Clarence to George Bailey in It’s a Wonderful Life: “Strange, isn’t it? Each man’s life touches so many other lives. When he isn’t around he leaves an awful hole, doesn’t he?”
In the summer of 2013 the Webmaster celebrated his 50th Birthday with family and friends at the Hotel du Commerce in Aubréville. For that occasion Randal put together the slide show below (in .pdf format) that outlines many of his trips to the battlefields and many of the resulting friendships.
Birthday Slides–Through the Years
Thinking about the quote above: Randal’s first introduction to the battlefields was in 1986 with Lt. Col. Graham Parker, OBE, of Flanders Tours. Through him Randal learned of and joined the Western Front Association. Through that organization he met many of the people in the slides; and through them he was introduced to the Deutsches Erinnerungskommittee Argonnerwald. (www.argonnerwald.de) His first participation in a DEA work-day was in 1994. Shortly afterward, he was introduced to and became a member of the French Group, Les Amis de Vauquois. (http://butte-vauquois.fr/) The end result has been many enduring friendships over the years and an international birthday celebration that included citizens of France, Germany, the Netherland, Belgium, the U.K. and the U.S.
