On March 15, 2012 a tour of the US Army Quartermaster Museum was well received by the members since it has so many displays of these men’s memories, Patton’s jeep and Ike’s van etc. An article by T. Anthony Bell, Fort Lee Traveller, is well written and I felt it told the story of the Crater Chapter of the Battle of Bulge in such a good matter you would appreciate reading the same.

 Mr. Bell and I knew each other from some years back when he teased me about leaving this same Museum and after over 20 years as curator of education there. Times have changed I love history but today its games, electronics and theater, that’s not for me.

The members of this chapter or fine folk and are kind and caring of those who cannot do this simple task they used to. Each of those who attended the March meeting was sent a copy of the newspaper article. Some who could not attend also received the newspaper article.  I have not been a member of this chapter long and joined the national only recently thanks to a VBOBer giving me a page in his bugle.

I so enjoyed the memories shared by others that I sent my son’s name and he also joined. I copied the Uncle Sam cover and carried it to display it at March meeting. A retired General also attending the meeting asked me to get information from other parts of the Bugle and I did. He was seated next to one of the sisters whose father was at Malmedy

Thank you for what you do.

Betty Bishop, Associate

 Click on ftleetraveller.com to read the story

Samuel will read the following poem at American Legion ceremonies to be held at the Destin, FL cemetery on Memorial Day, 2012

Click on nwfdailynews.com to read Samuel’s story

When in early 1994, 9th Armored Division veteran Frank Noe presented some of his medals and ribbons, earned during WW2, to a young Luxembourgish boy, no one could imagine how much this small but very meaningful gift would affect the life of that 10 year old child.

This little boy is me, Daniel Reiland, born in 1983 and living in the small town of Huldange, in northern Luxembourg. Before the German army started the Battle of the Bulge on 16^th December 1944, Mr Noe’s unit had been staying for several weeks in northern Luxembourg. In the 1980s, on a trip back to the villages and places he had been to during the war, he also came through my hometown and got in touch with my parents, whom since then he visited every time he came back to Luxembourg.

Hearing Mr Noe’s memories about what he and his buddies had to endure during those hard times I was shocked on the one hand that in the peaceful village I was growing up and playing with my friends, only a few decades ago a terrible battle was spreading destruction, agony and death. On the other hand I was amazed that Mr Noe came back to see what the places, he had been to during the war, look nowadays and I was glad to hear that veterans like him get a warm and thankful welcome during their visit. The memories and stories he shared fascinated me in such a way that I wanted to get to know more about that Battle of the Bulge and especially about the men who had to fight it. I started then reading books and publications about the Battle of the Ardennes and the wartime in Luxembourg and became more and more interested in that topic.

At the same time the medals, Mr Noe had presented me, also made me become interested in the daily items the American soldiers were using at that time and so I started collecting all kinds of military uniforms, equipment and items from those days. Touching and looking at those genuine military artefacts helped me getting a more detailed and realistic view of what the daily life of an American Gl must have looked like in 1944 and 1945. At the age of 14, when I started learning English in High School, I was finally able to communicate myself with Mr Noe and another veteran, I got to know by then. Through all my teenage years I was able to share my intense interest for the Battle of the Bulge with a few friends and I went on collecting more military artefacts, which I was often able to still recover or purchase from farms and houses where the actual battle took place at the time.

After I graduated from Police Academy in 2005, I even purchased a restored and running WW2 Willys Jeep, which in a certain way became one of the symbols of the liberation of Europe after the war. The same year I also became a member of the “US Veterans Friends Luxembourg”, a non-profit organization run by volunteers, which helps erecting monuments and organizes ceremonies throughout Luxembourg and tours veterans and their relatives around over here. Especially the annual American-Luxembourgish Friendship Week gave me the opportunity to meet and get in touch with many veterans and their families and people who had lost a relative in Europe during the war.

The memories they shared and the many unanswered questions they often had made me start researching what actually happened to certain soldiers or units on certain dates and with the help of military records from those days and studies on the former battlefields, I was even able to retrace some cases.

Meeting a veteran out on the former battlefield and getting to know his personal story is not only a fascinating but also very meaningful experience to me. I don’t think it is even possible to touch history in a more realistic, genuine and living way. Quite often people ask me why a 28 year old man is so interested about the Battle of the Bulge, collects military artefacts from that period, does research about certain events and helps touring veterans and their families around.

The answers to that question are very simple: First of all the personal encounter with Mr Noe became a strong and lasting experience which made me want to get to know more about him and his comrades. In addition to that I consider it very important to make every possible effort to prevent our common history from being forgotten once the people who were part of it will be gone.

The most important reason however is to thank and honor the returning veterans and their fallen comrades and make sure that their sacrifices, made during the liberation of Luxembourg and the other European countries, were not in vain and will be remembered.

