From foxhole to foxhole, Clarkston men make epic journey

The trip of a lifetime for Dustin Johnson and Mike Kramer began on the anniversary of D-Day, which seems appropriate for a whirlwind tour of World War battlefields, cemeteries and memorials in Europe.

Johnson, 46, is the public works director for the city of Lewiston, and a longtime history buff who’s been studying World War I and II for about 20 years. His father-in-law Mike Kramer, 69, is a retired college football coach, who now lives in Clarkston.

When Johnson and his future wife Courtney Kramer met two decades ago in Montana, he started reading the books in Kramer’s expansive war history libraries and his interest in the topic grew.

Both men have been to Europe before, but this trip was unusual. Instead of hitting the popular tourist spots, they traveled across France and into Belgium, visiting nine American cemeteries, gathering sand from Utah and Omaha beaches at Normandy and searching for graves of soldiers from Montana, Idaho and Washington.

For Christmas, Kramer gave Johnson a plane ticket to Paris, and “the keys to the castle” by letting the engineer plan their stops. Johnson created a daunting itinerary that kept the men on the road from dawn to dusk, soaking up the scenes and remembering the fallen.

“Our goal was to go foxhole to foxhole on our (self-guided) tour,” Johnson said. “We covered so much ground and saw so many monumental places. It truly was a once-in-a-lifetime trip.”

Because the crowds were thick in Normandy on the 80th anniversary of D-Day, the travelers started at Belleau Wood, about 1½ hours from Paris. The WWI cemetery was quiet when they arrived.

A Colton WWI Marine, Charles Boyd Maynard, was killed June 6, 1918, at the Belleau Wood battlefield, he said.

“The battlefield is right behind the cemetery, and the guns are still sitting out. You can walk through the trenches and the forest.”

From there, they drove to Verdun and visited the Meuse Argonne American Cemetery. The scenes from movies and books came to life as they walked through villages and rural areas torn apart during the wars.

Verdun was an “awful place,” Johnson said. More than 300,000 people lost their lives during a 10-month conflict there.

However, the grounds of the final resting spots of American soldiers are gorgeous.

“Every one of these American cemeteries is beautiful,” Johnson said. “They are manicured and well maintained to such a high standard. At the first one we visited, we were the only ones there.”

With a list of names, they set out to honor every grave of soldiers from this region. On Montana gravesites, state flags or pennants from Montana State University or the University of Montana were placed. Of the eight Colton residents who were killed in WWII, only Courtney’s uncle is buried in Europe.

The Kramers have deep family roots in Colton, where both Mike and his wife Sandi were raised. Courtney grew up in Cheney, when her father was coaching at Eastern Washington University. She graduated from Bozeman High School in 2001. Johnson graduated from Castle Rock High School in western Washington, and went to college in Bozeman.

Mike Kramer played football for the University of Idaho and coached at EWU, Montana State University and Idaho State University before moving to the Lewiston-Clarkston Valley. He still helps out with farming during harvest in Colton.

Because he and his son-in-law share the same interests, the European trip seemed “meant to be.” Kramer told Johnson he was the ideal traveling companion for such an adventure.

After Verdun, the two men drove to Bastogne, Belgium, stopping at the Luxembourg American Cemetery. There they saw General George S. Patton’s grave, along with many other noteworthy soldiers.

Beyond the well-known graves, such as Theodore Roosevelt Jr.’s and Quentin Roosevelt’s, Johnson and Kramer were both touched by the hometown heroes who answered their nation’s call to serve.

“What I walked away with is you read so much history, and you realize the people in these cemeteries came from our hometowns,” Johnson said. “They sacrificed their lives for us. They stepped up to preserve our way of life, and it’s something to remember.”

Their other stops included the Ardennes American Cemetery, Henri-Chapelle, the Somme, and finally Normandy, Mortain-Bocage and the Britany American Cemetery.

“One special person I had to visit was Walter L. Choquette,” Johnson said. “I found his grave when we went to France on our honeymoon in 2011. He’s from Butte, and Courtney and I love Butte. I got to learn his story over the years. He was on the high school basketball team, and I felt a personal connection to him.”

Choquette was killed defending Graignes soon after D-Day. The Lewiston-Clarkston Valley visitors found his grave and visited his memorial in Graignes.

During their extensive road trip, they saw Carentan, St. Mere Eglise and Utah Beach, as well as spending time on Omaha Beach.

“The site that sticks with me the most is Omaha Beach,” Johnson said. “You can see every detail of the beach. I could see exactly where a man from Clarkston came ashore.”

Harland Reid Way is buried in Vineland Cemetery in Clarkston. He was one of the first men on the beach on D-Day. He was wounded on June 6 and died on June 11 on a transport, Johnson said.

“The scale of everything blows you away. Omaha Beach is massive. I can stand there and still see the bunkers, bluffs and the sands that were in play on D-Day. It’s not hard to imagine what it was like.”

Each day, the travelers were on the road early, trying to get to cemeteries at 9 a.m. when they opened. In France, dinner is served late, and “we were starving by then,” Johnson said. “Everyday we were hitting the ground.”

In contrast to Americans, the British buried their soldiers where they died. Those battlefields are now filled with graves. At one battlefield, live ammo shells are still beneath the green grass. The site is mowed by sheep rather than equipment, to avoid any blasts.

Johnson said his trip had so many important and memorable moments that it’s hard to describe in detail to a casual listener. However, he said he’s willing to share his photos and speak about the journey with veteran groups in the valley.

“I love to talk about it,” he said. “It was something I’ll never forget.”

Sandaine can be reached at kerris@lmtribune.com.