The Battle of the Bulge.

[Maj.Nick Danger]

Found this documentary made just 20 years after the events in the Ardennes Forest narrated by none other than Chet Huntley, the famous 60's news anchor, with commentary from the men who were there.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wZNwceYAVGM

 

[Story]

Charles Durning, died 25DEC12

The Malmedy Massacre was on December 17th. May Charles find Peace.

Then came World War II, and he enlisted in the Army. His combat experiences were harrowing. He was in the first wave of troops to land on Omaha Beach on D-Day and his unit’s lone survivor of a machine-gun ambush. In Belgium he was stabbed in hand-to-hand combat with a German soldier, whom he bludgeoned to death with a rock. Fighting in the Battle of the Bulge, he and the rest of his company were captured and forced to march through a pine forest at Malmedy, the scene of an infamous massacre in which the Germans opened fire on almost 90 prisoners. Mr. Durning was among the few to escape.

By the war’s end he had been awarded a Silver Star for valor and three Purple Hearts, having suffered gunshot and shrapnel wounds as well. He spent months in hospitals and was treated for psychological trauma.

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/12/26/m...ific-character-actor-dies-at-89.html?hp&_r=1&

 

[Captain Nemo]

Might I recommend another movie review of that battle?

Here is the Army's Big Picture series called Battle of the Bulge:

http://archive.org/details/gov.dod.dimoc.30112

Nemo

 

[TomS]

Amazing.

 

[rjb1]

Back when things were better than they are now (Golden Age), that series "The Big Picture" came on every Sunday afternoon covering different aspects of military history or current events.
I would watch it with my Dad without fail.

 

[Captain Nemo]

Back when things were better than they are now (Golden Age), that series "The Big Picture" came on every Sunday afternoon covering different aspects of military history or current events.
I would watch it with my Dad without fail.

Sounds like this brought back good memories for you!

I discovered the Big Picture series when it was shown on on Armed Forces Television Network while on a deployment to the Mideast a few years back. Perhaps not such a pleasant reminiscence as you had , but I did enjoy the show nonetheless.

 

[rjb1]

Thanks, it definitely did. My dad was a WWII vet and as a kid I would ask him questions about all the stuff on the show.
Another good WWII show from that era was "Victory at Sea" which we also watched together.
If you have seen any of that show, you remember the big-ocean-wave scene at the beginning of each episode (with the dramatic theme music). My dad would inevitably (every week) comment that the ocean scene looked *just like* the way it did as he was on the ship heading for Europe during the War.