Friday, March 14, 2008

Toccoa Falls and Easy Company

Time to do some catching up on what we’ve been up to while in the Georgia Mts. Other then trying to stay warm, we did manage to get in a few road trips on the sunny days.

The first day we headed over to the city of Toccoa, to visit Toccoa Falls, which is located on the campus of Toccoa Falls College, there is a small charge to walk back to the falls but it’s worth it. Read the sign below to find out about this killer falls.



60 feet higher the Niagara Falls, it's just a short walk from the gift shop.










After leaving the falls we drove into town and stopped at the old Railroad Depot, which has been turned into two museums. The first is a museum about the county, which has a very interesting history; it was surprising to see how many famous people have come from this little town. But then we passed through the doors to see what we really came for The Currahee Military Museum; this covers the history of Camp Toccoa, the Paratroopers Training center for the 506th, 501st, 511th and the 517th. This was the home camp for Easy Company better known by the name of the movie that was made about them “A Band of Brothers” This was one of the best little museums that we have been to in a few years, they have done an excellent job of collecting and displaying numerous artifacts from the soldiers and their families.

After leaving the museum we did the driving tour which took us to the location where the original camp was, the still have the foundation of the front gate and have placed a monument on it, also back down the road in the fields you can still find the fire hydrates and some street signs that are left over.


These T-shirts were issued to the soldiers that trained here, this is the only known original to exist, since the soldiers wore them when they went of to battle, they were all destroyed and thrown away. This one was given to a girlfriend in town and that's why it's still around.







The Movie Band of Brothers was based on soldiers that trained here. This is a picture of the cast from the movie.










Easy Company (Band of Brothers) held their 60th Reunion here.












Click on this to enlarge so you can read it, it tells about the stable in England that was converted into a barracks for Easy Company to use while they were staging for D-Day. The museum has one of the original that they had dismantled and shipped here.













The Stable/Barracks









Inside the stable










This is a letter written to one of the soldiers from his mother, when they were dismantling the stable it was found wedged between two of the planks.











If you follow the driving tour you end up out where the original camp was, the foundation of the front gate is still there with the monument on it. Down the road and in the woods you will find some old street signs and fire hydrants showing where the streets and barracks were.










This town is also the home town of George Washington Hitt, he was crippled and in a wheel chair, he had very little use of his arms and hands yet he had an incredible talent, holding a pair of surgical scissors upside down and using only his thumbs he cut out shadow pictures that are just unbelievably intricate in their design.



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