Lt. Col. Frederick C. Brems carried a camera throughout his World War II service with the 2nd Armored Division, preserving an extraordinary visual record of the war as he experienced it.
Brems enlisted before the attack on Pearl Harbor and eventually served in Europe with the famed “Hell on Wheels” division. From the fall of 1944 through the end of the war, he photographed the soldiers, vehicles, towns, battlefields, and everyday moments around him. His journey included the Battle of the Bulge, Operation Grenade, the advance across Germany, the occupation of Berlin, and the long road home.
Join us for a conversation with his son, retired Lt. Col. Frederick “Fred” Brems, about Knights of Freedom: With the Hell on Wheels Armored Division in World War II, A Story in Photos. The book brings together more than 500 photographs taken by his father, along with wartime letters and the stories he shared with his family over the years. Together, they offer a deeply personal account of one soldier’s service and a vivid look at life inside an American armored division during the final campaigns of the war in Europe.
We’ll talk about the photographs, the stories behind them, and the process of turning a family archive into a detailed history. Brems will also discuss his father’s experiences with the 2nd Armored Division, including combat during the Battle of the Bulge, the Allied drive into Germany, and the occupation that followed. The book contains nearly 600 photographs, dozens of maps, and hundreds of additional illustrations documenting that journey.
Fred Brems is an educator, researcher, writer, and photographer who spent years studying his father’s wartime service and preserving the collection he left behind. He has also worked in U.S. embassies and schools in the United States and overseas.
We hope you’ll join us for this remarkable story of war, memory, family history, and the photographs that brought one veteran’s experience back to life.
