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

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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

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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

On January 16, 1945, the 11th Armored Division of General Patton’s Third U.S. Army made the historic juncture with the 2nd Armored and 84th Infantry Divisions of General Hodge’s First U.S. Army at Houffalize, Belgium during the Battle of the Bulge.  This action effectively halted the German Army by containing the “Bulge” that the Germans had created in the Allied lines in the Ardennes Forest on December 16, 1944.

To commemorate the 70th Anniversary of this event, the people of Houffalize held a two-day celebration during the weekend of January 17-18, 2015.  The Saturday events included a commemorative walk through the environs of Houffalize, a “Freedom Bivouac” (where local restaurants served period food in an outdoor American G.I. setting), a tour of the “Bulge” monuments in the town, and a dance with a Glen Miller-themed band.  The Sunday events included a Mass at the town’s sports center for all American G.I.s who died in the “Bulge”, a procession to the Houffalize “Juncture Monument”, the playing of the American national anthem by a local marching band, the laying of flowers at the monument, a lecture on the link-up at Houffalize, a special “Liberty Cocktail” for all present, an American-style barbecue, and a parade of military vehicles with drivers in period uniforms.

The commemorative Mass was celebrated on the hood of a jeep, as Mass often was during World War II, by the Reverend Jean-François Thiebaut, Dean of Ourthe and Salm and the Reverend Jean Lambin, Dean of Houffalize.  During his homily, Dean Thiebaut made special mention of the 11th Armored Division’s role in the link-up at Houffalize, and showed the congregation a roll of honor of “Patton’s Thunderbolts” who died in the “Bulge”.  It was placed on the altar for the remainder of the Mass.  Several flag bearers represented the three American divisions, which made the juncture at Houffalize (as well as Belgian soldiers who fought in the “Bulge”) during the Presentation of the Gifts at the Mass.  And three career officers from the Belgian Armed Forces sang the hymns during the Mass, as well as the American, Belgian and European anthems at the conclusion of the liturgy.

The accompanying photo shows the “Juncture Monument” in Houffalize (with its plaques to the 11th Armored, 2nd Armored and 84th Infantry Divisions) and the flowers deposited there during the link-up celebration.

The people of Houffalize are proud to recall their town’s role in the history of the “Bulge”.  And they are forever grateful for the role the American G.I.s played in their liberation 70 years ago.

Submitted by
Pat Kearney, 11th AD, 55th AIB

Veterans, family members and friends gathered to commemorate the 70th anniversary of the end of the Battle of the Bulge by laying wreaths in Arlington Cemetery at the Tomb of the Unknowns and and the VBOB Memorial. A wreath was also laid at the World War II Memorial.

Johan Verbeke Belgium’s ambassador to the United States hosted the group at his residence for dinner.

photos by Thomas C. Roberts, Jr., Associate