Click on usvf.lu to see our web site

submitted by Clarence Buckman, 106^th Infantry Division

Sixty seven years later veterans tell of their experiences …

 Click on phillyburbs.com to read the article

Easton, PA Area Community Center is hosting “Eyewitnesses to History” during its first Monday event at noon on May 7 …

 Click on lehighvalleylive.com for complete details

Brothers in combat, the Oswego County “Battle of the Bulge” Veterans have remained a force over decades of service to their communities …

Click on nysenate.gov for complete details

The 82nd Airborne Division Association of El Paso paid homage to its surviving members of the war at a commemoration and recognition ceremony held at the company building in central El Paso December 16, 2011 …

Click on fbmonitor.com for complete details

22nd Annual
World War II Weekend
June 1-2-3, 2012

“A GATHERING OF WARBIRDS”

Don’t miss the opportunity to meet and listen to the men and women of the “Greatest Generation”

 Click on maam.org for complete details

World War II has become a milepost in the growth and maturation of our great nation. John Malloy in Making John A Soldier has succeeded in giving us a complete and fascinating panorama of World War II through the device of his own experiences. For starters we are given a glimpse of how the United States, struggling in a depression, coped with total war.

Malloy sets his scenes accurately with just enough detail to make the reader seek the author’s reaction as an AST Program volunteer who becomes an infantry wire-crew member, and eventually a veteran. His experience in the AST Program, a temporary haven, then unexpectedly in the frozen hell of the Bulge is a compelling story of re-arranged military priorities. It shows how casualties in one instance result in even more in others. Unexpected casualties sustained after D-Day and through the hedgerow fighting in France caused a demand for even more men to counter the German Ardennes offensive and then fight on into Germany.

As Malloy moves through the strategy and, in some cases, the tactics employed in the war, the reader is treated to concise chronological explanations of what is happening on all fronts in the fight against the Axis powers. On a more personal level, the exploits of Audie Murphy and the author’s fellow Nebraskans, who were awarded the Medal of Honor, are asides that spice-up the narrative. Not as well known is the story of the development of technology for the two bombs that ended the war. Finally, a tale of pathos and confusion experienced by the author after the German surrender is sure to make the reader blink in disbelief. It is all here under one cover!

The marvel of this book is that this Nebraskan, who went to war, was able to pack so much of interest, in such a fascinating manner, into a single volume. I consider it a keeper!

Hoyt S. Vandenberg, Jr. Major General, USAF (Ret)

Source: http://www.amazon.com/Making-John-Soldier-Nebraskan-ebook/dp/B006IEX5ZE

The National Purple Heart Hall of Honor commemorates the extraordinary sacrifices of America’s servicemen and servicewomen who were killed or wounded in combat. The mission of the Hall of Honor is to collect and preserve the stories of Purple Heart recipients from all branches of service and across generations to ensure that all recipients are represented.

Click here for details

The POW Medal is authorized by Public Law 99-145, section 1128, title 10, United States Code (10 USC 1128), 8 November 1985, and is authorized for any person who, while serving in any capacity with the U.S. Armed Forces, was taken prisoner and held captive after 5 April 1917.

The POW Medal may be awarded posthumously.

Click here for complete details

Click here to read about a veteran receiving the POW medal

From 1941 to 1944, more than 850,000 soldiers from 25 U.S. Army divisions participated in seven large-scale maneuvers across 22 counties of Middle Tennessee–deadly serious war games (250 soldiers and civilians died in the training) to prepare for the war in the European and Pacific theaters.

Cumberland University, which served as 2^nd Army field headquarters for those massive exercises, wants to award honorary Master of Military Arts degrees next spring to as many of the soldiers from the Maneuvers as it can find.

click here for more details

Our latest and greatest news: MARCHING ONCE MORE won TWO regional EMMYS at the The Nashville/Midsouth Chapter of The National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences (NATAS) on March 17, 2012!

1) Historical/Documentary (Brenda Hughes and Adam Alphin)

2) Editor/Program (Adam Alphin)

We are obviously thrilled and honored to be recognized with these coveted awards. This wouldn’t have happened without the help of the Veterans of the Battle of the Bulge who shared their personal and often painful stories so that we could preserve the history of their incredible contribution to the freedom we enjoy today. They are and will always be a source of inspiration and hope – a generation of unselfish, humble and patriotic Americans to whom we owe so much.

I have also recently heard from many people who learned about MARCHING ONCE MORE in The Bulge Bugle.

Brenda Hughes, Producer
Wetbird Productions
http://www.wetbirdproductions.com/films-mom.php

Augusta Chiwy  is a retired Belgian nurse. Originally from the Belgian Congo, during the siege of Bastogne she worked with US Army Medic John ‘Jack’ Prior and fellow Belgian Renee Lemaire, treating injured soldiers during the Battle of the Bulge.

On 24 June 2011 Chiwy was made a Knight in the Order of the Crown. The medal was handed to her by Belgium’s Defence Minister Pieter De Crem.

On 12 December 2011 Chiwy was awarded the Civilian Award for Humanitarian Service which was handed to her by Ambassador to Belgium Howard Gutman

Click here to read the BBC News Article

Click here to read the news article at Stripes.com

Click here to read the news article at Navy Times