Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SATURDAY, December 17, 1994 TAG: 9412190061
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL PAGE: A-2 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: BASTOGNE, BELGIUM LENGTH: Medium
Gray-haired now, veterans of America's bloodiest battle in the war against Nazi Germany returned Friday to the town where 50 years ago they had a ``taste of hell.''
Just as on Dec. 16, 1944, when Adolf Hitler's panzer brigades launched the surprise attack that began the Battle of the Bulge, snow and rain chilled the U.S. veterans' bones.
But instead of snipers and shellfire, the returning Americans were greeted with hugs and smiles of thanks from townsfolk they defended.
``I have no words to describe it,'' said James I. West IV, a former lieutenant from Apopka, Fla. ``When we look back, I say it was a taste of hell.''
As West spoke outside Bastogne's rebuilt St. Peter's Church, a woman walked over and hugged him. ``Thank you,'' said the woman, who was in her 20s at the time of German assault. ``God bless you.''
At a giant star-shaped monument to the 20,000 Americans who died in the battle, Belgium's King Albert and Madeleine Albright, the U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, led a ceremony marking Friday's anniversary.
``These service members secured the freedom that Americans hold so dear today,'' President Clinton said in a message printed in the official anniversary program. ``The world remains eternally grateful for their selflessness.''
Many of the 200 returning veterans were touched most by the response of ordinary Bastogne residents, who turned out by the hundreds in icy weather to pay homage to their defenders.
Woodrow Respect Nothing, one of a handful of American Indian veterans who made the journey, was mobbed by school children collecting veterans' autographs or just wanting to shake their hands.
``It's a pretty friendly welcome. Last time, all the civilians were inside taking shelter from the Germans,'' said the veteran from Manderson, S.D. Today, a monument will be unveiled to American Indians who died in the battle.
About 81,000 Americans were killed, wounded, captured or left missing at Bastogne, and 2,500 Belgian civilians also were killed.
by CNB