The hometown of one of the greatest battles ever fought by the U.S. Army paid homage to another battle yesterday. On the 79th anniversary of the beginning of the Battle of the Bulge, Eisenhower Farm Historic Site ranger Dan Vermilya hosted a walk and reflection in the National Cemetery.
The World War 2 so-called Battle of the Bulge began on the morning of December 16, 1944, When the German High Command commenced “Watch on the Rhine,” a surprise attack by three German armies against a sector of the Allied lines in Luxembourg. The German offensive was eventually cut off – often by desperate fighting by small groups of soldiers defending – or blowing up – a key bridge the Germans needed to cross. Once the offensive was neutralized, there followed six weeks of brutal fighting in the coldest winter Europe had seen in years. The campaign continued until January 25, 1945.
Vermilya noted that the Battle of the Bulge accounted for one out of every 10 American casualties in the entire war. Studying the battle and the men who died there shows “how we endure adversity.” He quoted Eisenhower’s remark, I believe we can always rely, even as I had to in the Battle of the Bulge and the concurrent winter fighting from the North Sea to the Italian Alps, on the willingness and readiness of Americans, including young ones, to endure greatly in their country’s cause.”
Vermilya led a walk through the cemetery and told the stories of 8-10 men buried here who fell during the Battle of the Bulge. First to fall was Gettysburg native Earl Swope, who was in the brand-new 99th Division that was overrun on the first day of the battle. Another Gettysburg burial is Fred Clark of the 285th Field Artillery Observation Battalion, who died December in the Malmedy Massacre.
Like many of the 500 WWII burials resting in the Gettysburg National Cemetery, Swope and Clark were initially buried in the Henri Chappell Cemetery in Belgium. After the war, every family with a son or husband buried in an American cemetery overseas was contacted, informed where their loved one was currently resting, and offered a chance to request his relocation – totally at government expense. A total of 177,000 fallen American soldiers were brought home and reburied in this manner. “I can’t imagine any other country at any other time taking on such a challenge,” said Vermilya.
At the end of his talk, Vermilya said, “This place is hallowed ground not just for what happened in July 1863 … or November 1863. This is one of the few places where you can see in a small area the graves of people who died defending liberty in 1863, at Pearl Harbor, in 1944, and through Vietnam.”
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The Battle of the Bulge Association will be conducting a commemoration in Washington, DC, in conjunction with the Embassies of Luxembourg and Belgium, on January 25 and will then sponsor its first annual conference two days later at the World War II American Experience Museum in Gettysburg.
Leon Reed, freelance reporter, is a former US Senate staff member, defense consultant, and history teacher. He is a 10 year resident of Gettysburg, where he writes military history and explores the park and the Adams County countryside. He is the publisher at Little Falls Books, chaired the Adams County 2020 Census Complete Count Committee and is on the board of SCCAP. He and his wife, Lois, have 3 children, 3 cats, and 5 grandchildren.