History professor Rod Andrew took a group of students to France and Belgium
\nto analyze the events of D-Day and the Battle of the Bulge.
\nThe students came back profoundly affected.
\nBy Nancy Spitler<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/li><\/ul><\/div><\/div>
Clarence K. Hollingsworth \u201941 got married a month before he shipped overseas during WWII, entering the service with the rank of second lieutenant. He arrived overseas in 1943, serving with the 8th Infantry\u00a0Division in France.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n He was a good soldier, one of only two of his class promoted to the rank of lieutenant colonel. While serving as commanding officer of the 3rd Battalion, 28th Infantry Regiment, 8th Infantry Division, he led his men in action against enemy forces on April 14, 1945, where he sustained injuries that resulted in his death on May 16, 1945. According to the citation for his posthumous Distinguished Service Cross, his \u201coutstanding leadership, personal bravery and zealous devotion to duty at the cost of his life, exemplify the highest traditions of the military forces of the United States and reflect great credit upon himself, the 8th Infantry Division, and the United States Army.\u201d It wasn\u2019t difficult for Andrew to come up with eight Clemson alumni who had been killed in action in WWII. \u201cThere are some 376 Clemson alumni, more than almost any other school in the country, who were killed in WWII, many of them in Europe, many of them still buried in one of the three cemeteries we were going to visit,\u201d said Andrew.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<\/div><\/section><\/div> Students prepared for their trip to France and Belgium by reading D-Day<\/em> by Stephen Ambrose and large selections of Danny Parker\u2019s book on the Battle of the Bulge, as well as by taking some online quizzes covering the material. Knowledge in hand, they departed on June 8, took the red-eye and arrived in Paris first thing the next morning. Without any sleep, they drove straight to Normandy and started the tour. \u201cThat first day,\u201d said Andrew, \u201cwe went 34 hours without sleep.\u201d![\"\"](\"https:\/\/clemson.world\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/08\/To-Stand_Hollingsworth-Grave-845x684.jpg\")
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\nThe Distinguished Service Cross was only one of the medals he received. The British government awarded him the Distinguished Service Order, the French government awarded him the Croix de Guerre. He also wore the Oak Leaf Cluster, the Silver Star, Bronze Star and Purple Heart.
\nAdd to those medals one that now sits on the right crosspiece of the cross that marks his grave in Belgium: a gold Clemson 2016 National Championship commemorative coin, left there by Clemson student Patrick Chambrovich.
\nChambrovich was in Belgium as part of a summer study abroad course with history professor Rod Andrew, studying the D-Day landings and the Battle of the Bulge. During the 10-day trip to Normandy and Bastogne, Belgium, Andrew led the class in analyzing these events \u201cfrom a tactical and strategic point of view, but more so asking students to consider issues of commemoration and memory and how WWII has affected our ideas of patriotism and martial sacrifice.\u201d
\nAs part of the class, each student was assigned to research a Clemson alumnus who had died in WWII and was buried in one of the three cemeteries they would visit. Chambrovich had been assigned Hollingsworth. In his research, he discovered that Hollingsworth had no children and no siblings. In his presentation to the class, Chambrovich said it had struck him that quite possibly they were the only people to ever visit his grave. As he finished his presentation, he pulled the Clemson coin from his pocket and carefully placed it on the cross marking Hollingsworth\u2019s grave.
\n\u201cIt was very moving,\u201d said Andrew, visibly affected as he remembered.<\/p>\n\n
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\nMilitary Strategy and the Reality of War<\/h5>\n
\nThree days in Normandy were followed by a day-long trip to Bastogne, Belgium, three days in Belgium, and then a day and two nights in Paris before they flew back. Andrew, who is a colonel in the Marine Corps Reserve and served in Desert Storm, was particularly suited to lead the trip.
\nThe group visited battle sites in France and Belgium as well as museums, memorials and cemeteries \u2014 American, British, Canadian and German. They explored the sites of the Merville Battery, Pegasus Bridge and Pointe du Hoc, where they stood in the craters that still remain. They saw the stained glass windows at the church in Ste. Mere Eglise, showing the Virgin Mary as well as paratroopers coming down from the sky. They saw the famous hedgerows. They walked the beaches \u2014 Juno, Utah and Omaha \u2014 and discussed the challenges of defending or attacking these positions, how difficult amphibious landings were in the face of strategically positioned German machine guns.
\nMost of the group were rising seniors. One student actually delayed his graduation until August to go on this trip. Another student, David Gaffney, brought the perspective of an Iraq combat veteran whose grandfather had fought in WWII and landed at Omaha Beach. In the journal he wrote during the trip, he imagined himself in the shoes of the soldiers who had fought these battles.
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<\/a>![\"Laura](\"https:\/\/clemson.world\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/08\/To-Stand_Fuller-800x684.jpg\")
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