He was wounded in the Battle of the Bulge and ended the war in occupying Austria.
The Battle of the Bulge commenced about 25 days after the Thanksgiving, November 1944..I hope that they had a good one before the big show began.
“My Step-Grandfather was in Patton’s Third Army during that time.”
So was my dad, he had just arrived from the States. His outfit was in a village and the food truck was some blocks away. Since he was the new guy he got sent to pick up the Thanksgiving dinners for about 5 guys holed up in a house. The Germans were shelling the village about every 5 seconds. He would hear the shot, wait for the explosion and run up the street, ducking into a doorway after counting to 5. He got the dinners and brought them back. After that, he wasn’t the newbie any more.
On Christmas eve, his outfit (Brave Rifles), sang Christmas carols with the Germans who were trenched in 400 yards away. Christmas day was quiet.
By the way, they may have been pretty close together. My dad ended up in Austria too, his outfit liberated the Death Camp at Ebensee on the last day of the War. The stories from that action were horrific, though it didn’t involve combat. The German guards ran away as the America tanks approached.