My Dad never would talk much about what he saw in WWII either, like the guy in this article. I think a lot of those vets saw some things they'd rather not remember.

http://washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A46936-2001Feb23.html

Pentagon Honors 'Lost Battalion'

By Steve Vogel Washington Post Staff Writer Friday, February 23, 2001; 1:29 PM

The end was in sight for Lt. Richard Durkee and his paratroopers. After four days of bitter fighting in the frozen Ardennes during the Battle of the Bulge, the men were closing in on their final objective, a Belgian town guarding the Germans escape route.

Durkee had moved forward through the deep snow to take out a German machine gun nest defending the highly fortified town. He looked behind, expecting to see his platoon moving up behind him. There was no one, save one soldier.

"Send up the damn men so we can attack the town," Durkee called.

"Sir, I can't," the soldier replied. "They're all dead."

More than 15 men had been caught in a crossfire by German machine guns, and their riddled remains were strewn in the snow. "Oh, that was terrible," Durkee, 82, a resident of College Park, said recently, his voice shaking at the memory. "There was my platoon, body upon body."

When it was over, more than four-fifths of the 643 men in the 551st Parachute Infantry Battalion were wounded or dead. The Lost Battalion, they would later be called.

Today, in an emotional ceremony at the Pentagon, the Lost Battalion finally will find recognition. More than 40 veterans, including Durkee, will be on hand as the 551st is awarded the Presidential Unit Citation, the highest honor that can be given to a military unit.

Until now, the battalion had been given little credit for its role in the Battle of the Bulge, the largest land battle fought by American troops in World War II. A surprise German offensive through the Ardennes in December 1944 had sent American forces reeling back and threatened the success of the entire Allied invasion of Nazi-held Europe.

On Jan. 3, 1945, the 551st spearheaded the 82nd Airborne Division's counterattack in the northern section of the German "bulge."

The battalion was given the task of capturing the town of Rochelinval, a key position holding the last bridge over the Salm River, the last avenue of escape for the German army in that sector. The paratroopers took the town Jan. 7, and the following day Adolph Hitler ordered his first retreat from the battle.

But the men of the 551st had paid a terrible price. Dozens of men had frozen to death in the terrible cold, and many more were killed in hand-to-hand combat or by artillery fire, including the commander.

The 551st was so reduced that the Army soon disbanded the battalion, shipping the survivors to other units. Their records would be lost, their actions largely forgotten, their sacrifice not honored.

Many of the veterans credit the belated recognition to Greg Orleafa, a District resident whose father served with the 551st. Priv. Aref Orleafa served as the messenger for the battalion's commander, Lt. Col. Wood Joerg, but growing up, Greg Orleafa heard no war stories from his father.

"If you got him a little warmed up, he would say, 'All my friends were killed around me,' and that would stop all conversation," Orleafa said.

After his father died, Orleafa, a writer, attended a reunion of 551st veterans in the late 1980s. "Something just clicked with me," said Orleafa. "I saw some of my dad in these men."

Orleafa began interviewing the veterans, who opened up to the son of one of their comrades, and he launched a project that was to become a book. "There was a sense of waste and low-grade anger that they had been destroyed without any recognition," Orleafa said.

His 1997 book, Messengers of the Lost Battalion, carefully documented the accomplishments of the battalion and the losses they suffered.

Their cause was picked up by retired Lt. General John Norton, the senior surviving officer of the 82nd Airborne Division in World War II. "No battalion in our division ever fought with more valor in worse conditions during the Battle of the Bulge," Norton, a resident of Kensington, wrote in a letter to Rep. Constance Morella (R-Md.).

© 2001 The Washington Post Company

-- Buddy (buddydc@go.com), February 23, 2001

Answers

The History channel has shown the Battle of the Bulge and the Chosin Breakout (Korea) and many other terrible things that were recorded on film during the 20th century.

I think it's good that such graphic reminders are available altho I doubt that too many young people watch them. Maybe they are assigned as homework.

-- Lars (larsguy@yahoo.com), February 23, 2001.

Afghanistan News

-- 1234 (234@123.234), March 17, 2002.