WILMINGTON — Wilmington College professors are leading a 13-day, World War II-themed study trip in June 2019 with stops in France, England and Germany.
Participants — students, faculty, staff, alumni and community members — will have the rare opportunity of attending a special commemoration of D-Day’s 75th anniversary in Normandy, France.
The “D-Day 75: England, France and Germany” tour is June 2 through June 14.
The itinerary starts in London, where travelers will not only visit some of the city’s more traditional attractions, but also tour the Imperial War Museum and Cabinet War Rooms, which served as the underground headquarters where Prime Minister Winston Churchill and the commanders planned the Allied war effort.
The group will head to southern England to visit the D-Day Museum in Portsmouth, where they will board a ferry and cross the English Channel to Normandy.
There, they will join thousands for the 75th anniversary observance of D-Day. Participants also will explore such historic sites as the Utah Beach D-Day Museum, the American Cemetery and Pointe du Hoc, the 100-foot cliff overlooking the English Channel.
Paris is next on the itinerary, which includes a number of WWII-themed activities. Also, the group will take a cruise on the Seine River, visit Notre Dame Cathedral, and tour and dine in the Latin Quarter. Rounding out the time in the City of Light will be a visit to the Louvre Museum and Shoad Holocaust Memorial and Museum.
Upon leaving Paris, the group will travel through France’s Bastogne Region, the site of the Battle of the Bulge, before advancing to Germany for stops in Cologne and, ultimately, Berlin. Sites include the Ardennes American Cemetery and Memorial, and visits to Berlin’s Topography of Terror Museum and Sachsenhausen concentration camp.
Participants will gain insight into both sides of the Iron Curtain from a panel-led discussion and a stop at the East Side Gallery, the stretch of the Berlin Wall that is now an international memorial for freedom.
Once in Europe, the group will have a full-time tour director and location-specific tour guides; however, two Wilmington College faculty members with years of experience with short-term, study-abroad trips are coordinating the excursion. They are Dr. Angela Mitchell, associate professor of business administration, and Dr. Jim FitzSimmons, professor of mathematics, who can be reached via email at [email protected] and [email protected], respectively.
The tour company is EF (Education First) College Tours, which has been staging study trips for students and persons of all ages for 50 years.
Cost, registration and more details for the “D-Day 75: England, France and Germany” tour can be found at http://www.efcst.com/2161612VR. EF is offering a $200 early enrollment discount through Sept. 15 and a $150 discount for those enrolling between Sept. 16 and 30.
