ATLANTA — As we age, we seek to connect with the memories of our late fathers and mothers.
One metro Atlanta attorney wanted to connect to his father's war experience, so he and his brother — both in their 60s — devised a trip of a lifetime.
Tom Dworschak, who graduated from Emory Law, recently returned from Europe. He went there to follow in the World War II footsteps of his father.
"This is a story about my father PFC Walter Dworschak that led to my brother and I doing a Band of Brothers trip," Tom said.
Tom and his brother Scott went to France and Belgium, visiting the actual battlefields where their father fought as a 20-year-old infantryman during WWII in 1944 and 1945.
"He actually arrived in France on December 14, 1944," Tom said.
His father was in the 290th Infantry Regiment, 75th Infantry Division, and marched to battle through Beffe, Belgium on Jan. 5, 1945 during the Battle of the Bulge.
"We flew to Paris and we rented a car to make sure we could get to all these places," Tom said.
Tom discovered a photo of his father's unit in action marching through Beffe.
"This was a thrill to actually locate, for the first time, a place that I was 100% certain that dad had been to when he fought in World War II," Tom said.
Tom and Scott located the exact same spot and followed in their dad's footsteps from 76 years ago.
"This wasn't about either of us, it was about our father and it was about his service," Tom explained.
Tom lives in the metro Atlanta area and Scott lives in the Midwest, so this trip served as an opportunity for the pair of brothers to spend days together in close quarters to share moments and memories of their father's sacrifice and legacy.