Photo By Spc. Ravenne Eschbach | Lt. Col. Wagner and his fellow Nijmegen marchers pose for a group photo after...... read more read more
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HOHENFELS, Germany- Every year around 42,000 people travel to the Netherlands for a 100-mile march that lasts four days. A large number of those marchers are soldiers from 30 different nations from all over the world. Nijmegen is an event that first started in 1909 and has since continued on and grown in popularity. This year COVID-19 forced it to be cancelled and left previous years participants distraught.
A small group of five gentleman from the Hohenfels military community decided that they would not let the many months of preparation go to waste. They planned out a local route and put their marching boots to the trails for a four-day adventure of their own.
“For us it is truly for the memories and camaraderie,” states Lt. Col. Christian Wagner, the German Forces exchange officer to USAREUR and the Joint Multinational Readiness Center. “We did the planning for it and had been training since February which made the cancellation very disappointing” stated Wagner.
After waiting out the heavier parts of COVID-19 Wagner and a group of fellow marchers decided they were going to make their own march locally and bring back the memories of previous years at Nijmegen.
The group plotted a course around the Lupburg and Parsburg area and planned on walking 10 miles each day instead of 25. They decided to not wear their uniforms and only carry water and essentials instead of the traditional 22 pound backpack. Everyone decided that these changes would be enough to keep the challenge and accomplish the mission of reviving memories and staying true to the adventure.
Capt. Randy Croel, the chaplain assigned to the 1st Battalion 4th Infantry Regiment had not participated in a Nijmegen march prior to this year but decided to join the venture after hearing many enticing stories about it.
“The reason I started was watching my fellow soldiers prepare for this event and learning about how much of an amazing experience it is,” said Croel. “I started practicing with the group and when this came up it was a great idea I couldn’t pass up, especially with Lt. Col. Wagner with us giving us lessons and history all along the way.”
Wagner explained a great deal of history he knew about local landmarks to the group as they marched. He also explained that when in the Netherlands for the Walk of the World that every day has a historical location to walk by or a monument to see for each new path.
“We weren’t able to make it to the Netherlands this year unfortunately, but during this week we all stepped off each day with the same spirit of enjoying multi-nationalism and camaraderie” said Wagner. “Having a Bavarian breakfast at the last morning was our way to celebrate the event and our relation to Bavaria, in which we could have our hiking event with American Wanderlust.”
This year would have been Wagner’s 12th year at Nijmegen and he is welcoming all new soldiers to march with him going into next year’s event. This event has brought many people together in fellowship and good conversation even when the event itself was cancelled. These soldiers found a way to bring back those memories of camaraderie and plan on continuing it on next year. Their spirits are high, and their bonds are strong as they continue to march through 2020 looking forward to 2021.
| Date Taken: | 07.24.2020 |
| Date Posted: | 08.12.2020 04:00 |
| Story ID: | 374716 |
| Location: | HOHENFELS, BAYERN, DE |
| Web Views: | 90 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
This work, COVID-19 Can’t Stop Camaraderie – A Group of Five Complete their own version of Nijmegen, by SGT Audrequez Evans, identified by DVIDS, must comply with the restrictions shown on https://www.dvidshub.net/about/copyright.
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