Jeez, almost forgot. http://townhall.com/tipsheet/danieldoherty/2014/12/16/remember-the-battle-of-the-bulge-n1932590

Had a grandfather and two great uncles involved in that action.

They all said the cold was like nothing they had ever seen.

My dad was there.

For my Airborne Brothers!!
[video:youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=J6UXcUgRa60[/video]

An interesting read that gives a detailed account of the struggle in the Ardennes is "The Bitter Woods" by John Milton Eisenhower.

bigwhoop, my Pop was there. Did not talk about it much. France, Germany, Austria, or the camps, or much of anything else, for that matter. We're talkin 64 yrs he don't talk. He did occasionally speak fondly of his duty after the end of hostilities doing guard duty in the Alps.

He always spoke highly of the culture and kindness of the local folks, and was quite mezmorized by their heritage.

You can pick my brain a little, tho.

Wife's Grandfather was there...He spoke fluent German being grandson of German immigrants to Minnesota, and growing up in a household that spoke German, which was common in those days, especially when half the small town they were from were Germans..

He was pulled in from the fighting to translate documents and interrogations...when the war ended, he was kept in Germany for 18 months, when everyone else was sent home...because of speaking Fluent German..

My Father in law, and and one of my Mom's brothers were there. Neither of them ever talked about it though.

My dad was there as well...said it was the coldest he had ever been. The aspect that affected him the most was some guys committing suicide right there in front of them, they were so cold. Amazing. He related to me one time he was frozen solid in a fox hole, water up above his shins, frozen solid. Damn...

Greatest Generation indeed. My dad would never talk about it either, until the end of his life when Alzheimer's was tightening its grip on him.

RIP HDH 1925-2006. I love you. Thanks to you and all the others for what you did.

Mom's brother was there as a combat engineer. He was part of a roving unit that was all over the place doing whatever needed doing. He was in the thick of it but never was in a firefight.

Dad was in Patton's infantry and recovering from a belly wound during The Bulge. He recovered in time to chase the Huns back to Germany. Patton's decree was to NEVER forget the massacre of U.S. soldiers at Malmadie. Dad was among the men pushing to the border, and as usual for Patton's charges, they were constantly way out in front of their supply lines. The troops they were fighting were at this point mostly old men and young boys. The cream of the Wermacht and the SS were gone. Dad said tropps stepped into the road to surrender and were run down by the half tracks and the tanks if they didn't get out of the way-the push to the front was all that mattered. When the war ended, Dad was up on the German border cleaning out pockets of resistance and sending prisoners to the rear.

My uncle referred to it as the break through. They got caught off guard and retreated back to the command post where the Germans pounded it to rubble.They were pinned down in there for several days before American tanks came in one night to get them out. They had cables fastened to the turrets and told the soldiers to hang on for dear life because if they fell off no one was stopping for them.

I just finally watched the "Band of Brothers" series. Well worth it.

I didn't forget about it, nore did I forget that on this date in 1903 the brothers Wright, Flew an Airplane ! As for the Battle of the Bulge, once the shock of it passed in a day or two, the Advance slowed and was stopped, the Germans were on there last legs and when you have to depend on capturing fuel dumps to fuel your tanks and trucks it becomes a huge problem! Kampfguppe Pieper for example when right by a fuel dump that was just a mile from their position at the time and they didn't know it was even their and intact! Add the narrow roads bridges that could not support the weight of King Tigers and Tiger I's, the bad weather didn't last for long and well once the Allied Air Forces could fly the jig was up! It was small units standing and fighting, and delayed the German that paid off, putting the 101st into Bastogne and others up at St Vith blocked the cross roads and it would be just a matter of time, the battle officially ended around the 28 of January 1945. When you look at it now, it seems like it was a really stupid thing to do, but in Oct 1944 it made some sense, but not having the material or the fuel doomed it from the start! And they could have made better use of that stuff in defense against the Soviets, but even if they did that and the Western Allies gotten to Berlin first, Berlin still would have been in the Soviet Zone because it was already agreed to! What I find interesting about the Battle of the Bulge, is not the Battle itself, it is but the whole area were it took place and how little it had changed since! The narrow roads are still there, the narrow bridges rebuilt are still there, and the Forrest is still dark and forbidding, and the Schnee Eifel and the Losheim Gap are still there, and I am sure a lot of ghosts too!

My dad was there. Got frostbite and pneumonia. He never really talked much about it. I think it was for the most part a bad memory he didn't want to relive.

