Attached is a picture taken a five years ago in our living room. It shows the FLAG mother sewed during World War Two in our temporary home in Bierges-lez-Wavre, Belgium.

Mother, Alix U. de Kerchove, was a Belgian. She married Gustave R. de Marcken, who was raised and educated in Chicago, Illinois. They had nine (9) children all born U.S. citizens and registered at the U.S. Embassy in Brussels, Belgium.

Mother knew that our Flag had forty eight (48) stars and thirteen (13) stripes; however Dad was already in German concentration camp and could not tell her that the stars should be pointing up. Mother sewed the Flag piece by piece at night, when the German guard was asleep; she would hide the Flag under the floor in her bedroom, where she had loosen a floor board and where she pulled a small piece of furniture over the board so as to hide her work from the German SS, who would at times come to search our home.

None of us knew that she was making this Flag, we only heard about it on September third (3rd) 1944, when she heard that the American troops were approaching our home.

Submitted by Christian W. de Marcken, Associate
Lamar Soutter/Central Chapter (22)

We Honor Veterans

submitted by Sherry Klopp, VP Chapters

The Congressional Medal of Honor was awarded to seventeen soldiers for their valor during the battle.

click here to see their names

December 16, 2014 Commemoration-70th Anniversary of the start of the Battle of the Bulge

Photo submitted by Matthew Swedick, Associate, president

Two members of VBOB, Emmett Lang and Ted Paluch will be speaking of their experiences at the Mid-Atlantic Air Museum’s 25th Anniversary World War II Weekend

A Gathering of Warbirds
Reading Regional Airport, PA
June 5-6-7, 2015

 http://www.maam.org/maamwwii.html

Visit us

It is no wonder America was victorious

Veterans reflect on their Living History experience

BOB Veterans Kate Nolan, 57th Field Hospital and Alfred Shehab, 38th Cavalry featured

click here

Scroll down to Oceans Away and click on  the arrow

Fifty years after the Battle of the Bulge, AI Babecki spearheaded the Indian River Chapter for Veterans of the Battle of the Bulge and served as Chapter President for many years. During World War II, AI served in the 1255th Engineer Combat Battalion. In 1989 he became the original editor of the newsletter for that group and continued writing, typing and even mailing the Bulletin to members across the country.

AI and his wife Dory had moved to Barefoot Bay, Florida in 1986 after he retired from NASA – Goddard Space Flight Center, in Greenbelt, MD.

After a life of service, both military and community, AI Babecki passed away on January 17, 2015, at the age of 89. After cremation, AI was put to rest in Arlington National Cemetery with a military service.

Here is a poem Al Babecki wrote about the war in 1994:

IN MEMORIAM

This memorial service is a rightful obligation
For a group like ours to perform with concentration,
To honor those persons who meant a great deal
In our young lives when war was unreal.

These were our Friends, our Comrades in arms.
They  came from cities, villages, and farms;
And, with us, they trained to build and to kill,
To help our country in its hours of peril

Brought on by despots in the East and the West
Who threatened our Freedom, and that of the rest.
These were our Buddies with whom we spent time
In huts and in tents, on ship and Europe’s grime.

On them we learned to depend for our future.
And they on us: the Buddy System was super,
Except for those few who paid with their lives
So the Battalion, the U.S., and democracy survives.

These were our Pals; they showed us much fun,
Along with the engineer missions we had run.
We’ll never forget them as long as we live,
For they had much to offer, and much to give.

And, whether they died in battle, or later,
To us their service couldn’t have been greater.
And, now as we honor these heroes of ours,
Let us pause to remember them as among  God’s stars;

And, as we prepare for our next year’s reunion,
We should maintain with them a constant communion;
For what is a man, if he’s not remembered
By his family and friends for all that he’s rendered?

Our time, too, will come for certain
As Life lowers on us its final curtain.
We hone that those who remain behind
Will meet like this to keep us in mind.

submitted by his daughter, Barbara Jones

Read the article

Read about the ceremony

South Florida female veterans remember their service in WWII

Members of the Lamar Soutter/Central Chapter (22) gathered to re-dedicate their VBOB memorial which was originally dedicated in 1992.

Photos by Jeanne de Marcken, Associate

The Battle Remembered, Henry Howard
http://www.legion.org/magazine/225538/battle-remembered

Battle of the Bulge Remembered: Kate Nolan, 57th Field Hospital
http://www.legion.org/legiontv?pid=latest&v=ilQ7VlNq6cA

Battle of the Bulge Remembered: Irving Locker, 116th AAA Gun Bn
http://www.legion.org/legiontv?pid=latest&v=vHP6AiAZUY0

Battle of the Bulge Remembered: Mike Levin, 7th Armored Division
http://www.legion.org/legiontv?pid=latest&v=sIrC4r9XGUk

Media by Henry Howard
Deputy Director of Magazine Operations

The Veterans of the Battle of the Bulge Memorial at Arlington Cemetery was rewarded by a wreath laying ceremony on Sunday, January 25, 2015 by “Wreaths Across America.”  VBOB was honored with the presence of Wayne G. Hanson, Chairman of the Board of Directors, and Tobin Slaven, Director of Communications of “Wreath Across America.”

VBOB members present were Col. (Ret) Bert Rice, Madeleine Bryant, and J. David Bailey.

http://www.wreathsacrossamerica.org

Submitted by J. David Bailey, 106th ID