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Sixty-five years ago today elements of the German army attacked our largely unprepared forces through the Ardennes Forest in what became known as The Battle of the Bulge. I was reminded of this as I looked in the Houston Chronicle at the obituaries this morning, which, like many of my age, I turn to first during breakfast. We are losing our WWII veterans at such an accelerated pace now.

The American soldier, sailor and airman have demonstrated time and again how great they are in their victories. Only when they are losing do they demonstrate the greatest of our military's inner resources, and this they did at St. Vith and Bastogne, until they came through again.

Let us not forget these old men who fought our last good war, as we devote our attention to our country's latest conflicts.

Jim

PS You can refresh your knowledge of this great battle of WWII below, arguably, to some, the last great battle of that war.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_ ... e#Bastogne" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

It wasn't until my grandfather died that I learned he was in the Battle of the Bulge. He was older when he was drafted, Uncle Sam was stretching the age due to ongoing losses.

He never mentioned WWII as anything more than a chore he needed to do.

PBS television recently ran a very good series about WWII, for anyone who missed it I would encourage looking for a rerun. At least a whole hour was devoted to the Battle of the Bulge. I watched that episode with my father-in-law who actually served on that front. My father also served in WWII but he was in the Navy and served in the Pacific (where they also had some pretty horrendous battles)!

Thanks for the post! We all need reminders of events like this.

"It is foolish and wrong to mourn the men who died. Rather we should thank God that such men lived."
- General George S. Patton, Jr

Let us not forget these old men who fought our last good war

Dad is still going strong at 91+. As the youngest Major in the U.S. Army at the time, he commanded a tank battalion under Gen. Patton and later a battalion of artillery, then mopped up after the German surrender as Military Police. He used to read and watch the news and say, "This isn't what we fought the war for." He's quit that line, but you can tell, he's thinking...

My stepfather was with Patton's army at the Bulge. He was a clerk, not a combat soldier, but saw things there that affected him the rest of his life. He was a teacher going into WW II, but didn't have the nerves to stand kids coming out. He spent his whole working life finding jobs for veterans. I think that was making up for having to assign replacement soldiers to units where he knew they would be killed or seriously injured.