U.S. Casualties at "the Bulge."

Killed in Action 10,276
Wounded in Action 47,493
Missing in Action 23,218
Total for 6 weeks of battle: 80,987

Brave men. Rest in peace, one and all.

L.W.

My grandfather was there in the 10th Armored Div. He talked to me a lot about his time in the service. Just lost him a few months ago. So many of those vets passing every day.

My dad was there too.....

Also didn't talk about it, but it left its mark in everyday ways. He would always cup his cigarettes, he would NEVER wear dirty sox, and he would NEVER go camping!

The grandfather of my next door neighbor passed two weeks ago, did not know until the service, he was bronze star, Battle of the Bulge. She said he never spoke of it.

My wife's father was there, too. Survived and ended the war guarding prisoners in Germany. He got in a just a wee bit of trouble one day when an SS officer mouthed off to him and his response was to shoot him in the leg. That's the only thing he would ever talk about, and he always had a smile when he told it.

The first ground battle in the European theatre in which the VT (proximity) fuze was used, per the History Channel.

My dad was in Paris TX finishing up infantry training when it started. He had been drafted in 1942, but spent the early part of the war working in military hospitals on Air Force bases. The Air Force and Army were not separate at this time. He was transferred to the infantry in November 1944.

Dad said they never told him anything, but my guess is that they were training them for the planned invasion of Japan at that point. At any rate he was quickly put on a train then ship and got to Belgium about 1/2 way through the battle.

Because of his previous experience they took his Garand, painted a red cross on his helmet and attached him to a medical unit. He spent the rest of the war driving to forward aid stations and bring wounded back to the rear. He assisted DR's during surgery at times as well.

Dad never fired a shot but saw a lot of stuff he never would talk about. He said the scariest part of the war for him was driving across the Rhine on a pontoon bridge while the Germans were throwing everything they had at it. The trucks just kept moving.

Belgium, January 1945

At the end of the 1949 film �Battleground� as Platoon Sgt. Kinnie with his blanket wrapped feet tells his troops to fall in.
Then he grins and orders �about face.� They are leaving Bastogne.
�Hey Kinnie. What ever happened to Jody?�

You had a good home but you left / You're right
You had a good home but you left / You're right
Jody was there when you left / You're right
Your baby was there when you left / You're right
Sound off! / 1,2
Sound off! / 3,4
Cadence count! / 1,2,3,4,1,2...3,4!
You ain't got nothin' to worry about / You're right
He'll keep her happy until I get out / You're right
An' you won't get home til the end of the war / You're right
In nineteen hundred and seventy four/ You're right
Sound off! / 1,2
Sound off! / 3,4
Cadence count! / 1,2,3,4,1,2...3,4!

Stush, my Dad was in the 10th, too. They have a small website. www.tigerdivision.com.

I was in the 101st in the 90's, the Battle for Bastogne will never be forgotten on that post.

We did a DRB assumption run in 97, right before New Years, it had snowed like crazy the night before and was still snowing at showtime. The task commander stated that 53 years ago a little snow didnt stop the 101st with their Rendevous with Destiny, and it wouldnt on that day either.

Of course, it was cold as hell, and when they made us ground our sweats and jackets, no one was too happy. I still remember thinking, those guys in Bastogne wouldnt have ditched clothing. Those were some tough Americans to persevere in those conditions.

My Uncle Paul was a machine gunner on a half-track. He fought with Patton at the Battle of the Bugle.

My father was there with the 11th Armored Division. Their annual reunions have stopped but they keep a website.

My Grandfather was there, said he broke his spoon in a can of frozen hash for Christmas dinner 1944.

thanks for that tip, my copy arrived today.

Sycamore

"The Longest Winter" is a great read.

Hollywood couldn't write that much bravery into a script.

The smokejumper base in McCall ID) had three foremen, each of whom were WW2 paratroopers, each with 3 combat jumps. They also fought at The Bulge. Once in early September, we were working in the Central Idaho Wilderness (Now the Frank Church Wilderness), and it was snowing. I complained about being cold and wet. "You don't know what cold and wet is." was one of their replies.

My first cousin was a captain in an armored scout unit in the Battle of the Bulge... he brought back a 9mm German Luger and a dagger, but would never say a single word about the battle or his experiences in it. He also got some metals... and wouldn't say anything about them either.

He was a gentle person... easy-going and kind. But he would NEVER talk about the war (World War II) in which he served.

