SHIPPING OFF
Julius Lorentzson spent about six hours on a ferry Saturday as he traveled 150 miles to Ouistreham, France, across the English Channel — a trip he has made every five years since 2004.
Among the passengers were hundreds of vehicles, one of which was his 1942 Ford General Purpose Willys Jeep.
“We get to retrace their steps 75 years ago,” said Lorentzson, 68, of Fairmont, W.Va., about a sense of the same feeling in 1944 when troops crossed the channel to liberate Europe.
Lorentzson was among First Frontier Mechanized Cavalry members who shipped their Jeeps to France for the 75th anniversary of D-Day commemorations.
The First Frontier Mechanized Cavalry will present a World War II encampment at the Bantam Jeep Festival, Friday through Sunday, at the Cooper's Lake Campground location.
Lorentzson, along with calvary members Bill Burruss and Eric Jarvis, put their jeeps into a shipping container in Baltimore April 23. The vehicles arrived May 28.
“It takes them that long to get here,” said Lorentzson, a retired FBI agent who's interested in military jeep history knowledge.
The vehicle was sold off as surplus in the late 1940s, he said, adding he found it on a farm in Indiana in 1997.
Over the years, he restored the 77-year-old jeep.
Jeeps can be valued at $25,000 when it's an original, he said.
Three vehicles can fit into the 40-foot long container that costs about $8,000 to ship round trip, he said.
Lorentzson saves years in advance and divides the cost with his fellow travelers, he said.
Trips require focus and planning, he said about the five years he planned his trip.
“Not a lot of Americans even consider or want to do that,” he said, adding three of the 10 vehicles that shipped were Lorentzson's and his fellow travelers.
His Jeep will be one of many in different commemorations, including parades, monument dedications and site visits.The Bantam Jeep Festival supporter will not attend this year because his trip coincides with his travel abroad.The club in the north central area has about 30 members, who participate in the history component of the festival, he said.During his visits, Lorentzson stays at the Homestead Guest House in Bembridge Crescent, Southsea in Portsmouth, England.Lorentzson spent his time in England before the trek to France enjoying turkey and ham pie with mash and garden peas topped with a puff pastry.He also saw the Bayeux Tapestry, an embroidered cloth nearly 230 feet long and 20 inches tall, which depicts the events leading up to the Norman conquest of England concerning William, Duke of Normandy, and Harold, Earl of Wessex, later King of England, and culminating in the Battle of Hastings.The tapestry interested Lorentzson because of the size of the armada that went from Normandy to England, he said, much like the armada that went from England to France several hundred years later.“Every time you come, you might see some of the same stuff, but in general, it's a new experience all over again,” he said.D-Day could become ancient history, he said.“It's a shame to say in today's society not everybody is taught what D-Day is,” he said. “The further we get from 75 years, that level of interest is diminishing; nobody to tell stories, (you) have to read about it.”
