Recommendations for additions to the following list or corrections are welcome. Contact the webmaster, Bruce Bolinger, bcbolinger at comcast.net.
In addition to the list below, see also “Air and Space Museum Links” (https://classicairliners.tripod.com/museums.html), which focuses on the US, Canada, and the UK and “Museums/National Monuments and Aerospace Museums” (https://wwii-netherlands-escape-lines.com/links-to-other-escape-and-evasion-websites/museums-aerospace-museums/). Also, at the end of the list below are listings of articles that appeared in the AFEES newsletter about commemorative walks with a link to the part of this website containing pdf files of the newsletters.
Belgium
- Bastogne War Museum – https://www.bastognewarmuseum.be/en/museum-second-world-visits-exhibitions-historic-center-bastogne-belgium/
- Belgium WW2 Sites: Overview of Tours, Museums, and More, https://wonderfulwanderings.com/world-war-2-tours-belgium/
- Le Réseau Comète (The Comet Line), https://www.evasioncomete.be/ . Also France and Spain. Thoroughly documented research. Although Le Réseau Comète (The Comet Line) is strictly a website and not a museum, it is a valuable tool in escape and evasion research.
- Little Engeland, The Secret War Museum, Houthulst, Belgium – https://www.kleinengeland.be/. The website says, “Little England, The Secret War Museum” preserves a wide variety of artifacts. Unique objects from resistance groups from all over Belgium are displayed in the museum. Daily life, collaboration, occupation and liberation are also discussed. We want to provide a complete and nuanced picture. All objects and documents in the collection are original, have their own story and were used during the Second World War. The collection continues to grow through donations, purchases and finds. Not everything is on permanent display. Some pieces are featured in temporary exhibitions or are on loan. See also https://www.focus-wtv.be/nieuws/houthulstenaar-opent-oorlogsmuseum-met-collectie-uit-zijn-kinderjaren?fbclid=IwAR0Y0BKnQMKhUTuCT2AIwpyYjEfr0zd6Jx33xDek0FIXj8BVNaEzoR_BZ3o
- Musée de la Resistance de Belgique – https://belgiumbattlefield.be/fr . https://belgiumbattlefield.be/fr/patrimoine/recherchez-nombreux-patrimoines-belgique/musee-resistance-belgique.
- War Heritage Institute, Belgium, Battlefield of Europe – https://warheritage.be/en .
- Wings of Memory Museum, Geraardsbergen, Belgium – https://www.wingsofmemory.be/.
Canada
- Vintage Wings of Canada, https://www.vintagewings.ca/
France
- See the Basque Pyreness Freedom Trails’ Association below under the heading of Pyrenees.
- Friends of the Comète Network, Comete Sud Au Pays Basque, https://cometepaysbasque-blogspot-com.translate.goog/?_x_tr_sch=http&_x_tr_sl=auto&_x_tr_tl=en&_x_tr_hl=en
- Le Chemin de la Liberté (The Freedom Trail), https://www.chemindelaliberte.fr/. See also https://chemindelaliberte.fr/the-freedom-trail?showall=1&limitstart=
- Le Réseau Comète (The Comet Line), https://www.evasioncomete.be/ . Also Belgium and Spain. Thoroughly documented research.
- Musee Maritime de Carantec. https://www.ville-carantec.com/cpt_equipements/musee-maritime/. Focuses on the evasion work of Ernest Sibiril. Closed as of July 2022 for modernization.
Italy
- Monte San Martino Trust, http://msmtrust.org.uk/. Conducts Freedom Walks in Italy in commemoration of the courage and sacrifice of the Italian country people who rescued thousands of escaping Allied PoWs after the Armistice in 1943.
- WW2 Escape Lines Memorial Society. ELMS sponsors several different commemorative walks. See https://ww2escapelines.co.uk/upcoming-events/. See for example, their “TENNA VALLEY TRAIL – Associazione Casa Della Memoria – 2 days of moderate walks & commemorations – Servigliano, Monte San Martino, Ponte Maglio and Santa Vittoria.”
