Posted on 06/22/2008 11:41:08 AM PDT by jazusamo
A reunited trio of World War II veterans recall the night they were seperated, seemingly forever
It was a miserable January night outside the French village of Rimling, made bleaker by advancing German troops from the 559th and 257th Volks-Grenadier Divisions.
Don Hildenbrand's company was pinned down on a ridge about two miles from town, just a grenade toss from the border. Their communications line had been cut and German units had pushed past them on both flanks.
"Everybody knew something bad was going to happen, we were badly outnumbered," Hildenbrand recalled Saturday.
Sgt. Pete Petracco asked for a volunteer to report back to headquarters on the company's straits. Hildenbrand sized up the situation and even though it meant trying to elude Germans, he stepped forward.
"It was 2 o'clock in the morning and someone needed to break through," Hildenbrand explains. "It was dark, cold and snowing."
Hildenbrand trudged off into the darkness on the coldest of all European winters during the 20th century. That's the last time Joseph Cosby and Ken Siebe saw their buddy for another 55 years.
It wasn't until Hildenbrand made an appearance in a Public Broadcasting System retrospective in 1999 that Cosby, who now lives in Portland, and Siebe, residing in Pasco, Wash., learned that Hildenbrand was alive. The last official word they had, the Maryland native had been listed as missing in action.
"We thought he was dead," Cosby admits.
More than 63 years after Hildenbrand strode off into the night, the trio was reunited this weekend, at the home of Carrie McCoy, Cosby's daughter, in Jacksonville. The old soldiers marched through memory lane, sharing stories their family members had never heard.
On Saturday, they ventured to the World War II museum on the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs Southern Oregon Rehabilitation Center...
(Excerpt) Read more at mailtribune.com ...
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bttt
Great story, thanks.
That is magnificent.
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