Posted on 12/08/2016 11:10:44 PM PST by kiryandil
ST. LOUIS • Lyle J. Bouck Jr., a Sunset Hills chiropractor whose platoon played a notable role in the Battle of the Bulge, died Friday. He was 92.
“He was at home, right up until the last,” said Diane Bouck Simcik, a daughter.
She said the former prisoner of war fell ill on Tuesday. She said he had pneumonia and was congested and weak.
In April, Dr. Bouck and his young caretaker were the subjects of a front-page story in the Post-Dispatch about aging at home. He was healthy but couldn’t move on his own anymore.
Dr. Bouck was a leader of the 99th Infantry Division’s 394th Intelligence and Reconnaissance Platoon. It wasn’t until Gen. Dwight Eisenhower’s son, John, interviewed Dr. Bouck years after the war that he realized his grossly outnumbered but strategically positioned platoon held up a major part of Germany’s legendary offensive at the Battle of the Bulge.
The 2004 book, “The Longest Winter,” suggests that the platoon eventually became the most decorated of any that fought in the war. And Dr. Bouck had been its leader.
(Excerpt) Read more at stltoday.com ...
He only later learned that because his platoon prevented the lead German infantry elements from advancing, armor units were backed up behind them for miles during the entire day. At the end of the fight, exhausted from more than 15 hours of continuous combat, out of contact with their division, and out of ammunition, after Bouck and most of his men had been wounded, the platoon was overrun by German soldiers. The remaining 15 men were captured and were prisoners of war in freezing, disease-infested prison camps for five months until the war ended, and were near death when their own Army division freed them.
Due to the capture of the platoon's soldiers and the blur of events during the first week of this massive campaign, the U.S. Army did not recognize the platoon for its courageous deeds for 37 years. On October 25, 1981, the entire platoon was recognized with a Presidential Unit Citation, and every member of the platoon was decorated, including four Distinguished Service Crosses, five Silver Stars, and ten Bronze Stars with V for Valor.
A brave man has left us.
RIP.
Put the word out for Lieutenant Lyle Bouck, American hero, 99th Division, US Army.
A cousin of my dad’s was in WWII and some college kid did an interview of him years ago. He was in a small recon outfit, and was just getting over there as the Battle of the Bulge was going.
His first day in the field a war-weary soldier was eating nearby, but left his cans of pork unopened.
“You gonna’ eat those?”
“Nah - have at it kid.”
A few days later after driving along the roads he realized why those cans of pork were left. Pigs feeding on the remains of the Germans scattered along the side of the road and in the ditches and fields. (He gave it up as well!)
He and his platoon of basically light infantry held up the entire Sixth Panzer Army for an entire day. Talk about holding the line.
A Recon PLATOON held up an SS heavy Panzer army for an entire DAY!
That’s not only tough but SMART fighting.
Those men earned every good thing that came to them in later life.
Thank you for posting this report. May Lt. Bouck rest in peace.
I’ve walked the ground where his platoon made their stand. They were the extreme right of the 99th Inf Div sector, in fact, they were in the next unit’s zone while sitting on the hill at Lanzerath, but it was a key piece of terrain that needed to be occupied.
I highly recommend reading Alex Kershaw’s book Kershaw, “The Longest Winter: The Battle of the Bulge And the Epic Story of World War II’s Most Decorated Platoon.”
And see also the official US Army history of the Battle of the Bulge: http://www.history.army.mil/html/books/007/7-8-1/index.html It is available here in either html or pdf format no charge to download or view.
Amazing story - there are so many like this; not to belittle Lt. Bouck’s actions but to highlight the very nature of the American Soldier (Sailor/Marine).
It’s a shame that too few of our younger generation know of these heroes now.
Another of the Greatest Generation lost. RIP, Sir.
Thanks for the ping and the link. May he rest in peace.
I just checked and my library has this book.
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