In 2004, John Gimlette set off across Europe to retrace the footsteps of the United States Allied Expeditionary Force of 1944–45.
His book is called Panther Soup.
His guide was Putnam Flint, an eighty-something-year-old Bostonian who had landed in Marseille with his tank destroyer battalion, nicknamed The Panthers, during the war.
Join them both as they travel across some of the most spectacular landscapes in the world, and through the modern cities that have risen from smoldering ruins.
From Marseille and France, then on to Germany and eventually south through the Alps into Austria, Gimlette reveals the ways in which the war is remembered, with recollections from Flint and the colorful cast of characters they meet along the way: former enemies, refugees, resistance fighters and child survivors.
The Library also has (or has on order) several titles in the Greenline Historic Travel Series, which includes two World War II guides, The 25 Essential World War II Sites: European Theater and The 25 Best World War II Sites: Pacific Theater.
These two books serve more as traditional guidebooks and include directions and driving distances to battlefields, monuments, and museums.
There are a number of travel agencies that provide guided tours.
World War II Tours of Europe offers a 13 day fully escorted tour that covers 5 European countries and their battlefields for $2699 – land only.
Matterhorn Travel offers an 8 day immersion in World War II in the Pacific with a stay in San Francisco and then on to Hawaii. $3195 – land only.
“Visit the ships, see the aircraft, review the battles where the Greatest Generation fought across the Pacific from Pearl Harbor to Tokyo.”
If neither of these is within your travel budget this year or your Greatest Generation parents or grandparents aren't up to an international travel tour, the National WWII Memorial is just a few hours away in Washington DC. It's a bit of a hike from the Metro, but the Tourmobile service will take you in a bit closer.