Amanda Loren
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amandaloren.bsky.social
Amanda Loren
@amandaloren.bsky.social
150 followers 230 following 25 posts
Meeting my grandpa on a bridge in Belgium.

Follow along for WWII ETOW storytelling.

Writer, speaker, storyteller, actor, volunteer, singer. I dig primary sources.
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amandaloren.bsky.social
@realrayporter.bsky.social thought of you on a trip to the local antique store. Bunches of awesome space-themed Life mags, all reminding me fondly of you. ❤️
September 9, 2025 at 3:08 AM
amandaloren.bsky.social
Saint Remaclus and your wolf, join the American soldiers to help them drive evil from Stavelot as you have done before.

And please bring all the lost husbands home.

amandaloren.substack.com/p/the-tip-of...

#WWII #BattleOfTheBulge
A black and white photo of a defeated German Tiger Tank atop rubble. The tank belonged to Kamfrgruppe Peiper and the Sixth Panzer Army. It was destroyed by American soldiers using an anti-tank weapon during the Battle of the Bulge. Photo taken in Stavelot, Belgium, December 1944.
December 19, 2024 at 12:27 AM
amandaloren.bsky.social
A stone bridge stands in Stavelot, Belgium.

This bridge I've not yet seen with my own eyes has been my stronghold, my anchor, for two years.

It was this bridge that gave me hope I could find my grandfather through the fog of World War II.

Watercolor by my 8yo son.
Watercolor painting of a grey stone bridge. The sky is blue with pink edges and slight purple gradients, the sun is directly overhead and glows orange. The bridge has four arches supporting its flat platform, with the leftmost arch shaded to show depth. The river is muddy and dark, underpainted rust red and overpainted deep navy. The two colors blend in places to create a blue-grey with hints of rust peaking through. A river bottom shining from the cold water. In the middle of the bridge stands a US Army soldier in olive drab with a helmet. Based on a the stone bridge in Stavelot, Belgium over the Ambleve River.
December 18, 2024 at 9:18 PM
amandaloren.bsky.social
The Badasses of Lanzerath.

amandaloren.substack.com/p/battle-of-...
December 17, 2024 at 3:26 AM
amandaloren.bsky.social
It's the Night Before the Watch on The Rhine.

Grandpa is somewhere around Stavelot, Belgium.

#WWII #BattleOfTheBulge

amandaloren.substack.com/p/the-night-...
American soldiers fire their tank from a dug-in ramp toward advancing German troops. A black and white photo dated December 16, 1944. From the first day of the Battle of the Bulge.
December 16, 2024 at 2:46 AM
amandaloren.bsky.social
"Orchards are veterans, scarred and shocked;
But American hills are unmarred by wars:
Peace is a plausible green illusion
And bayonets a steel intrusion."

- Ephim G. Fogel

amandaloren.substack.com/p/the-forest...

#WWII #writing
A black and white photo of a few US Army soldiers from a parachute regiment marching down a narrow road into a dense forest. The ground and trees are blanketed with several inches of untouched snow. Winter 1944/1945.
December 7, 2024 at 4:13 AM
amandaloren.bsky.social
November 29, 2024 at 2:41 AM
amandaloren.bsky.social
Happy Thanksgiving, America.

amandaloren.substack.com/p/grandpa-ma...
November 29, 2024 at 2:14 AM
amandaloren.bsky.social
November 27, 2024 at 6:35 PM
amandaloren.bsky.social
Twenty years old and an ocean away from his family.

Entry two: The Great Turkey-Lift
amandaloren.substack.com/p/the-great-...

#WWII #Thanksgiving #Army
A black and white photo taken in November 1944. A US Army Corporal takes a big bite out of a roasted turkey leg, one eye open at the camera, one eye closed to savor his meal. Other GIs sit next to him in the background, out of focus.
November 27, 2024 at 12:43 AM
amandaloren.bsky.social
Some bridges are built to last.

Bridging The Gap: Entry 1

bit.ly/4fYIqqy

#substack #writing #history
A sepia photo from March 1945, US Army Engineers drive cargo trucks over a floating pontoon bridge across the Rhine River in Germany at Spellen. A white sign painted with dark block letters reads, "You are now crossing the Rhine River through courtesy of E Company (CO) 17th Armored Engineers Batallion (BN) and C Company 202nd Engineer C Batallion"
November 23, 2024 at 9:13 PM
amandaloren.bsky.social
Went on a walk last week and found some beautiful mushrooms.
A close-up of a cluster of small yellow-orange mushrooms with flat button tops sprouting from a decomposing log. In the background, green grass is out of focus. A close-up of a cluster of small yellow-orange mushrooms with flat button tops, four total. They are sprouting from a decomposing log on a forest floor, the greyish-brown bark of the log fills the photo. One mushroom cap has been removed from its stem and turned over to reveal its gills, the upside-down cap placed about an inch from its stem. The gills are cream-colored, fanning from the center of the cap to its edges, and the place where the stem was connected to the cap is a small indentation in the center.
November 17, 2024 at 7:48 PM