Netherlands
- Biesbosch Museum Island: https://www.tracesofwar.com/sights/741/Biesbosch-Museum-Werkendam.htm . See also the book, Biesbosch Crossings, 1944-1945, https://www.zoekeenboek.nl/boek/666867014/piet-van-den-hoek/biesbosch-crossings-1944-1945/.
- Traces of War Crash Sites: https://www.tracesofwar.nl/sights/map.asp?sort=views&show=grid&countryid=1&provinceid=1. Use the Crash Site, Monuments, Museums, etc. filters.
- Battlefield Tours, Keeping Memories Alive: https://www.battlefieldtours.nu/?lang=en. They offer a dozen tours, predominantly in The Netherlands but also two of the Battle of the Bulge. See https://www.battlefieldtours.nu/our-tours/?lang=en.
- CRASH Air War and Resistance Museum (CRASH luchtoorg- en verzetsmuseum ’40-’45/: https://www.crash40-45.nl/homepage/crash-museum-introduction/.
- Grateful Generation Tours. https://www.gratefulgenerationtours.nl/. Provides tours commemorating Operation Market Garden.
- Museum Engelandvaarders: https://www.museumengelandvaarders.nl/. Commemorates the Dutch men and women who attempted to escape escape from the Netherlands across over 100 miles of the North Sea to reach England and freedom. See Wikipedia article.
- Dutch Resistance Museum (Amsterdam). The Verzets Resistance Museum, about The Netherlands in WWII. See https://www.verzetsmuseum.org/en/world-war-ii-in-the-netherlands. Closed until Dec. 1, 2022 for work on a new permanent exhibition.
Pyrenees (France and Spain)
- Basque Pyreness Freedom Trails’ Association: https://www.bpftaww2.com/en/home/#about. From their website: “During WW2, routes across the Pyrenees in the Basque Country, along clandestine smugglers’ paths, were a major link in the escape lines’ networks. There were various safe-houses on either side of the border, many of the mountain guides were locals, and Basques cities and many villages were involved. The aims of BPFTA are to disseminate knowledge of these WWII escape lines over the Basque Pyrenees, to pay tribute to all those involved from either side of the frontier who aided the escapers and evaders, such as the mountain guides (“mugalarris”), those responsible for logistics, the couriers and safe-house keepers, and to the fugitives themselves. We aim to bring these tributes to life through commemorative walks across the frontier and by drawing up educational material for use in second and third level education, both here and abroad.”
- Friends of the Comète Network, Comete Sud Au Pays Basque, https://cometepaysbasque-blogspot-com.translate.goog/?_x_tr_sch=http&_x_tr_sl=auto&_x_tr_tl=en&_x_tr_hl=en
- Hiking in the Pyrenees, See https://www.pyreneanexperience.com/self-guided-walking-week/ and https://www.pyreneanexperience.com/hiking-pyrenees/.
- Pyrenees Mountain Adventure, https://www.pyreneesmountainadventure.com/. Provides information about trekking in the Pyrenees.
- Somriu Hiking, https://ww2escapelines.co.uk/somriu-hiking/ . Its website says “We will cross the border following the same routes that those escaping dictatorships on both sides used, to the village of Salau, to commemorate both the history and to remind ourselves of the need to protect peace and democracy.”
Slovenia
- The Crow’s Flight Project – https://ww2escapelines.co.uk/mr-stan-johnson-mbe-1934-2015/ “The Trail includes safe-house towns and villages along the route for commemorative events. The complete escape route is nearly 200 miles long over high, rugged, mountainous terrain [with a river to cross!] and takes approximately 11 days, although a very fit team have recently completed it in 9 – however, there is also the option to tackle the route in stages. The route starts at the former Stalag XVIIID POW Camp at Maribor, where the first breakout took place and finishes at the SOE/Partisan landing strip for RAF Dakotas at Otok, from where the escapers were ferried to Bari in Italy. The event usually takes place at the end of September each year; flights and guides are in place and accommodation is available each night.”
