Tanks, Planes, Boats, Military Stuff

[Sololson]

This week my Father-in-Law and I headed off to Oregon to pick up his Dad's old WWII Harley WLA. It was a perfect little trip, just us guys sitting around drinking whiskey and listening to old war stories. I absolutely loved it. Dick was in the 4th Armored and saw action in the Battle of the Bulge, as well as being among some of the first soldiers to begin liberating concentration camps. It was incredible for me to hear his first hand accounts and see the pictures that he himself had taken. Like many other GI's he endured more than any young man should have to. It wasn't all bad times though, Dick did find time to putt around the European countryside on a Royal Enfield he "liberated" from the Germans, who had swiped it from the British. This bike was left behind when he came back to the states, and although he didn't see any action on the WLA that we went up to Oregon to get, he has had it for a long time and it has the signatures of a bunch of guys he served with written inside the stars on the tanks. This trip was definitely a highlight event for me, bringing together several of my passions: history, motorcycles, and family. Am I a lucky guy or what?!