Battle of the Bulge

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Winston

Winston

Lorenzo von Matterhorn
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No, not about lockdown weight gain.

CHRISTMAS SPECIAL - Bastogne 1944 - The Forgotten Flying Heroes



Ardennes SS Massacre - The Wereth 11



Battleground (1949), an outstanding film released only four years after the war, so it couldn't be full of BS since many who were in combat would be watching it.

 
My father was with the 80th Division attached to Patton's 3rd.
Normandy to Bostogne/Battle of the Bulge and then Buchenwald and Ebensee concentration camps .

His liked Battleground as an accurate portrayal of the infantry in WWII.
 
Antares JS said:
Needs moar Sabaton.

Click to expand...
Not my kind of music at all, but they have large numbers of positive reviews on Amazon. Had to look them up. Swedes, non-participants in both WWI and WWII, sing in a manly fashion about the heroics of those who actually fought. Of course, had they participated they'd just have been destroyed like the rest of Europe, so I guess that wasn't a bad move.
 
My grandfather was in 3rd army. I remember him telling me about bastogne and battle of the bulge and he witnessed the atrocities of the war first hand. We cleaned out the house recently and came across a shoe box with some photos of him in country.
 
A good friend of mine was captured during the battle of the bulge and his name was Dolphus .
The German Solders would try to get him to say his name was Adolph in stead of Dolphus

He told me the average German was just like the American GI hungry and cold and just trying to stay alive.
He said some solders would sneak the bits of food and cigarettes to them but others would be total asses .

He is at peace now RIP
 
This year I hit my 40th year of full time ministry as a pastor. As some of you may know, pastor's do a lot of funerals. And I have certainly done my share. I've done far more funerals than I would have liked to, but that's how things work, especially in small town USA where I've spent 31 of those 40 years.

Right now, even the youngest of the still living WW2 vets are in their 90's. That's just the reality of time, but the remaining WW2 vets are fast becoming rarities on this side of the sod.

Its rarely easy to get them to talk about their experiences in the war. In some ways that's very natural. Few people alive, at least in this country, have ever lived in a generation that was impacted more by the experience of war than the folks who are leaving us for the next life day in and day out. And no, this is not a "Come to Jesus" sermon, though I'm certain we (notice I said "we") need to hear one every now and then.

This is a plea. This is a plea to get off your duff and find one of these WW2 vets and at the minimum, say thanks before its too late. If he or she is a relative or close friend, take the time to give them lots of opportunities to share what they can and will share. If you're a military vet yourself, that will help.

When they're gone, they're gone, and only on the other side of eternity will we get a chance to hear their stories. So find the time to listen NOW. The stories will not necessarily be easy to hear, but listen anyway. You need to listen for your own good. Most of us don't have a clue. Sure, "Band of Brothers," "The Pacific", "Saving Private Ryan", "Pearl Harbor", "Hacksaw Ridge", and a whole bunch of other great movies can give you a glimpse into what it was like, it will still only be a glimpse. The real horror of it was far, far worse than any movie can convey.

So take the time to find a WW2 vet and say thanks.

Then go find the slightly younger Korean Conflict vets and say the same... then the Vietnam vets, and the Gulf Wars, Afghanistan, and all the rest......... and I'm certain that I've forgotten some.

The point is, let us NOT FORGET. They served in our place and they deserve our thanks, our respect, and our willingness to never forget them and what they did for all of us.

Enough preaching.
Brad
 
My brother thinks my father was part of the force that Patton moved to help during the Battle of the Bulge. My father died over 40 years ago and didn't talk about his experiences during the war that I ever recall. Sadly, most of his records were destroyed in the big fire that destroyed many military records years ago. However, my brother did find a photo of my father taken near Malmedy in 1944.

My father-in-law passed away a few years ago and he was a veteran of both WWII and Korea.
 
RocketRev said:
This year I hit my 40th year of full time ministry as a pastor. As some of you may know, pastor's do a lot of funerals. And I have certainly done my share. I've done far more funerals than I would have liked to, but that's how things work, especially in small town USA where I've spent 31 of those 40 years.

