After WWII ended in1945, my father's ship, the light cruiser USS Philadelphia was outfitted as a troop ship.
Operation "Magic Carpet" was the task of bringing the soldiers home from Europe
LeHavre, France was a main port of embarkation

Whenever possible, I try to visit the locations that Dad wrote about in his diary
At the end of the wharf I found this memorial to the event he described and photographed

The port and the city had been heavily bombarded

Today, it is a cruise port

Dad took pictures whenever he went ashore. I still have his camera

Today there is a lively fish market selling the catch from the sea

Dad and his fellow sailors were able to tour the area

The city was rebuilt with a lot of restoration and new construction.

My Dad Frank Paukstis is on the right

I thought that the Church of Notre Dame (at right)
might be the one in this photo, but the interior looks different.
There were a lot of churches in Le Havre

Sometimes I could see similarities in the type of architecture, but mostly we just explored the area adjacent to the port
These must be the streets where Dad walked

Rebuilding a city devastated by war is a daunting task

Today commerce and art reign where bombs once fell