10/11/2024
Today was an especially beautiful day to be free.
November 11 is 'Den válečných veteránů' in the Czech Republic - 'War veterans' Day'.
Two minutes' silence at the Josef Biersky memorial on Smrk has become our 'Remembrance Day' tradition over the last few years.
It feels like a fitting tribute to hike through the operational area of Parachute Group Wolfram, a 1944 SOE sobotage and information-gathering team, exercising the freedoms and enjoying the peace they fought for.
On the summit of Smrk, we stopped by the memorial to Jan Palach, who set himself on fire in Wenceslas Square in angry and frustrated protest over the lack of resistance to the 1968 Soviet invasion of Czechoslovakia.
Finally, we left our poppies at Josef Biersky's grave in the churchyard in Malenovice, which we've only recently found out about through research into the story of Operation Wolfram.
The weather was crisp and clear too; an especially beautiful day to be free.
