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17
Dec 14

70th anniv – My great-grandfather’s war

World War II, Europe, the Battle of the Bulge and, today, the anniversary of the massacre at Malmedy, when Germans opened fire on 170 prisoners, killing more than 70 Americans.

Just over 100 miles to the south my great-grandfather was, probably, shivering. Tonice was a combat medic, but he never really told his family about his experiences. We learned at his funeral how he took off his field jacket one day in the coldest winter Europe could recall and gave it to another soldier. It could have been this day for all we know. It could have been every day. He was in the 137th Infantry Regiment, but we don’t know which company, or even which battalion, so this is only a regimental overview with some movements down to the company level.

So, then, for Dec. 17:

The 2nd Battalion was to drive to Bliesmengen and Bliesbalchen, and the 3rd Battalion was to continue on into the woods. 137th Infantry elements were fighting under the heaviest artillery fire they had ever experienced in France or Germany.

Elements of the 2nd Battalion fighting in Bliesmengen were faced by direct enemy tank fire, and other elements were pinned down all day. The enemy continued to shell the Regimental area regularly during the period. Frauenberg was hit very heavily again and again during the day.

Late at night the 3rd Battalion was relieved by the 1st Battalion.

View Tonice in the Bulge in a larger map
View Tonice in the Bulge in a larger map

This information is derived from the unit history, found here and here and from this unit overview. These markers are rough estimates and are meant only to be illustrative. Any errors are mine alone.

family / history / maps — Comments Off
16
Dec 14

70th anniv – My great-grandfather’s war

Today marks the 70th anniversary of the Battle of the Bulge and my great-grandfather was there, with the 137th Infantry Regiment. We don’t know which company, or even which battalion he was in, because he kept all of those experiences to himself, so this is only a regimental overview with some movements down to the company level. I pulled a few things together for his son, my grandfather, and the anniversary is a great time to revisit it.

So, then, for Dec. 16:

The 3rd Battalion again attacked the well-defended enemy positions in the forest and regained a portion of the lost ground. U.S. air support bombed and strafed Bliesmengen and the woods to the east of it. The 1st Battalion was protecting the Division’s left flank in Sarreguemines and along the Blies River pocket. The 2nd Battalion had Company G across the Blies protecting the rear flank of the 3rd Battalion, while E Company was aiding the 1st Battalion.

The 3rd Battalion launched its attack into the woods in the morning, meeting fierce resistance.

The 1st Battalion was relieved in the evening and the 2nd Battalion were at night.

View Tonice in the Bulge in a larger map
View Tonice in the Bulge in a larger map

This information is derived from the unit history, found here and here and from this unit overview. These markers are rough estimates and are meant only to be illustrative. Any errors are mine alone.

family / history / maps — Comments Off
15
Dec 14

70th anniv – My great-grandfather’s war

Come along as we revisit Tonice’s time in Europe. He was a combat medic in the 137th Infantry Regiment, but we don’t know which company, or even which battalion. He never really told his family about his experiences so this is only a regimental overview with a glimpse into what his time there was like.

So, then, for Dec. 15:

The enemy opposing the 3rd Battalion continued to hang on bitterly to the Breiterwald Woods on December 15, despite P-47’s bombing and strafing their positions.

After reorganizing its forces, the 3rd Battalion launched another attack on the Breiterwald Woods. Supported by armor, Companies I and K reached the center of the woods, meeting fanatical German resistance all the way from Nazi armor to infantry. Shortly before dark, the two 3rd Battalion units were counterattacked. During the night they were very heavily shelled by enemy artillery and mortar fire.

The 1st Battalion protected the north flank with Company E remained south of the Blies River and assisted the 1st Battalion. Company G, attached to the 3rd Battalion, operated on its left flank for protection while Company F remained in reserve in Frauenberg. The 2nd Battalion was to be committed the following morning with the mission of capturing Bliesmengen and Bliesbalchen.

This day’s casualties were the heaviest of any day since the Regiment started its Saar River operation.

View Tonice in the Bulge in a larger map
View Tonice in the Bulge in a larger map

This information is derived from the unit history, found here and here and from this unit overview. These markers are rough estimates and are meant only to be illustrative. Any errors are mine alone.

family / history / maps — Comments Off
14
Dec 14

70th anniv – My great-grandfather’s war

This is the 70th anniversary of my great-grandfather’s service in Europe, so we’re revisiting the map I made of his time as a combat medic. Tonice was attached to some element of the 137th Infantry Regiment, in the famed 35th Division. We don’t know which company, or even which battalion, so this is only a regimental overview with some movements down to the company level.**

So, then, for Dec. 14:

The 3rd Battalion of the 137th Infantry pushed ahead to the high ground north and northeast of the river. The 1st Battalion continued its defense of the Division’s left flank, protecting Sarreguemines and the Regimental sector all along the Blies River. The 2nd Battalion remained this side of the river and prepared to follow the 3rd Battalion. Company E also was in position protecting the left flank.

The 3rd Battalion jumped off at 0630 under heavy small arms fire. In the woods, to the Battalion’s front, the enemy was delivering intense tank and mortar fire on the forward elements.

The enemy continued to shell the entire Regimental area throughout the day, the 3rd Battalion receiving a particularly heavy barrage. The enemy had perfect observation on the road and the town.

