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Just wanted to remember the brave Soldiers that lost their lives 69 years ago on a beach in France(or in the skies above) on D-Day, they are part of the reason that we are not all speaking German now

morf13 wrote:Just wanted to remember the brave Soldiers that lost their lives 69 years ago on a beach in France on D-Day (or in the skies above), they are part of the reason that we are not all speaking German now

Thank you Morf!
Always remember & be thankful!

Thank-you, Morf. My dad was there and at Ardennes. I appreciate it that you and others remember.

Patinky wrote:Thank-you, Morf. My dad was there and at Ardennes. I appreciate it that you and others remember.

Did he ever tell you about how cold it was at Ardennes?

morf13 wrote:

Patinky wrote:Thank-you, Morf. My dad was there and at Ardennes. I appreciate it that you and others remember.

Did he ever tell you about how cold it was at Ardennes?

He rarely talked about the war and when asked would almost always say, "I went and did my job and that's all I have to say." He never mentioned Ardennes by name but he would say when I was still living at home that "we're gonna keep the house warm ... I don't like cold weather." Since we didn't have much cold weather here I wasn't quite sure why he said that.

I had a lot of black and white photos, one in particular, of him holding a Garan, in combat gear with helmet, in what looked a bombed-out town. The snow was several inches high all around. Being a girl, I wasn't interested in war stuff but later on I showed the picture to a friend who said, "Hey, your dad is standing in Bastogne!!!!" I am embarrassed to say I did not know anything about the Battle of the Bulge and it's connection to the Ardennes and to Bastogne. I had his military papers (or what was left from the Saint Louis fire) and it showed lots of interesting things, including his tour in "Ardennes Forest." Until my friend told me that meant the Battle of the Bulge I really didn't know. By then, I figured out why Daddy hated cold weather and snow. He also hated Spam and would not even allow it to be brought into the house (I won't tell you what he said about that ).

Patinky wrote:

morf13 wrote:

Patinky wrote:Thank-you, Morf. My dad was there and at Ardennes. I appreciate it that you and others remember.

Did he ever tell you about how cold it was at Ardennes?

He rarely talked about the war and when asked would almost always say, "I went and did my job and that's all I have to say." He never mentioned Ardennes by name but he would say when I was still living at home that "we're gonna keep the house warm ... I don't like cold weather." Since we didn't have much cold weather here I wasn't quite sure why he said that.

I had a lot of black and white photos, one in particular, of him holding a Garan, in combat gear with helmet, in what looked a bombed-out town. The snow was several inches high all around. Being a girl, I wasn't interested in war stuff but later on I showed the picture to a friend who said, "Hey, your dad is standing in Bastogne!!!!" I am embarrassed to say I did not know anything about the Battle of the Bulge and it's connection to the Ardennes and to Bastogne. I had his military papers (or what was left from the Saint Louis fire) and it showed lots of interesting things, including his tour in "Ardennes Forest." Until my friend told me that meant the Battle of the Bulge I really didn't know. By then, I figured out why Daddy hated cold weather and snow. He also hated Spam and would not even allow it to be brought into the house (I won't tell you what he said about that ).

Cool story! Yes, the Bulge was a major battle that forced the German army to retreat back to Germany. That battle was fought in areas like Bastogne, and Ardennes during the winter,and it was a very frigid place,and most troops that fought there were very happy to leave(sorry if I am rambling,I'm a bit of a WW2 enthusiast). If you, or anybody else is interested, I highly suggest watching Band Of Brothers, it covers everything from Dday to Bastogne,to VE day. Very very good miniseries, two thumbs up from me.

Here's the Bastogne photo (if I've successfully figured out how to upload!).

morf13 wrote:Cool story! Yes, the Bulge was a major battle that forced the German army to retreat back to Germany. That battle was fought in areas like Bastogne, and Ardennes during the winter,and it was a very frigid place,and most troops that fought there were very happy to leave(sorry if I am rambling,I'm a bit of a WW2 enthusiast). If you, or anybody else is interested, I highly suggest watching Band Of Brothers, it covers everything from Dday to Bastogne,to VE day. Very very good miniseries, two thumbs up from me.

I have a DVD set of Band of Brothers. It sends chills up and down my spine. In particular, Daddy's brother was in the infantry and was actually in the forest on the ground and, from what I've been told, saw pretty much what the movie portrayed. My uncle (this same man) lost his mind in 1962. His wife came in the house and found it torn all to pieces with him under the bed (this was in Nashville, Tennessee), screaming to "get down, get down, the damn Germans are coming." They called for Daddy to come and my uncle was taken to the VA hospital immediately. He was diagnosed as being "shell shocked." He never came home except for Christmas visits. From 1962 to 1998 when he died, he was reliving the Battle of the Bulge. Daddy was in a 155mm Howitzer unit about 14-15 miles to the rear.

My friend got me totally interested in WWII. My friend is a career military man and an expert in WWII stuff. You can show him a shirt, a jacket, a helmet, whatever, and he just about rattles off, "Yes, that's a 1941 model, made in Timbuktu, Georgia, with a brass button only used for six months on certain size 40 jackets" .... well you get my drift. Of all things, he's stationed in Germany now.

Cool stuff Patinky,thanks for sharing