Battles of the First World War Podcast · Mike Cunha

"Bicycling My Grandfather's WW1 Journey" - A Discussion with Brett Hawkes

·1 hr

Brett Hawks, a 73-year-old from Cape Ann, Massachusetts, recounts his two-week cycling expedition across France retracing his grandfather's WWI footsteps using a 100-year-old family photo album annotated with locations. Armed with a gravel bike and fluent French, Brett knocked on farmhouse doors and discovered tangible artifacts—barn walls with soldiers' notes, a Lucky Strike cigarette packet, and crucially, the exact house where his grandfather stayed as a 21-year-old officer overseeing 50 soldiers. Each day yielded emotional discoveries that deepened his understanding of his grandfather's sacrifice. Meeting French locals like Bernard, whose grandfather died in a concentration camp, connected the generational trauma arc from WWI through WWII. Brett's French-speaking ability proved critical in unlocking doors (literally and metaphorically), as French locals were eager to share family stories and historical knowledge. The episode is a masterclass in historical pilgrimage, family archaeology, and the transformative power of grounded research methods.

As heard by us

A bicycle journey into family memory, battlefield landscapes, and war cemeteries.

An old family journey through France gives the piece its spine, with Brett Hawks describing how he bicycled in his grandfather's World War I footsteps and kept returning to the cemeteries that stayed with him.

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Why you'd press play

You want a bicycle journey through France shaped by a grandfather's World War I footsteps.

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