布鲁日100年前 – 100 Years ago – “In Bruges”

Today we are visiting Bruges to explore this beautiful town of cobble stone streets and canals lined with medieval architecture – and now, including throngs of tourists. We first went through the Beguinage community,  formerly a loosely religious order of women who lived there without taking vows but was originally inhabited by nuns of the Order of St. Benedict dating to the 12th century.

今天我俩去布鲁日，去探索这个有着鹅卵石的街道和依运河而建的中世纪建筑的美丽城市，现在这里充满了游客。我俩先到了贝居安会院， 这个地方最初是一些修女居住的地方，后来变成一些有宗教信仰但是没有宣誓的女人们居住的地方。

Further up the road the market, which was opened while we we there, was bustling with tourists and completely inundated the market square with small stands selling flowers, vegetables and fruits along with many tourist items.

继续前行是一个集市，我俩早上刚到的时候是开着的，里面充满了游客和经营各种鲜花，蔬菜，水果和旅游纪念品的小摊。

But the other interest I had in Bruges was that almost exactly 100 years ago this month my Dad’s father was involved in many bombing raids directly over the Bruges area. He flew the DH.9 aircraft, a single engine bi-plane. Captain Adrian W.E. Reeves and his Lieutenant George M. Worthing flew many missions together and Adrian earned the Distinguished Flying Cross for leading 13 successful bombing raids across German lines over a few days and was credited with shooting down at least four enemy aircraft.

但我在布鲁日的还有一个兴趣, 几乎在100年前的这个月, 我的爷爷参与了在布鲁日地区的许多轰炸袭击。他驾驶了一架单引擎双翼DH.9飞机。 作为机长的他和他的中尉乔治. 沃辛一起飞行完成了很多使命。他因为在几天的时间里，13次成功地轰炸了德国的战线，而赢得了杰出飞行十字勋章，并且被记载至少击落四架敌机。

Although there are many of these reports, this particular typed combat report from August 1918, reads like a WW1 movie:

虽然有很多这种报告，这个1918年8月用打字机打出来的战斗报告看起来像一个第一次世界大战的电影：

On our return from raid on Bruges when passing over the vicinity of Gistel at 1325, a fight was going on between Camels and six enemy aircraft. While Camels were engaged, three more enemy aircraft attacked us. Fight ensued lasting about 15 minutes. One enemy aircraft was coming on us from the side, and my Observer opened fire at a range of about 100 yards. The enemy aircraft was seem to go down in a dive and after having dropped about 100 feet, it burst into flames. From 70 to 100 rounds were fired by me from the front gun and 300 rounds by Observer during flight. Three additional enemy aircraft were attacking other machines of our forces and one enemy aircraft was seen by us to go down in a vertical dive through clouds without flattening out.  Signed, AWE Reeves

从布鲁日的袭击回来的路上，在下午1点25分，当从Gistel附近飞过时，骆驼和6架敌机在进行一场战斗。当骆驼开始进攻的时候，又有三架敌机攻击我们。空战至少进行了15分钟。一架敌机从侧面开始向我们攻击，我的观察员在大概100英尺的距离范围内开始向敌机扫射。敌机被击中，开始迅速下降，大概下降到100英尺，敌机燃烧爆炸。我用飞机前面的枪大概扫射了有70到100发，我的观察员在飞行中大概扫射了300回合。另外有三架敌机在攻击我们部队的其他机器，我们看到其中一架敌机在垂直俯冲中穿过云层而坠毁。

My Dad visited Bruges at least once in the 1970s. I am not sure if he came to Bruges on his trip in 1949, but I know he did visit IJmuiden, a port city near Amsterdam, when he came to the Netherlands with his Aunt Margaret. I have many pictures and postcards from that portion of his trip.

我父亲在1970年间也至少来过一次布鲁日。我不确定他是否在他1949年的旅行中来过这里，但是我知道他和他的姨在去荷兰的时候去过艾默伊登，一个里阿姆斯特丹很近的港口城市。我有一些他那次旅行的照片的明信片。

Bruges is really unique town full of hidden treasures down many alleys. The weather was really nice for our visit and we spent a wonderful day exploring the city. The last time I was here was in 2003 and, perhaps because of the season, it seemed much less touristy then. Gazing up to the clear blue sky it wasn’t hard to imagine the terror and adrenaline as my grandfather engaged in dog fights above the city.

布鲁日是一个真正独特的小镇, 到处都是隐藏的宝藏。我俩在的时候天气很好, 所以我俩度过了美好的一天。我曾在 2003年的时候来过这里, 也许因为不是旅游旺季, 当时似乎没有那么多的游客。凝视着清澈蔚蓝的天空, 不难想象出当时我爷爷在城市上空进行空袭时的恐怖和攀升的肾上腺素。