Right now, even the youngest of the still living WW2 vets are in their 90's. That's just the reality of time, but the remaining WW2 vets are fast becoming rarities on this side of the sod.

Its rarely easy to get them to talk about their experiences in the war. In some ways that's very natural. Few people alive, at least in this country, have ever lived in a generation that was impacted more by the experience of war than the folks who are leaving us for the next life day in and day out. And no, this is not a "Come to Jesus" sermon, though I'm certain we (notice I said "we") need to hear one every now and then.

This is a plea. This is a plea to get off your duff and find one of these WW2 vets and at the minimum, say thanks before its too late. If he or she is a relative or close friend, take the time to give them lots of opportunities to share what they can and will share. If you're a military vet yourself, that will help.

When they're gone, they're gone, and only on the other side of eternity will we get a chance to hear their stories. So find the time to listen NOW. The stories will not necessarily be easy to hear, but listen anyway. You need to listen for your own good. Most of us don't have a clue. Sure, "Band of Brothers," "The Pacific", "Saving Private Ryan", "Pearl Harbor", "Hacksaw Ridge", and a whole bunch of other great movies can give you a glimpse into what it was like, it will still only be a glimpse. The real horror of it was far, far worse than any movie can convey.

So take the time to find a WW2 vet and say thanks.

Then go find the slightly younger Korean Conflict vets and say the same... then the Vietnam vets, and the Gulf Wars, Afghanistan, and all the rest......... and I'm certain that I've forgotten some.

The point is, let us NOT FORGET. They served in our place and they deserve our thanks, our respect, and our willingness to never forget them and what they did for all of us.

Enough preaching.
Brad
Click to expand...
Absolutely! I agree!

A good friend of mine, Ray Basek, was on the aircraft carrier USS Cowpens in the Pacific in WWII. His job was to fold up the outer wings of the Hellcats after they landed. One day a pilot had just parked his plane and Ray was getting ready to fold the wings when another plane missed the arresting wire and came straight for him. The out of control plane stopped when his prop stopped just behind the pilot of the parked plane. Nobody was hurt. Ray said they were attacked by Kamikaze planes but lost more men to deck landings. He was later a crew chief in the Arizona Air National Guard and had many great tales to tell!
 
My father was a decorated paratrooper in the Korean war. He always loved eating chicken but was deathly afraid of live ones. Never spoke as to why, although I've been led to believe it was due to being pinned down in a chicken coop during an intense artillery bombardment.

My uncle, first signed up in the Navy and was trained as a radar operator. He was stationed oboard the USS Missouri, IIRC. Then a few years later, he enlisted in the Army and served in Vietnam as an MP in the days before it was declared a police action. During his tour he was reassigned to a general's staff as an interrogator. He used to tell me stories of how the general would grant him a temporary promotion one rank above the individual he was assigned to question. Military protocol prohibits a subordinate from questioning a superior...
 
My sister married the son of a local grocer who fought in the Battle of the Bulge. Sadly, he wasted away from cancer in his sixties.
 
Don Malarkey from 101st Easy Company was a local, but I only know of him through a friend of mine. Wes Ross I knew, but it wasn't until late in life that he was an officer in charge of a team that swam in to the D-Day beaches and placed demolition charges on the landing craft hazards before the landing. Then there was Jim Witcomb who was at the battle of Chosin Reservior who gave me a 30 second life lesson as to what it was like to endure the "Great Depression" and to be thankful of the comfort we have today.
 
My dad was in the Pacific Campaign. Mortar shrapnel took out his shoulder on Leyte. Must have been pretty cutting edge at the time, they took bone from his hip and repaired the shoulder. So he wound up with a limp and a 30% effective arm on that side. Now that I've been there a bit I know he had PTSD bad. He never talked about his experience in my earshot but he definately drank a lot of beer. He always 'bit down' on his anger, he might have been afraid of what he would do if he lost it. Can't imagine a fight where the enemy can be nearly invisible close up. Never had to pull that type of duty and am glad it is so.
 

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