The beginning of our part of the Battle of the Bulge was the 29th of December 1944 near the town of Neufchateau, Belgium. Our column of tanks and half-tracks, representing Combat Command B, 11th Armored Division, U.S. Third Army, commanded by George Patton Jr., had been rolling north, where to and what for we did know. I remember the day was cold and windy. There was a layer of snow blanketing the ground and here and there it had drifted. We had met many supply trucks on the road headed for the rear. I was particularly aware of the ambulances that we met. I noted their red spotlights flashing, which meant that they were evacuating wounded. And more significantly to me there was fighting ahead. Finally we passed artillery with their muzzles pointed skyward. The guns would cough and spit and belch their flame and then relax. From this I knew we were close to the German lines. First we passed the big boys, the long Toms, 240 mm and 155 mm Howitzers, and then closer to the front the standard army 105 mm pieces which backed up the line.
Late in the afternoon my Company B, of the 21st Armored Infantry Battalion, pulled oft the road to the left. It was on a hill which made an ideal place to bivouac. The first thing I noticed was the wreckage of an airplane and two lifeless forms on the snow that resembled bodies. The idea of dead bodies was something new to a 19 year old boy from Shippensburg, PA. I was anxious and curious to have a look at them. When I looked at the first body in the snow I knew should not have looked. It was the body of a German fighter pilot. His face was bloated and had that horrible far away look. He had been lying there 36 hours or more and was frozen stiff. His fingers were white and rigid. His legs were broken and doubled up under him. GI's had already looted the body. Some one had already confiscated his fleece lined air corps boot and he lay in his stocking feet. The pockets of his uniform had been pulled out and startling to see was the stump of his middle finger. A G.I. had cut it off to get the ring he wore.
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