Historian to host trip to Europe to honor local residents who died on same day World War I

GOSHEN — Orange County Historian Johanna Yaun will host a trip to Belgium and France next year to honor the 40 County residents who died on the same day in 1918 during the Battle of the Hindenburg Line.
The trip will take place from Sept. 24 through Oct. 2, 2018, and will explore locations that served as notable backdrops during World War I.
• For more information about the trip, log onto centennialtour.grouptoursite.com. Space is limited to 45 guests.
The Battle of the Hindenburg Line is one of the most famous engagements that occurred during World War I. After an intense 56-hour-long attack, Allied forces breached the Hindenburg Line, the last line of German defenses, on Sept. 29, 1918.
The Hindenburg Line was a heavily fortified zone running several miles behind the active front between the north coast of France and Belgium.
The 40 soldiers from Orange County that perished on Sept. 29, 1918, were members of the 107th New York Infantry Regiment.
There were 995 total casualties from New York State on that day.
Breaking through the Hindenburg Line helped the U.S. and its allies win World War I, which ended on Nov. 11, 1918.
Next year’s tour will include visits to training camps, cemeteries and memorials related to Orange County’s local soldiers, and to the battlefield where they perished on Sept. 29, 1918. The trip will end in Paris where guests will honor the 369th New York Regiment, the first African-American regiment to enter France. The evening will include live music and a light lecture on how New York’s “Harlem Hellfighters” sparked a jazz craze that swept Europe in the years after World War I.
• For more information about the trip, contact Nicole Nazzaro in the Historian’s Office at nnazzaro@orangecountygov.com.