The 11th month, the 11th day, the 11th hour....
I have an intense interest in America’s involvement in WWII. This is based on my study of American military aircraft from the time period, along with frequent conversations with my father-in-law, Don, a WWII Army veteran. For close to 10-years, almost every Friday I stopped by his house on the way home from work, to visit and enjoy some brandy. These almost 2-hour sessions involved me picking his brain about his military experiences and my insane curiosity….and recording brief notes when I got home.
Don was from Rice Lake, WI. He enlisted, took some tests and qualified for the ASTP (Army Specialized Training Program). If you continued to pass numerous tests, you would become qualified for pilot training. Just before Don was to be sent to Camp Maxey, TX (NE of Dallas) for more training and testing, the Army scrapped the program.
Don was then assigned to the infantry. He was in the 99th Infantry Division, the 394th Infantry Division, Company L.
As an infantry replacement, he found himself in Belgium.
One incident he recalled was a German sniper, who had a scoped rifle, walking out of the woods to Don’s unit, with his rifle in both hands above his head, surrendering. In perfect English, the German told Don’s men how he could have shot any number of Don’s unit’s men but didn’t because he hated Hitler.
Don eventually was stationed near the German border in Belgium. Early the morning of his third day in this area, 16 Dec. 1944, German artillery started hitting the area. (I told him that some books say our men were lining up for breakfast but Don did not remember that detail.) This was the opening day of The Battle of the Bulge. At the same time German infantry was coming from the east along the rail tracks leading from Germany and headed into the Buchholz, Belgium rail station area. Don’s leader, Captain Neil Brown, told Don and few others to go east to some empty box cars on a siding, and get after the German soldiers in the cars. A German was firing at Don and Don got down on the ground, alongside the rails. He then noticed that Fermann Grimm (Don was good with names and he knew a lot of his fellow unit member’s names) was up in the water tower shooting back at the German. The artillery hits increased, so Don and others took cover in a small building. An artillery round crashed through the building, some fragments striking Don (in the back) and other men.
Don had a friend, Bob Allison (not the Minnesota Twins outfielder) who was a coin collector. He asked Don to take a container of old coins and a Walther P-38 that Bob picked-up during the battle, home with him and get the coins to his parents, who lived in Chattanooga, TN. If Don succeeded, Don could keep the pistol. Don got the coins delivered and kept the pistol, which I have today....my only 9mm.
Fast forward to July 2000. I was in Brussels, Belgium on business and my wife, Mary, Don’s daughter, was with me. I worked Wed. through Friday and gave myself a day of vacation on Saturday. We took the train to Leige and rented a car. Then we drove to the town of Losheimergraben. Don had told me that this town was close to where he was. During the battle this area was known as the “northern shoulder” of the Bulge. It is at the intersection of N632 and the International Highway, which forms the north/south border of Belgium and Germany. I saw some concrete pyramid tank-trap remnants of the Seigfried Line, built in the 1930’s. There is an inn on the corner. We went in, we had a beer and I worked with the bartender (non English speaking) to find out how to find the Buchholz area. On a napkin I wrote out Buchholz and drew a train. He understood and told me to go back west on N632 about 250 meters, and turn left to go south. I did and we found the area that at one time was the town of Buchholz and its rail station. All rail buildings and railroad items had long since been removed.
I did find the outline of the foundation of the building Don and others with him took cover in. I felt that we stood on the spot where Don was, when the German artillery came through the roof, injuring Don and killing the man next to him. Don was under a table, the other man was not.
While in the area we visited the towns of Wirtzfield, Bullingen, Honsfeld, St. Vith, the twin villages of Rockerath and Krinkelt and Elsenborn, an area known during the battle as Elsenborn Ridge. We also visited Malmedy and the field there, where over (80) American POW’s were mowed down by the Germans. There is a sign there about the event. All of these towns and quite a few more are mentioned in the many books on the battle. At one time I had (8) of those books.
At a 99th Division reunion in Cheyenne, WY in the 1980’s, Don walked up to Captain Neil
Brown to say hi. Neil said…”Don Rude, I didn’t think I’d ever see you again because your injuries were so severe”. Don’s response was….”surprise!”
This was a really interesting July 2000 trip. Standing on the spot where Mary’s dad was injured, seeing the many WWII towns and their details about the battle on monuments and recorded in many sources, and navigating the rail system in this part of Europe, was one of those lifetime experiences. But topping the list is having known someone “who was there” and was willing to discuss and share their observations and experiences. I am eternally grateful!
Tom
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