Seventy-five years ago, the Allied Forces withstood a surprise counteroffensive from the Germans in the Ardennes region of Belgium, France and Luxembourg. Victory in that monthlong battle, which would come to be known as the Battle of the Bulge, proved costly but pivotal in the Allies’ ultimate defeat of Nazi Germany.
From mid-December 1944 through late January 1945, soldiers endured frenzied fighting and bitter cold as battle lines shifted in the heavily forested area. The Allies were eventually able to repel the Nazi advance — literally the “bulge” in the line — and deliver a blow that made Germany’s defeat in the war all but certain.
Today, during the 75th anniversary of a conflict that saw an estimated 75,000 U.S. casualties, it is critical that we as a country recognize this type of service. That effort must include memorializing and sharing their individual stories, which provide invaluable insight about being at war and the scars — both physical and emotional — that veterans bring home with them.
Stories like this were featured at a recent battle anniversary ceremony in Belgium, where American veterans like 95-year-old Malcolm “Buck” Marsh Jr. reflected on their experiences.
“It’s great to be here,” Marsh said in his Dec. 16 remarks. “I’m very glad to be not digging foxholes.”
Marsh said he had “fond and not-so-fond” memories from his Army service in Belgium at that time, and highlighted one particularly memorable gesture of kindness during the frigid winter conditions.
“This Belgian lady, with a shawl on, came out with two mugs of hot chicken soup for us,” he said. “It was the best meal I got — I guess ever.”
Personal stories of war can help shape our collective understanding of what it means to be on the front lines in ways that battle outcomes and tactical history are limited. But understandably, these stories often aren’t easy for veterans to share.
Many veterans from the World War II era, for instance, went years before talking about their experiences — even with members of their family. According to U.S. Sen. Susan Collins, that was the case with her father, Don Collins, who was in the Battle of the Bulge and received two Purple Hearts and a bronze star for his service.
“I think that was very typical of the WWII generation. They came home very humbly, they didn’t talk about their service, and they just went on with their lives,” Collins said in an interview with the Bangor Daily News. “And it was only in their later years that they started to open up and talk about what actually happened.”
Earlier in December, the Senate unanimously passed a resolution co-sponsored by Collins commemorating the Battle of the Bulge anniversary. The recognition matters, especially as fewer and fewer of these veterans remain. And it should emphasize how necessary it is for their stories to be heard and recorded while they are still with us.
“I am so grateful that he talked to me about it, and that he talked more about it as he neared the final decade of his life,” Collins said about her father, who died in 2018.
Collins explained how hearing directly from veterans of all ages has influenced her work as a policymaker, both in terms of ensuring veterans receive the services they need once they’re home and making sure members of the armed forces have the proper training and equipment to do their jobs. She also reflected on how young her father and many veterans were during their service.
“I just can’t imagine what it must have been like for him to be on the front lines of this ferocious battle, to be a sergeant so quickly in the infantry, and to have his company commander be killed before his eyes. And he had just turned 19,” Collins told the BDN. “That’s the other thing that always strikes me when I talk to these veterans of all wars, is how young they are when they are thrust in these extraordinarily dangerous wars, and forced to make split second decisions. I admire them so much, their courage.”
Many of the young men and women who served during World War II are no longer with us, and many of those that are still here are in their 90s. The reality that they won’t be around forever underscores the importance of initiatives like the Veterans History Project from the Library of Congress, which provides a trove of video interviews with veterans sharing their stories.
Several local veterans, including veterans advocate and Army veteran Galen Cole from Bangor, were interviewed in 2016 by Husson University students and faculty as part of the project.
When asked if he has a message for young people about his experience, Cole responded that, “Freedom is not free, and you may be called up to fight for our country’s freedom at any time.”
Thomas Flanagan, a 1943 graduate of Bangor High School who served in the Army during World War II, was another Maine veteran previously interviewed for the project. As part of his hour-long interview, Flanagan offered some insights about how the American troops viewed the enemy.
“We were all primed up to hate the Germans,” Flanagan said, then telling a story about coming across a foxhole with several German soldiers playing cards.
“What’s this all about, anyways?,” he said he wondered at the time. “They were kids like we were.”
He said that experience caused him to wonder about propaganda, though he stressed in the interview that, at the time, he didn’t know about the German concentration camps.
In his Veterans History Project interview, which is memorialized online for anyone to watch, Flanagan offered a prescient observation about his fellow World War II veterans.
“There aren’t very many of us left,” he told the interviewer. “People in my generation are fading out.”
Flanagan died in 2015. But the impact of his service, and that of all other veterans, will reverberate through history. And the historical record is stronger and more complete having his personal perspective.
“It really matters that we honor them,” Collins said. “It really matters that we ask them now while they’re still alive. That’s so critical.”
Efforts like the Veterans History Project do necessary work in making sure these individual stories are preserved so that they can be honored and understood.