Spain
- Le Réseau Comète (The Comet Line), https://www.evasioncomete.be/ . Also France and Belgium. Thoroughly documented research.
United Kingdom
- American Air Museum in Britain, https://www.americanairmuseum.com/.
- Eden Camp Modern History Museum: https://www.edencamp.co.uk/. See, in particular, https://ww2escapelines.co.uk/about/museum/.
- Friends of the New Forest Airfields: https://fonfa.co.uk/
- WW2 Escape Lines Memorial Society. See https://ww2escapelines.co.uk/. See in particular their pages on WWII escape lines and their Freedom Trails Information on commemorative walks following the routes of WWII escape lines at https://ww2escapelines.co.uk/freedom-trails/freedom-trails-information/.
United States
- 8th Air Force Historical Society Museum, https://www.mightyeighth.org/. Located at Pooler, Georgia, 19 miles from Savannah. The museum houses an exhibit specifically on escape and evasion.
- 390th Memorial Museum, https://390th.org/. Located in Tucson, AZ.
- Commemorative Air Force Museum. https://commemorativeairforce.org/. Dallas, TX.
- General Carl Spaatz National USAAF Museum. https://www.spaatzmuseum.org/. See in particular The Museum Experience and the Escape Room. “For a truly one-of-a-kind experience the museum offers an enhanced, immersive experience that places a small group of visitors in the time frame of our interactive exhibits and invites the visitor to participate by living in history. The Spaatz Museum will embody ‘living the mission’ by guiding visitors through preparing for, flying and surviving flight and combat. Museum staff, dressed in WWII uniforms, will talk the talk of the wartime era. They will immerse museum visitors the sights and sounds of aerial warfare, including attending pre-flight briefings, donning gear and equipment, piloting a bomber and acting as waist gunners and bombardiers and finally escaping from occupied France and a German POW camp. It will be an interactive, virtual reality experience.”
- International Spy Museum, Washington, D.C.. https://www.spymuseum.org/ . Their collection includes items associated with Virginia Hall. To view some escape and evasion devices at the museum, click here.
- National Museum of Intelligence and Special Operations, https://fentressarchitects.com/projects/national-museum-of-intelligence-and-special-operations. See also https://www.osssociety.org/.
- National Museum of the United States Air Force, Wright-Patterson AFB, Dayton, OH, https://www.nationalmuseum.af.mil/. See in particular “Winged Boot: Escape and Evasion in World War II, https://www.nationalmuseum.af.mil/Visit/Museum-Exhibits/Fact-Sheets/Display/Article/196141/winged-boot-escape-and-evasion-in-world-war-ii/, and “The Kindness of Strangers, Escape Routes and the Resistance”, https://www.nationalmuseum.af.mil/Visit/Museum-Exhibits/Fact-Sheets/Display/Article/197476/the-kindness-of-strangers-escape-routes-and-the-resistance/.
- National Museum of World War II Aviation, Colorado Springs, https://www.worldwariiaviation.org/ .
- National World War II Museum, https://www.nationalww2museum.org/. Located in New Orleans.
Articles in the AFEES Newsletter About Commemorative Walks
To view an article listed below, go to the AFEES Newsletter Archive.
- Commemorative Walks
- Le Chemin de la Liberte – Fall (September) 2000, pg. 16; July 2001, pg. 2; Spring (March) 2005, pg. 1;
- Route of Clayton David and Ken Shaver – July 2001, pg. 10;
- David Family commemorative walk across the Pyrenees – Sept. 2001, pg. 10-12; Spring (March) 2004, pg. 32;
- Story of Earl Woodard’s family, Lucy, Nathan, Steve, Anne, Debbie, Charley, & Justin on the 2002 Freedom Trail – August 2002, pg. 10;
- Story of 2002 Freedom Trail eventful and aborted because of a blizzard in July – August 2002, pg. 11;