Together, we became a band of brothers.