Post by floydragsdale on Jan 7, 2014 19:39:02 GMT -5
Today, here in the Midwestern part of the U.S.A, the temperature has fallen to below zero with wind-chill from forty to fifty degrees below zero and a wind driven six to eight inches of snowfall.
My weather radio repeated warnings of a dangerous winter storm watch. Stay home - - - don’t go outside, unless it is absolutely necessary. Consequently, I was housebound for two days – - - Sunday and Monday, this week.
My thoughts drifted back to 1944 & 1945 during the Battle of the Bulge months of December 44 and January 45. - - - The troops endured temperature extremes’ from thirty-two degrees above to twenty-five below zero with several blizzards to accompany those weeks.
Soldiers fought to live or die under those miserable conditions.
Following are a handful of subjects that my fellow soldiers (including this one) discussed, or thought about.
What did a Soldier think about up on the front lines during the Battle of the Bulge?
He thought of:Trying to get warm when it was so miserably cold!
A warm place to sleep, when he had time to rest.
A fox-hole, head and shoulders deep, with no mud or water in it.
When there was time to think about it, a hot meal
While trying to drift off to sleep; he tried to think of something pleasant back home.
A visit to a warm bathroom, with the hometown newspaper.
A million dollar wound, so he could be in a Hospital, have a warm bed, a hot meal and a shower.
A furlough, or three day pass to Paris? Forget it! There was no way to be excused from front-line duty!
A place to shave, in a vessel of hot water.
He prayed to God to give him strength and courage to face and endure the many challenges of each day.
During combat, in sub-zero temperatures, he thought that dying would be better than existing under such miserable conditions.
And he ventured to think that some day the War would come to a conclusion and he could go home to be with his family again.
Yet, for the moment, the end of the war seemed as if it was eons away and his only future was up front, where the action seemed as if it would never end.
Floyd, 424th Regiment
