 Interviewing 395th Inf Regt, Cannon Co Vet, Oct 14, 1999 |
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 Lively Conversation Between 394th Inf Regt, D Co Vet & "Digger" Oct 14, 1999 |
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Listening to Vets
Meeting WWII Veterans of the 99th
Infantry Division "Checkerboard" has been like a dream come true for some of our members . Indeed,
listening to them and learning from firsthand experience what the Battle of the
Bulge was all about at the crucial time of the German breakthrough, makes one
wonder how soldiers were able to survive in these appalling battle conditions !
We were to rendezvous in Büllingen with 22 of them, accompanied by friends and
next of kin, i.e. a total party of 34 people . The group had been traveling in
England and Germany, and this October 1999 trip would bring them to some of the
battlefields in the Bulge (Belgium) and along the Siegfried Line, where the
"Checkerboard" fought … and died !
Important to note is that the Veterans were also accompanied by 2 'diggers'
(local people who have, with the blessing of the Vets Association &
agreement of US/Belgian authorities, tried and successfully recovered MIA
soldiers belonging to the 99th Inf Div) . We all had lunch in a Hotel and then
followed the bus with Vets along the Belgian-German border and the wreckage of
the Siegfried Line .
Along the trip, and at the numerous stops, we were
able to interview the Vets, listen to their stories, take a few pictures, and
wonder at the stupendous memory these (no longer young) men still have ! All of
them knew their ASN by heart, some of them were even able to recognize the
landscape, and then … it all came out - with the necessary emotions and blurred
gazes - their personal experiences during the Battle of the Bulge, the brutal
enemy onslaught, the breakthrough, the escape, the struggle for survival, the
loss of close comrades, the lack of artillery support, the misery caused by
severe weather conditions, … the end … The Veterans we interviewed were members
of the 393d Inf Regt, 394th Inf Regt, 395th Inf Regt, 371st Fld Arty Bn i.e.
Infantry, Artillery and Medical personnel .
<IN HONORED MEMORY OF THOSE WHO NOW REST IN ETERNAL PEACE>
"LEST WE FORGET"
Remark: some
of our people have become associate members of the Checkerboard and keep in
close touch with 99th Infantry Division WWII Veterans . One of our Belgian
members, Pvt "Paul J. Hammer" is very much involved with the "Checkerboard"
Division and regularly keeps track of their whereabouts during the Battle of the
Bulge .
G.I. Series of the Ground, Air & Service Forces in the ETO, 1945
Westwall Dragon Teeth,
Visit Oct 01, 1999
