Sixty-two years ago, my father was an Army sergeant in the Battle of the Bulge. His unit, the 54th Signal Battalion with the 18th Airborne Corps, was in snowy Harze, Belgium:
“On Christmas night we slept in the hayloft of a stone barn. We had blankets and our M1-A1 sleeping bag, a coffin-shaped bag we closed with a long zipper. Cows were on the floor below us. Their body heat helped keep us warm. We were in Harze a week, through New Year’s Eve. I was still doing road patrol duty.
“At night, the Germans were shooting buzz bombs, V-1s, over us. They were trying to knock out supply depots in Liege and in Antwerp, Belgium. Each buzz bomb would buzz over until its engine cut off, and then it would drop quietly to the ground and explode wherever it hit.
“It was funny to listen. In the middle of the night, you could hear all these guys in the hayloft snoring away. When the V-1 engine went quiet, they’d all stop snoring. And when the bomb blew up, they’d all start snoring again like nothing happened.”
In the morning, the soldiers were back on the road again, setting up communications and pushing the Germans back into Germany.
There was no Peace on Earth the Christmas of 1944. But because the liberators of France, Belgium, the Netherlands, Luxembourg and west Germany insisted that every western European nation allow freedom and democracy after World War II, that part of the world has enjoyed peace longer than it ever has.
My father died last year. He left a lot of Merry Christmases.
Frank Warner
Others in the 54th Signal Battalion:
Jack E. Alimisis
Tex Allen
Thomas E. Allison
John Bier?
John Biers
Robert L. Boatman (clerk in supply room)
Sol Brody
Walter F. Burton
First Sgt. Billy Clayton (transferred before the Bulge)
John M. Connor
Delbert E. Craft
T/Sgt. William Davidson
Dave Deeken
Cpl. Mike Deely
Floyd Delano
Anthony M. Denier
Frank S. DeVine?
Joseph E. Dougherty
Sal Enna
Sgt. David H. Ferrari
Albert or Joseph C. “Sad Sack” Fischer
Sgt. John Forenti
Milton Gamson
Art Glaspen
William L. Goldie
Dean G. Hackett
John J. Haslam
Cpl. Clarence R. Healey
Sgt. Steven Hickenbottom
Henry Jewell (mess sergeant)
Herbert F. Jurgenson
Leslie F. Kruger
Vic Langford
Ernest E. Lee
Robert C. “Bob” Longress
Harold C. Mangham
Jim Mildenberger?
Ernest Moleiro
Charles “Chuck” Morales
Lt. Patrick M. Mullvehill
Richard K. Ohlman
Robert. L. Peavey
Donald J. Peck?
Anthony W. Pendl
Cpl. Charlie Pepper
Alzie Pilson
Silas Puentes?
Wayne Rice
Albert Riley
John W. Rogan
Cpl. Ralph F. Salmon
Les Scheldknecht
Henry “Hank” Schuster
Delmar Smith
Sgt. Normand Spottiswoode
Direlle Swan
Ernest B. Szucs
Jack H. Tochterman
Sgt. Maj. Morton Victor
Matt Weber
Sgt. Ed White
Eldon Woodbridge
Frank Zelinski (company baker)
It's always confusing that there were two "Battles of the Bulge". The Germans (or at least the Austro-hungarian/German forces) tried something similar in the First World War - a last ditch attempt to throw everything they had at a portion of the advancing enemy line to try to break them.
It's unfortunate and in both cases only served to kill a lot of people and prolong both wars for a little while.
Sorry to hear about your father. I hope you had a good time this year anyway. Merry Christmas from the Land of the Beach-going Santa. :)
Posted by: Nicholas | December 25, 2005 at 10:44 PM
Thanks, Nicholas. Are you in Australia right now? I remember you were in the States not long ago.
Posted by: Frank Warner | December 26, 2005 at 02:26 AM
Yes... haven't been to the US for about 6 months now. I'll probably go back some time in the first few months of next year to meet with the people I do contract work for.
Posted by: Nicholas | December 26, 2005 at 04:39 AM
My father was a few miles away listening to the shelling. He was collecting German prisoners about as fast as he could to take them back to New Jersey. He said you could watch over 200 with a single rifleman. They were no trouble in NJ either.
Posted by: jj mollo | December 26, 2005 at 06:23 PM
Interesting, JJ. As I recall, my father said he and his group were taking prisoners by the thousands in April 1945.
At that time, close to the final surrender, the prisoners were taken to big fields and, after fairly quick processing, most were sent home within a few days.
Posted by: Frank Warner | December 26, 2005 at 11:27 PM
http://harze.e-monsite.com/pages/harze-en-1940-1945/
Posted by: Pierre NINANE | July 14, 2017 at 02:09 PM
Merci, Pierre! There is good information there on what else was going on in Harze, Belgium, during World War II.
Posted by: Frank Warner | August 03, 2017 at 09:38 AM