After 65 Years, My Family Has An Answer ...

It's been almost 65 years since my Uncle Pete passed away during the Battle of the Bulge. Like I said when I posted on this last month, my Dad never talked about this, because Uncle Pete was only 17 months younger than him. I stopped asking probably 20 years ago, because Pops would always end up crying.

The frustrtaing part about the Battle of the Bulge is that it was a long, protracted battle on a huge front, so getting any kind of details is always tough. From what I know, no one in my family knew any details about Pete's death, just after his 19th birthday. All I knew was his Service Number, Division, Infantry Number and the day he died. Well, there are people out there who know enough military history that the info I had was enough - and he happened to run across my blog post.... Just 3 days before what would be Uncle Pete's 84th birthday, I now know where he died, and the important battle he fought in...

Pete served in the 76th Division, 417th Infantry Regiment, under General William Schmidt and the 12th Army Group under General Omar Bradley (I was told it was Patton, but that was incorrect). It's nickname was the 'Onaway Division', after the alert call of the Chippewa Indians, on whose grounds the 76th trained at Camp McCoy in Wisconsin. Their training was very specific - with exercises involving snowshoes, skis, tractors and Winter camoflague, there was no doubt what the 76th's mission was going to be - to invade Germany.

On Thanksgiving Day, 1944, they sailed out on the SS Marine Raven, docking in South hampton, England on December 4th. On January 12, 1945, after additional training, they naded in LeHavre, France, where they quickly advanced to Limesy, then Beine, and then onto Champlon, Belgium in about ten days. Finally, they relieved the 87th Division at Echternach, Luxembourg, just across the Sauer River from from Southern Germany. They took up defensive positions there for 2 weeks, until the 417th alone got the orders to cross the swollen and chilly Sauer on a night assault to break the vaunted Sigfried Line on February 7th, 1945 - the day Uncle Pete was killed. They succeeded.....

No, I don't know exactly what happened to Uncle Pete, but at least now, I can retrace his steps basically for his entire tour of duty. The 76th Division served 107 days in combat, advanced a total of 440 miles across Hitler's Western front, and took the towns of Katzenkopf, Irrel, Trier, Hosten, Speicher, Karl, Mulheim, Boppard, St. Goar, Kamberg, Langensalza, Zeitz and Chemnitz, before sitting to guard a bridgehead on the Mulde River til VE Day. They paid a heavy price: they suffered a 39.4% casualty rate, losing over 5500 men, and 667 killed in action. They were highly decorated as well, earning 34 Air Medals, 1108 Bronze Stars, 13 Soldiers Medals, 128 Silver Stars, 2 Legion of Merits, 10 Distinguished Service Crosses, and One Congressional Medal of Honor.

While I'd much rather have him lived and gotten to meet him, there is a certain amount of pride knowing that he was among the first to cross into Germany, like many of our soldiers in the North and South. Thanks to David Damico for reading my blog post,and for being able to give me the information that I'd wanted to know since I was a little kid. The internet is something, ain't it?

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