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Bob and Mike’s “Excellent European Battlefield Adventurers” at the “Iron
Mike” statue, where 82nd Airborne paratroopers fought their way across
the La Fière causeway over the Merderet River.
Dr. Larson points out damage inflicted by Allied naval gunfire on German
coastal defensive positions at the Longues Battery near Arromanches.
33
www.lycoming.eduF E AT U R E S
Our D-Day adventure gave me a
welcome opportunity to give something
back to the college that gave me so much,
to take things I had learned from Dr.
Larson’s classes and our battlefield visits,
from studying French and exploring
France, and from three decades of
service in the U.S. Army and “put it all
together” for a good cause. I would jump
at the chance to do it again.
President Kent C. Trachte has set
a laudable and important goal of
expanding opportunities for Lycoming
students to study abroad and increasing
the number of students from other
countries who study at Lycoming.
My wife was one of only two foreign
students at Lycoming when I met her
there in 1976. I had the good fortune
to be able to follow her to France and
study the language, history and culture
of her country, which has enriched
my life beyond measure. I hope more
Lycoming students will have the kind of
cross-cultural experiences I was so lucky
to enjoy. Who knows? Some student
at Lycoming today could wind up
facilitating the alumni association’s visit
to Normandy for the 100
th
anniversary
of D-Day in 2044. Vive la France!
•
The author graduated from Lycoming
with majors in philosophy, English and
history. He studied English literature
at Oxford, French at the Sorbonne,
and German at Wuerzburg University.
After graduating from the University
of Pennsylvania Law School in 1982, he
accepted a direct commission in the U.S.
Army’s Judge Advocate General’s Corps,
and was assigned to Germany, where
he has served as an Army lawyer ever
since. He is a retired JAG Colonel and
serves as Senior Civilian Attorney for
the 21st Theater Sustainment Command
in Kaiserslautern, Germany, where he
supervises the command’s client legal
services programs in Germany, Belgium,
and the Netherlands. He and his wife, the
former Anne-Marie Fauroux ’76, a native
of Paris, were married at the American
Church in Paris in 1978. Their children,
Pierre and Julia, live and work in the
Washington, D.C. area.
“
President Kent C. Trachte has set a laudable and important
goal of expanding opportunities for Lycoming students to
study abroad and increasing the number of students
from other countries who study at Lycoming.
”
Lycoming College Alumni who
participated in Bob & Mike’s
2014 Excellent European
Battlefield Adventure
Sue Culin ’74
Donna Andrews ’99
Jack Lea ’80
Dave Argall ’80
Matt Jones ’87
John Piazza ’79
Charlene Shangraw ’58
Stephen W. Smith ‘77
Current and former members of the
Board of Trustees included Bill Evans
’72, Jim Scott ’70, Pete Sides ’60, and Bob
Shangraw.