Vivid new Battle of the Bulge photos offer never-before-seen look....

Dailymail ^ | 12-17-11

[fso301]

Nice pix, very interesting. The one of the 15 year old German kid was actually very sad

These pic's aren't new.

http://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=1876&dat=19670326&id=KXssAAAAIBAJ&sjid=bcwEAAAAIBAJ&pg=5816,4438263

[Daffynition]

Most excellent! May I interject this little known tidbit about the Battle of the bulge,and the amazing Col. Norman Vaughan

Wartime activities utilized his dog driving expertise. In 1942, during World War II, Norman Vaughan arrived with his six dogs aboard the USCGC Comanche to retrieve one of the two crashed B-17’s Norden bombsites from the 8-plane “Lost Squadron”; USNR LTjg Freddy Crockett (also a dog driver on Byrd’s First Expedition) with his dog teams had just rescued the 25 aviators from the ice who had gone down with the planes. (Later, from 1981 to 1992, Norman Vaughan returned to Greenland each summer to help locate all of the eight downed planes frozen under the ice; he also helped recover one of the “Lost Squadron” aircraft — the P-38, named “Glacier Girl”– which has since been restored and flown.) By 1943, the effort to utilize dogs for war purposes was shifted to command of Colonel Vaughan, North Atlantic Wing, Air Transport Command, Army Air Corp. He trained and equipped the search-and-rescue sled dog units to retrieve pilots and cargo from crashed aircraft. By the end of the war, at least 100 downed pilots were recovered.

In 1945, as the Battle of the Bulge was being fought and heavy snows blanketed the Western Front, Col. Vaughan argued for a month that dogs were the only transport that could rescue and return the wounded to the rear of the battle for medical treatment. Finally, General Patton issued the order “Send in the dogs.”

With impressive coordination, Vaughan quickly assembled 17 drivers and 209 dogs to a training camp in Maine, then deployed them to France. Because of administrative delays, the dogs did not arrive before the snows melted and so did not participate in the Battle; however, the operation proved the ease with which dog teams could be assembled and dispersed whenever the need arose. Dogs were used in this way until helicopters realized their full potential in the 1950’s and took over those functions. Later, beginning at age 72, he participated in thirteen 1100-mile long Iditarod sled dog races in Alaska, where his last finish was in 1990 at the age of 84.

[AppyPappy]

My cousin was there. His daughter married a German and his dad was there too. Different side though.

[Bobalu]

the 15 year old German kid was actually very sad.

Yup, you just want to give the poor kid a hug.

[Admin Moderator]

Sorry folks, these are copyrighted images from a source that has issued us a complaint. Do not post them here.

[momtothree]

What is sort of amazing is in each of their faces, I am sure you see a bit of your Dad. I cannot imagine for one second what they went through. All of them heroes!

[jmacusa]

The last surviving uncle of my childhood, my Uncle Fred, served with the 84th. Infantry Division, 3rd. Battalion , 335th. Infantry Regiment, I Company. He saw combat in and around Marche and Soy Belgium and was wounded in early January of 1945. He was hit pretty bad but he made it out there and back home again. Thanks Unc’ and God bless you. We won’t see the likes of men like this again.

[momtothree]

My husband’s Uncle said that it felt like even the core of your bones were frozen. When he got back home, he hated the Winter. (He loved it when he was a kid... some things stay with you forever)

[fso301]

http://www.life.com/gallery/36632/battle-of-the-bulge-rare-unseen?iid=mostpopular-viewed#index/0

[cubreporter]

yes it was. He was a kid like so many of our own. What a horror for ALL OF THEM.

[fortheDeclaration]

Thank you for posting.

We easily forget what it cost others to keep us free.

[jmacusa]

Those are original color photos alright. Color photos of the Second World War really brings it home in a away black and white just doesn’t. I’ve seen a few of these photos before. I’ve had the honor of getting to know a number of men who survived the Bulge and they all said to a man how God awful bloody cold it was. One vet I knew(he passed away some years ago) had a buddy in his outfit moved to Florida just so he’d never have to be so cold again. Can you believe that!?!

[cubreporter]

It’s NOT silly. I hope one day after much patience and viewing of BOB that you WILL see your dad. I will pray that you do and if you ever do.. you will have to come back to FR and let us all know. Merry Christmas and thanks to our father for his service.

[1rudeboy]

I keep hearing how cold it was (and certainly that it was cold is not in dispute). But how cold was it? And for how long? I’m wondering about the stats . . . anyone have them?

[jmacusa]

‘’Those tears were tears of relief’’< Damn right they were. That little s.o.b. knew damn well if the Russians had gotten him he wouldn’t have lived to be sixteen.

[cubreporter]

When he was a kid he could come inside to get warm and a hot drink. Quite a difference from war and winter at home. I hope he found himself a nice island or state where the sun always shone. God bless him.

[cubreporter]

When he was a kid he could come inside to get warm and a hot drink. Quite a difference from war and winter at home. I hope he found himself a nice island or state where the sun always shone. God bless him.

[jmacusa]

It’s an M-10 Tank Destroyer. The M-26 wasn’t deployed until the last two months of the war.

[jmacusa]

It’s an M-10 Tank Destroyer.

[Jedidah]

My dad flew air support for the Battle of the Bulge and spent that winter sleeping in a tent in the snow of northern France. He hated cold till the day he died.

As hellish hot as Texas gets in the summer, he never minded the heat, but winter cold bothered him the rest of his life.

He and his men won a Presidential Unit Citation for their efforts. They and their buddies came home and left the horrors and hardship behind, never demanded the respect they were due and often didn’t talk about what they did.

I miss him every day.