My platoon contained many strange faces. New men had replaced the machine gunners we lost in Normandy, and men lost in Holland had to be replaced.

On December 17, 1944, we were alerted to return to combat. The Ger-mans had launched a surprise attack through the Ardennes aimed at the English Channel ports. The front line US divisions had been overrun, and hundreds of men were killed, captured or were missing-in-action.  

The ferocious German incursion covered hundreds of miles, and provided the basis for the campaign being named the ‘Battle of the Bulge.’ The largest, most costly WW II battle in Europe.

We traveled in open trucks, on a bitter cold day, to Werbomont, Belgium and joined the allied forces trying to constrain the German attack.

The following hectic days were spent maneuvering by foot and truck to find and establish the best positions from which to blunt and destroy the swiftly moving German armored and infantry forces.

Winter arrived in Europe with a heavy snowfall on December 21, a bitter cold day.

On December 23, the 508^th PIR was committed to providing a safety  corridor in which the badly mauled 106^th Infantry and 7^th Armored division survivors could escape the Germans.

To establish the corridor, the 508^th PIR, at great risk, deployed in an eight-mile salient that stretched  from the main battle position to the town of Vielsalm, on the Salm River.

Hundreds of vehicles (tanks, trucks, artillery) and men had safely transited the corridor by Christmas Eve.  However, the 508^th PIRs’ situation had become perilous.  It was in imminent danger of being cut-off, surrounded and destroyed by large German armored and infantry formations.

Therefore, late on Christmas Eve, the regiment was ordered to break contact with the Germans and withdraw to the main battle position.

That night, 508^th PIR troopers protected by a small covering force plodded through heavily snow-covered forests and hills, fighting off strong German patrols. 

On Christmas morning, the 508^th PIR was on the main battle position – mourning those we had lost during the night, especially the covering force that included several of the Hq1 light machinegun squads.

After several furious battles along the main battle position the German attack was stopped.