My wife's uncle served in the Pacific... island "jumping" with the U.S. Marines in the island jungles against the Japanese. Like my cousin, her uncle was TOTALLY silent about what happened on those islands and what he did.

I found a great many "veterans" who were like that... totally silent about what they did and what events they witnessed. I always figured they were the ones who did the most... and talking about it was just too painful and difficult due to the bad memories such talk brought back.

Those men must have gone through terrible situations... and the worse it was, the less they'd talk about it. I can understand that... those memories must have been like a terrible dream except they weren't a dream, they were REAL !~!~!

My Uncle was an amphibious engineer and was in the Ardennes during the Bulge.
Didn't say anything about it either.

He did talk about the Rhine crossings and witnessed the Ludendorff bridge collapse. He said when they were constructing one of the pontoon bridges,anything floating down the river was shot up.

My father was there with the 508 PIR 82 Airborne Division. He will be 94 this coming February. I accompanied him to many of the Regiment's reunions from the 70's to the last one in 2006. When these Vets would get together you could hear some of the real stories. Nothing was embellished as everyone else was there as well.
I feel honored to have met and talked with Leonard Funk C Company MOH Holtshiem Belgium.

As for reading material, I would recommend A Time for Trumpets. This book was written by Charles McDonald. He was Company I Commander 23 Infantry 2nd Infantry Division. Charles stayed in the Army after the war and became an Army historian. His book is a treatise on the Battle for the Bulge. It is long and takes a while to read but it is all there.

thanks for the recommendation.

Sycamore

My dad was there and taken prisoner went thru hell for months before finally escaping. He would not talk about it, my uncles told me after the war he was never the same. He passed away at 45 of heart failure.

I just found out on Christmas morning the a close friends father was KIA there. He had just read "Killing Patton" and said it was one of the best researched books on the subject he has read.

Just read it myself; highly recommended.

Best Regards

My father was shot and taken prisoner on this date in 1944.His unit was over run on the 16th,his plt.left him and Mr.Prager,did not tell them they were going.Dad and Mr.Prager headed North thinking they would hook up with other U.S.units,they kept running into the Germans.they went from Luxenburg to Belgium before they were caught.

Most of the men who were there didn't talk about it much. My uncle was there and all he would ever say is how cold it was.

I got that book for Christmas and just finished it last night. OUTstanding read.. The savagery of the Germans and Russians is difficult to comprehend, much less read about..

Patton was one tough SOB..

I had an Uncle die in that battle.

Uncle Charlie only ever told a story about doing KP during that time - he was 82nd Airborne.
RIP Charles Shubert

been doing some reading.

Battle: The Story of the Bulge by John Toland is a good read, not too long.

The Bitter Woods: The Battle of the Bulge, John Eisenhower, longer, more complicated.

A Time for Trumpets: The Untold Story of the Battle of the Bulge Charles MacDonald. This is the longest, most complicated.

I wish I had a topo map of the area, might help me understand more of what is going on. The maps are ok in the books but not great.

I read them somewhat out of order, I think if I had read them in the order above, it would have helped a lot.

Each book is very good in its own way.

Sycamore

ET - Were you 101st?

Same here.

My uncle was there, always referred to it as the break through. Always talked how his Company got over run and pinned down and US armor busting in to get them out.

I once asked my dad if he was in it. He said no, he was happy he was in a hospital in England recovering from a bullet wound (received behind enemy lines in Germany, I found out later) he got in November of '44. He never did like the cold. And he never told me about how he got out after receiving the wound in the leg. He was on a recon mission. I can't imagine.

A little off topic but John Waters ( Gen Patton's grandson) shoots at my Skeet club. Put a GI helmet on him and you would think it was George Patton himself.

I asked John a few weeks ago what he thought about Bill O'Rielly's book "Killing Patton". John replied that the book was "pure conjecture" and the Patton family no issues with "Killing Patton" since most of the profits from the book go to charity.

Doc

Doc

Mine Father was there as well. Infantry Captain. Only one man out of 180 in his company that landed in Paris on October of 1944 were still with the company on VE day. I have that man's complete diary, from their first battle to the war's end. I'll write it up and post it here if anyone is interested.

Growing up, I used to ask my Dad what he did in the war. His answer was always the same - "My job was to make sure the men brushed their teeth and got to bed on time".

Father in Law, and a favorite Uncle were there. My hat is always off to those that endured that hell.

The 365th Fighter Group literally broke the back of Hitler's Panzer Divisions during the Battle of the Bulge!

Go here:

http://hellhawks.org/

Read the book...HELL HAWKS!