“They came from Colorado, lovely Colorado” and Underground Tunnels in WWII

In celebration of the 75th anniversary of the end of World War II, the Broomfield Veterans Memorial Museum brings you one more Virtual Coffee & Conversation.

Background: In 1945, the author Gertrude Stein lived as an ex-patriot in the French countryside under the Vichy French government. As a Jew and an American, she had lived in fear of the Nazi regime during the years of the war. When American soldiers from the 47th Infantry liberated her town, she gratefully welcomed them into her home. On page 34 of her 1945 book Wars I Have Seen, she described that joyous day, “How we talked that night, they just brought all America to us every bit of it, they came from Colorado, lovely Colorado, I do not know Colorado, but that is the way I felt about it lovely Colorado and then everybody was tired out and my were we happy, we were, completely and truly happy and completely and entirely worn out with emotion.”

Imagine the release of tension that the liberation of France brought to people like Stein and so many others! As you do so, enjoy this presentation from Lew Moir about underground tunnels in Europe and how they were used during the war.

In the Coffee & Conversation from April 2019 linked here and embedded above, Lew Moir describes four different tunnel systems used in Europe during World War II.