Journalist travels to Europe to follow in grandfather’s heroic footsteps

By Greg McQuade

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    RICHMOND, Virginia (WTVR) — As a journalist for WTVR, I’ve shared the stories of people all across Central Virginia. But for this assignment, I traveled more than 4,500 miles to Europe to feature someone I’m close with but never had the opportunity to meet — my grandfather.

Captain William McQuade commanded a company in the 692nd Tank Destroyer Battalion during World War II.

Over 10 days, I visited the battlefield where my grandfather fought and some of his fellow soldiers died. While there, a small part of my grandfather was with me: the rosary beads he carried throughout the war.

My trek across five countries in Europe coincided with the 80th anniversary of my grandfather’s baptism of fire in WWII.

This trip, several years in the making, honored Captain McQuade and the brave soldiers he fought alongside.

In Holland, Peet, Ronald, and Esther led me on a tour of the battlefields where my grandfather and the 692nd first battled the Germans.

It’s clear the Dutch remain grateful that the Americans helped liberate their country from oppression.

“They paid the highest price for freedom, so I think the only thing we can do is remember and tell their story and continue to tell their story to the next generation so it will never be forgotten,” Esther said.

Along my roughly 1,000-mile journey, I located the exact spot where 692nd soldiers posed for photos in early 1945, from the ancient village of Amorbach to the bustling city of Munich.

Across Germany, battle scars remain.

From buildings damaged by Allied bombers to a bridge riddled with bullet holes.

At Luxembourg American Cemetery, I located the grave of legendary General George Patton, who requested to be buried next to his soldiers.

In Nuremberg, I visited the ruins of Adolf Hitler’s Nazi empire. The massive military parade grounds where Hitler delivered speeches to the masses stand silent.

I drove to the sleepy village of Herlheim, Germany, where North Carolina native and “A” Company soldier Herb Knox earned the Distinguished Service Cross, becoming the battalion’s highest-decorated soldier at the age of 21.

In France, at a monument dedicated to American soldiers, I met a woman who still admires the bravery of the Allied soldiers who set her country free.

“We are so grateful; you can’t imagine how grateful we are to all those foreign American and English soldiers who came here, and for many of them gave their lives here for our freedom,” Brigitte said.

In Germany, I crossed the Roer River, the same body of water the 692nd rumbled over with their tank destroyers. It was near here where my grandfather earned the Bronze Star for bravery.

Just beyond the Roer River in Düren, two 692nd soldiers, Sgt. Arthur Van Tuyl and Corporal Dominic Radice, were killed in action.

The families of nine 692nd soldiers who were killed in action decided to leave their loved ones buried in American military cemeteries in Europe. Four are buried here at Henri-Chapelle.

7,987 American soldiers rest here in the Belgian countryside. One of the fallen? The 692nd’s James De Lorenzo of Ohio, who was killed 80 years ago this month.

On April 29, 1945, elements of “A” Company entered a hellish landscape beyond description. My grandfather’s battalion helped liberate the concentration camp at Dachau, where thousands of prisoners died.

Walking the grounds left me with a cold chill.

What did my grandfather witness? Many of the veterans I spoke to who were there said it was the darkest day of their lives.

Just a week after helping liberate Dachau, the guns fell silent across Europe.

The 692nd would soon be going home. And after a 10-day odyssey, so would I.

At the end of World War II, my grandfather returned to Somerville, Massachusetts, had five children, and became a police officer in the Boston area.

Unfortunately, he did not live long.

He died in 1961 at the age of 47.

I still have so many questions, but crisscrossing the battlefields where he fought in Europe helps me get closer to the soldier I never knew.

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