My father's BotB

[rddfxx]

I have mentioned in the playtesters' forum my father's participation in the Battle of the Bulge. Here I'll add some additional details. My father was drafted into the U.S. Army very early in 1941, probably in January. He finished basic training and was assigned to Co K, 3rd Battalion, 60th Infantry Regiment (60 IR), 9th Infantry Division (9 ID). He was nearing the end of his twelve month military commitment when the war turned real for the US with the Dec 7th Pearl Harbor attack. The 9 ID was committed to the ETO for expected 1942 operations. The division came to be known as the “Old Reliables”, or the “Octofoil”. The 60 IR took the nickname the “Go-Devils”; its stable mates were the 39th “Fighting Falcons” and the 47th “Raiders”.

There followed Operation Torch, the landings in Morocco, and the 9 ID's first blood at Port Lyautey versus the Vichy French. Thereafter was the push to Tunisia and the end of the African campaign. My father acquired stripes and responsibilty as Staff Sergeant. He also said his job was platoon scout, something akin to a “sergeant without portfolio”, a position that allowed him to troubleshoot without having to actually run his platoon, although I understood from his stories that he was in a leadership position. He formed a lifetime friendship with his first Co commander, who was invalided out of the Army after blowing off a foot in Tunisia (land mine). Anyway, the 9 ID was part of the Operation Husky invasion of Sicily, after which it was pulled from the Mediterranean and redeployed to England for the invasion of France.

The 9 ID entered Normandy through Utah beach on D-Day +4 and +5. Initially the unit led the push up the Cotentin Peninsula to capture Cherbourg. Subsequently, the 9 ID was paired with the 1 ID in Lightning Joe Collins' VII Corps, which sprang Cobra to spearhead the breakout from Normandy. Then came the pursuit across France and Belgium to the Westwall. My dad told me many stories, which I've been assembling along a 9 ID timeline (for another time, another place). Suffice to say, the 9th met fierce resistance in the Huertgen Forest and had pulled back to the northern flank of the Ardennes by December 1944.

By now part of Gerow's V Army Corps, Hodges' First Army, the 9th was deployed along the Elsenborn Ridge to seal the northern flank of the Bulge some time around the 20th of December. BTW, MacDonald's A Time for Trumpets has multiple instances of the 9 ID and the 9 IR confused in the index, grrrrr. During the fighting, as the 9 ID was drawn into the battle, an artillery shell struck the ground near my dad, killing everybody in the vicinity except, miraculously, my father, who suffered a very serious concussion. The story is his best buddy, a company cook nicknamed “Heavy”, went looking for him in the wooded wreckage, and finding him alive, carried him back to an aid station, thereby saving his life. A photograph of Heavy standing next to my dad shows a guy of medium height, who appears practically as wide as he is tall, as if he were drawn by Jack Kirby! Dad was evacuated back to England for a month, later to return for non-combat duty —- his war was over as a combat infantryman.

[Certain Death]

Thanks for sharing, it's fascinating to hear real stories.

[s_Wondgamb]

Thanks a lot for sharing that.

[Pat]

Thats the kind of story that interests me. Thanks.