Les Nichols '40 leads nostalgic tours of Normandy

Lester Nichols '40 led his eighth tour of World War II European battlefields in September 1984. Ninety-two veterans and their wives traveled with him, retracing the route taken by the U.S. Third Army's Tenth Armored Division, from the landing of troops in Normandy to the Battle of the Bulge. For Nichols, a Tenth Armored Division veteran himself, this was the most wonderful tour of all, he says, because it coincided with many 40th anniversary celebrations in Europe marking the Allied drive to push back Hitler's army and liberate France, Belgium, and Luxembourg.

Nichols had been drafted into the army while he was at Dartmouth, and he was granted a deferment until he graduated in June 1940. With "Pomp and Circumstance" still in his ears, Nichols reported to Fort Benning, Ga., for basic training.

"There were no books and no music there," he recalls. "Dartmouth had given me a greater interest in reading and good music, but most of the other recruits were pretty tough boys. It seemed to me that they just wanted to get paid, get drunk on Saturday night, and shoot craps."

Nichols had other things on his mind. He found an abandoned building on base and got permission to clean it up and to paint it. "It was probably pretty awful," he says, "but we got some chairs, some couches, and stuff." He found someone to donate a sound system; he bought some classical records, and borrowed some books. The popularity of his lounge was a surprise to everyone.

"The Regimental commander couldn't believe it. He would bring in generals to show it off," Nichols says. "There really was a great deal of interest among the new draftees and the old timers... He called me into his office one day and said, 'l'm going to send you to OCS!' "

Dartmouth had planted another seed in Nichols's mind which influenced his career tremendously, he says. While he was an undergraduate, he had written news stories for the wire services. He especially enjoyed the sportswriting. With this kind of background he was trained as a press officer at Officers Candidate School. In 1943, after a few related positions, he was assigned to the U.S. Third Army, which was in Europe under the command of Gen. George S. Patton. Nichols's specific job involved briefing 100 war correspondents each day on the battle plans of the Tenth Armored Division and then escorting them from headquarters to the front lines. He also served as the liaison between his division and General Patton's command.

Shortly after the war, Nichols wrote a history of the Tenth Armored Division at the request of Lt. Gen. William H.H. Morris Jr., wartime commander of the Tenth. The book, Impact, was published in 1954 and is now in its third edition.

Nichols organized his first tour through European battlefields in 1960. It was such a rewarding experience that when he got back he began planning his next tour.

In 1981, when Nichols began organizing for 1984, he already had taken more than 500 members and wives of the Tenth Armored Division Association through seven nostalgic tours. The big difference with the 1984 tour was that it would coincide with 40th anniversary ceremonies being planned all over northern Europe to celebrate the Allied offensive which ultimately defeated Hitler's army.

Nichols knew about some of the celebrations, but he was very much surprised at how much attention his group received. Among other honors, his tour group was chosen to represent the entire Tenth Armored Division at ceremonies marking the liberation of the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg.

"For us, our visit to Luxembourg on September 10 was beyond anything we could imagine. The day started with 40 cannon rounds being fired, raising the American flag, our national anthem, parades, a wreath-laying at the Luxembourg soldier's monument, a cathedral ceremony attended by 2,000 Luxembourgians, a visit with Grand Duke Jean, a state dinner hosted by the prime minister, a reception at City Hall, and a wreath-laying at the General Patton grave at the American Cemetery at Hamm. The day-long ceremonies were concluded by a giant fireworks display," Nichols said.

But the real heart of the tour came in small incidents which touched individuals very deeply and affected the entire tour group.

"Lucky," one of the veterans on the tour, had been a part of O'Hara's task force which had been rushed in December 1944 to the Bastogne area along with several Third Army Divisions to blunt Hitler's last-ditch Ardennes offensive. O'Hara had set up his headquarters in a small farm just outside Bastogne. Lucky had been injured in that offensive, and although much of the farmhouse was destroyed by the fighting, the family, an elderly couple and their teenage son, had survived. Through the years since the war, Lucky had still kept in touch with the son.

When Lucky knew he would go on the 1984 battlefields tour, he asked Nichols if this farmhouse in Bastogne could be on their itinerary. Although the tour was scheduled to attend a ceremony in Luxembourg that afternoon, Nichols agreed to detour through the countryside for a very short visit at the farmhouse. "We couldn't find the place," Nichols says. "Everyone felt very bad. We had just given up looking and were on our way back to the highway, when Lucky stood up and shouted, 'Stop! stop! This is the place!' " Sure enough, the son, now in his mid-fifties, was out in the yard, hailing down their big Mercedes tour bus,. "There was a Belgian flag and an American flag flying in the yard. The man started crying and waving, asking all of us to come into his house. A few did. His wife got out cordial glasses and began pouring drinks for everyone," Nichols says. "More people from the tour came in and soon there were 50 people in her dining room. They were all so overjoyed.

"The saddest part was that we had to tear ourselves away to get to Luxembourg in time. We had a pretty tough English tour guide, but he was crying, too, he was so touched by that reunion. Everyone on the tour was excited and happy for Lucky, that he had finally gotten his wish. Since that time, everyone on the bus that day has written to the Belgian and his wife!"

Although Nichols says that the 1984 tour provided enough excitement to last a lifetime, he is already planning his 1986 tour. "What really surprises me," he says, "is that each time I think there's nothing more to see, I find something I wish I had known about earlier. It's always exciting to do these towns!"

Les Nichols '40, left, presented a copy of his book about World War II, Impact, to Grand Duke Jean,head of the state of Luxembourg, right, at a 1984 ceremony marking the 40th anniversary of Luxembourg'sliberation from the Germans in World War 11. Nichols headed a group of 92 men and women representingthe U.S. Army at the ceremony. In the center is Jean Milmeister of the University of Luxembourg.