81 years ago today, the mission of the greatest army the world had ever seen reached the culmination of its mission to save the world from Nazi tyranny: the once-mighty German army laid down its arms and marched docilely off to Allied POW enclosures.

SHAEF commander Dwight D. Eisenhower issued this order of the day.

“Men and women of the Allied Expeditionary Force:

“The crusade on which we embarked in the early summer of 1944 has reached its glorious conclusion . . .

“Your accomplishments at sea, in the air, on the ground and in the field of supply, have astonished the world. Even before the final week of the conflict, you had put 5,000,000 of the enemy permanently out of the war. You have taken in stride military tasks so difficult as to be classed by many doubters as impossible. You have confused, defeated and destroyed your savagely fighting foe. On the road to victory you have endured every discomfort and privation and have surmounted every obstacle ingenuity and desperation could throw in your path. You did not pause until our front was firmly joined up with the great Red Army coming from the Easy, and other Allied Forces, coming from the South.

740th Tank Battalion veteran Harry Miller greeted King Charles III during his visit to Arlington Cemetery. They had a brief conversation which was summarized in an article in the Gettysburg Connection.https://gettysburgconnection.org/york-county-wwii-vet-greets-king-charles/

For the 3^rd straight year, BOBA and the WWII American Experience Museum are teaming up to present a conference covering some of the latest scholarship n the Ardennes campaign. The conference will be held January 25, 2026, at the WWII American Experience Museum 845 Crooked Creek Rd., Gettysburg PA 17325

The evening before, there will be a very casual “Meet the Speakers” event at the Best Western Hotel. Watch this space for more information.

The sparkers are:

• Stuart Dempsey (German Army)
• Leon Reed (US armor doctrine: plans v. reality)
• Christopher Carey (Red Ball Express)
• David Brookins (28^th Division, the Wiltz St. Nick)
• Walter Zapotoczny (28^th Division, Motivation to Fight).

This year, the museum’s collection will be part of the show. Instead of meeting in the lobby, we will meet in the more spacious Motor Pool, where we will be surrounded by the vehicles that several of our speakers will discuss.

A brief ceremony is planned at 2 pm, April 24, in the Memorial Gardens along the Army Heritage Walk. it will rededicate the VBOB monument that had first been erected in 1997 but which had been in storage for a number of years.

We first learned its status in September and the Board authorized Outreach to work with the Army to do what was necessary to put fit on public view. Our task force chair, Tom Vossler, worked effectively with officials of AHEC and the War College and the monument was erected in a prime location before two months had passed.

There will be a tram o transport people out to the site. All are welcome.

Committee chair Leon Reed and advocate Tom Vossler stand beside monument,

A new best-seller in BOBA’s booklet series is available: Nurses and Guardian Angels. Pulling from all the Bugles since 1982, we’ve assembled the stories of Ruth Puryear, Mary Alm, Margaret Hammond Walenski, and many other nurses who worked under hardship conditions and in great danger to bring wounded GIs back to health.

Booklets available. Price $15, including shipping. Paypal or Venmo or mail check to leonsreed@gmail.com or Leon Reed, 205 Old Mill Rd., Gettysburg, PA 17325

Special topics

• Nurses and Guardian angels

• Christmas in the Ardennes 1944

Booklets available:

Infantry: 1^st, 2^nd, 4^th, 26^th, 28^th, 30^th, 35^th, 75^th, 80^th, 83^rd, 84^th, 87^th, 90^th, 99^th, 106^th

17^th and 101^st Airborne

3^rd, 4^th, 7^th, 9^th, 10^th Armor

Incidents: Monschau; Lausdell/Twin Villages and Lanzerath; Elsenborn Ridge; Malmedy/Wereth massacres; Stoumont/LaGlaize (30^th-740^th); Stavelot ; Parker’s Crossroads; Closing the Southern Bulge

Functions: Engineers, Quartermaster, Nurses

Christmas in the Ardennes1944

Join us on the anniversary of the last day of the battle January 25, 2025 from 8:30am-5pm for the 2nd Annual Battle of the Bulge Conference at the WWII American Experence Museum in Gettysburg, PA! Susan Eisenhower and others including several BOBA members and Leon Reed will be presenting! 

Book your stay by clicking here for the BOBA discounted hotel link.

Click here for all program details.

Congratulations to BOBA Bulge veteran member Frederick L. Faulkner (3257 SIG SVC CO)! On May 12, 2024, the Florida Orchestra played his Ardennes March for the first time during their Pops in the Park event, their largest concert of the year, and Fred also conducted the Stars and Stripes Forever.

Click here to check out the media coverage.

Fred has composed 3 pieces for concert band that recognize and honor the participants of Pearl Harbor, The Battle of the Bulge and Viet Nam. Having played piano and the reed instruments in concert and jazz bands over the years as a hobby, he decided to write something that would honor these wars that he had lived through and participated in. Fred is a long-standing member of BOBA Chapters 23 and 32.

Bravo, Fred, and thank you for your service!

BOBA communicates with members primarily through email, including The Bulge Bugle®. Doing so helps us be thrifty by reducing postage costs. If you have not received emails from us lately, we probably don’t have your email address. Send your current email address to BOBAmembership@gmail.com and we’ll get you back in the loop. Thank you!

BOBA is part of an interesting sounding 3-part program this coming Saturday at the WWII American Experience museum in Gettysburg. I’ll go on at 2 with a talk about how we geared up for WWII. From a standing start (basically, a 150,000 man army armed with World War I weapons in 1937), we created a 16 million person armed forces and out-produced the rest of the world. The story of how we did that is one of the great accomplishments of the 20th century.

Come on out, it should be a great series of talks

We’ll have a live link for signup soon, but in the meanwhile, here’s a description of the Reunion’s activity.

Longtime BOBA member Dan Santagata spoke about his WWII experiences to a New York historical society. As our WWII experience fades further and further into our rear view mirror, these personal testimonials assume greater importance. BOB is proud of our active veterans!

ELECTED OFFICERS
President & CEO: Steve Landry
Executive Vice President: Barbara Mooneyhan
Vice President Membership: Wayne Jacobs
Vice President Chapters: Dr. Andy Waskie
Vice President Military & Veteran Affairs: Doris Davis
Treasurer: Mary Ann Smith
Recording Secretary: Gail C. Larke

ELECTED BOARD MEMBERS
Madeleine Bryant, Chaplain
Kristen Faller
Ken Larke
Jim Triesler, Historian
Betsy Rose

PAST PRESIDENT: John Mohor

You are cordially invited to join the Battle of the Bulge Association^® for our

79TH ANNUAL COMMEMORATION
of the Battle of the Bulge
ARLINGTON, VA and WASHINGTON, DC
Wednesday, January 24 – Friday, January 26, 2024

CLICK HERE FOR THE ITINERARY & HOTEL INFORMATION

CLICK HERE TO REGISTER ONLINE

After the Commemoration, extend your trip to Gettysburg, PA on January 27, 2024 for the Battle of the Bulge educational conference. Click here for details.