Today 80 years ago...

[Wim]

Battle of the Bulge https://www.bastognewarmuseum.be/en/events/nuts-weekend-en/

[jon-nyc]

My neighbor growing up was a veteran of that battle. We had a book about it on our shelves when I was a kid.

[Jolly]

My wife's uncle was in Patton's 3rd Army, when they relieved Bastogne.

[Copper]

The Air Force was grounded due to bad weather.

Here is what my father saw once they got back in the air.

Christmas Eve!

[jon-nyc]

That’s cool you have those, Copper.

[jon-nyc]

Full text of the poem:

The Hills of Bastogne

The crops should be full in Belgium this year,
The soil should be fertile, but the price has been dear,
The wheat should be red on the hills of Bastogne
For its roots have been soaked by the blood of our own.
Battered and reeling we stand in their way,
Its here we are, and here we will stay.
Embittered, wrathful, we watch our pals fall,
God, wheres the end, the end of it all?
Confident and powerful, they strike at our lines,
But we beat them back, fighting for time.
Berserk with fury, they are hitting us now,
Flesh against steel, we hold, but how?
For each day that we stay, more mothers must grieve.
For each hill that we hold more men must we leave.
Yes, honor the men who will some day come home,
But pray for the men 'neath the hills of Bastongne.
-Bernard J. McKearney
101st Airborne