Those who sacrificed 73 years ago ensured our future Christmases

A number of Christmas movies that have been airing on family-entertainment channels like Hallmark and Lifetime this holiday season have had military themes. The plot lines are similar — a deployment overseas conflicts with the love/family interests of the main characters.

Wars in both the Pacific and European fronts in World War II affected families of the Greatest Generation like no other time in our history. The parents of today’s baby boomers were trying to get out of the Great Depression when the bombing of Pearl Harbor plunged the nation into the war.

When President Franklin D. Roosevelt called the United States “the great arsenal of democracy,” it was no idle boast. The urgent need for war materiel led to rationing and caused many shortages in consumer goods on the homefront.

America’s military buildup for World War II was remarkable. In 1939, the country had about 174,000 men in the Army; 126,400 in the Navy; 26,000 in the Army Air Corps; 19,700 in the Marine Corps; and 10,000 in the Coast Guard. By 1945, there were 6 million in the Army; 3,400,000 in the Navy; 2,400,000 in the Army air forces; 484,000 in the Marine Corps; and 170,000 in the Coast Guard.

The war touched every family.

My father and his twin brothers both served — two of them in Europe and one of the twins in the Pacific. Growing up, I wasn’t that interested in military history, which regretfully deprived me from learning firsthand the accounts of those who lived it.

Wartime stories were occasionally shared, especially during holiday gatherings. But it wasn’t until I read their unit histories and letters from home that I was able to gain a better perspective of that part of their lives in the family history.

During this time of December 73 years ago, my father was racing through France with the 12th Armored Division at a lightning pace. The European winter of 1944 was bitter cold and the icy weather put more soldiers out of action with trench foot than did enemy bullets.

During its five months of constant combat against Germany, men of the 12th earned battle stars in the Rhineland and Central Europe campaigns in helping the Allies push the German army back inside its borders. Also during that span, the 12th captured 70,166 German prisoners.

Despite the noise of battle and the frozen ground, the men received a Christmas treat in 1944 when the division postal officer distributed the first large group of letters and packages from home. Mail played a significant role in maintaining morale on the battlefront and at home. For the soldier, mail was second only to food in importance.

The 12th Armored Division tried to make Christmas as homey as possible. Mess sections prepared a dinner of turkey with all the trimmings that was taken to troops all along the line.

About 190 miles northwest of where my father’s unit was hunkered down in France for Christmas, his brother was in a much more desperate place in Belgium — Bastogne.

As 1944 was winding down, there was optimism in America that the Germans were close to defeat and that the war in Europe might even be over by Christmas. That was before Hitler’s war machine launched the Battle of the Bulge, the last major German offensive.

The 321st Glider Field Artillery of the 101st Airborne Division — my uncle’s unit — were tasked with keeping the Germans from taking Bastogne. Before Christmas in 1944, there was great concern for the thinly stretched American troops who were surrounded at Bastogne. On Christmas Eve, they received somber news that an aid station was hit and that 40 men were killed. Just before Christmas, however, the weather cleared, allowing Allied planes to drop food and needed supplies to the beleaguered troops. Gen. George S. Patton’s Third Army also rushed to Bastogne to help end the siege.

The Battle of the Bulge was the largest battle and costliest action ever fought by the U.S. Army, which suffered over 100,000 casualties.

After the war, my father and uncle resumed their lives. Settling on bordering farms in northeastern Pennsylvania they raised their families and had long, productive lives.

Unless asked about it directly, they rarely shared much about their wartime experiences in Europe. This unassuming attitude was typical of the Greatest Generation, whose gallantry in the frozen forests of the Ardennes and in the Pacific islands preserved Western values and our way of life, including those holiday meals and family gatherings we enjoyed at Christmas.

By Jim Zbick | tneditor@tnonline.com