The Hq1 officers told Joe they were not operating a recuperation resort and he should return to the hospital. Joe threw his crutches aside and moved into the 81mm Mortar Platoon tents - where he was united with Oscar Prasse.

Joe and Oscar met the replacements  for their friends lost in Normandy and helped get them ready for the next mission.  

On September 17, 1944, a sunny Sunday afternoon, Joe Bressler and Oscar Prasse parachuted into a field south of Nijmegen, Holland.  That night their battalion tried to capture the Nijmegen Highway Bridge over the Waal River.  Before the bridge could be captured, the battalion was recalled to clear the landing zone of German antiaircraft guns and infantry waiting to destroy the countless gliders carrying the 82^nd Airborne Division artillery and engineer equipment.

In a furious frontal attack, all of the Germans were killed, captured or routed, and the gliders landed safely.  

Joe Bressler continues. 

“On November 11, 1944, after months of fighting Germans in muddy fields and rain, we marched 22 miles to the town of Oss, and met with trucks that took us to Sissonne, France.

Sissonne looked great. We were housed in a French Artillery Post. We had warm dry rooms, hot food, and very little work. The City of Reims was near and Paris was not too far away.

Oscar Prasse and I had a joyous reunion with our beloved comrade Mel Beets.  After several days of reminiscing, and story telling our reunion celebration ended abruptly on December 17, 1944.

The Germans had launched a massive surprise attack that demolished our front line divisions, and penetrated hundreds of miles into Belgium.

The 508^th PIR, still attached to the 82^nd Airborne Division, was alerted  to help block and destroy the German “bulge.” Early, on December 18, a bitter cold day, the regiment, sans winter clothing and equipment, loaded into open trucks and rode all day to Werbomont, Belgium.

We spent the next days maneuvering to find the best terrain to occupy and blunt the German incursion.

On December 23-24, the 508^th PIR was deployed to provide a safety corridor for the survivors of the 106^th Infantry and 7^th Armored Divisions that had been severely mauled and overrun in the first days of the German