View Tonice in the Bulge in a larger map
View Tonice in the Bulge in a larger map

This information is derived from the unit history, found here and here and from this unit overview. Any errors are mine alone.

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13
Dec 14

A standard rambling Saturday of fun and memories

Every so often we have to make Allie, The Black Cat, famous on the Internet. This morning she was posing so patiently in the sun. She doesn’t mind the actual camera, but today I had the phone and she does not care for the phone in her face. Who can explain cats? She didn’t mind so much today, though, I guess because of the warm sun, but who can explain cats?

We watched the Army-Navy game. We attended one a few years ago, it was a great, chilly day and it is a game that everyone should go to at least once. (We want to go back.) You get a fair amount out of the experience watching the game on TV, CBS has done a nice job with it over the years.

To see the track athletes run the game ball onto the field and to watch the flyovers in person is a different thing. You’ve probably never seen the “prisoner exchange” of returning cadets and middies to their own sides after a student exchange program at home. Television doesn’t often show you the young men and women sworn into the service at the game and it doesn’t allow you to talk to graduates of both academies. For all the care that CBS gives that game, you just can’t absorb it all from the screen.

To watch the cadets march on, or to watch the teams sing their schools’ alma maters — my favorite college tradition of all — that’s an in-person experience you need. Here’s my video from 2011, shot on my first iPhone. It looks fuzzy after a few downloads and uploads from service to service, but it offers a nice little stadium view:

Here are some of the photos I took from our 2011 trip.

Of course, the hype videos always play better at home. You can hear them better. These were my favorites today:

More were collected for you here.

I’ve always cheered for Navy — the Department of the Navy was important in my childhood world — but two years ago, watching that late Army turnover, I softened up. The Black Knights were about to score late and break what was then a 10-game losing streak to the Middies. But they fumbled inside the 20 and I decided, about 40 seconds into the video here, that no rivalry should ever have more than a three-game losing streak. Everyone should know what it feels like to beat the other guys once in their career.

But it was not to be then, or today, of course. Navy has won 13 in a row, but Army is getting better.

I do enjoy the Army-Navy game.

Things to read … because there are other sports to enjoy.

The headline ruins this great high school basketball story:

Your team has not suffered like the Climax-Fisher Knights.

No matter how Raider-y or 76ers-esque your program is, it has not endured their unique brand of pain. Even Prairie View, the Division I-AA football team that lost 80 straight games during the 1990s, has technically suffered a shorter string of defeats than the Climax-Fisher girls basketball team, which finally broke its four-year losing streak Tuesday despite incredibly unfavorable odds.

That’s a happy finish.

I remember covering the accident that started this story years ago. It was probably one of the last stories I did before I moved to KARN in Little Rock. It was a terrible accident, to be sure. Dangling power lines killed a 7-year-old and changed a 4-year-old boy’s life forever. But this story is thrilling to read today. Good for him. Ward Webb lost his feet at age 4, but the Mountain Brook linebacker never says ‘I can’t’:

Mountain Brook football coach Chris Yeager remembers the early days of watching Ward Webb train with other players.

As teens sprinted up and down stadium steps for conditioning, Yeager remembers, they told Webb to go to the side and use the handrails.

Webb, who lost his feet at age 4 and uses prosthetic legs, refused.

“He wants to be like everybody else,” the coach said. “He’s falling down those steps and that’s just typical Ward. He absolutely believes he can do anything anybody else can do. I’ve been coaching him for 3½ years, and I have never heard Ward Webb say, ‘I can’t.’”

This is a neat concept. Not sure if I’d want to work there, but I’d read the product: A newspaper and a hotel, all in one. If you’re interested, here it is now.

St. Patrick’s is beautiful. Immediately below are a few of the pictures I’ve taken on visits to Manhattan over the years. The cleaning, though, has done wonders. St. Patrick’s unveils its immaculate facelift

This is an interesting visual mashup, and it leads to some spooky results. Battle of Nashville Then & Now is worth seeing, and the bigger your screen, the better.

In elementary school, during the third grade, let’s say, we buried a time capsule. It seemed a very big deal at the time, of course. I think it was a garbage bag-lined ice chest or something like that. And possibly they dug it up sometime later that night after we all left school. But we took it seriously, because it was very serious. It would be important when they dug it up in 50 years. All of this has come to mind a few times since, and now I wonder if anyone knows about it, if anyone remembers where it is or even cares. Were there 10 or 15 such time capsules buried on that playground? And did they dig it all up when that school built the big gym next to it? All of that is boring. This is amazing: Time capsule found at Massachusetts Statehouse:

Crews removed a time capsule dating back to 1795 on Thursday from the granite cornerstone of the Massachusetts Statehouse, where historians believe it was originally placed by Revolutionary War luminaries Samuel Adams and Paul Revere among others.

The time capsule is believed to contain items such as old coins and newspapers, but the condition of the contents is not known and Secretary of State William Galvin speculated that some could have deteriorated over time.

Officials won’t open the capsule until after it is X-rayed at Boston’s Museum of Fine Arts to determine its contents. The X-ray is scheduled for Sunday.

Time capsules are fascinating things. Who came up with this idea? And why can’t I open them for people?

We went for ice cream last night. One of those places where you drive over, park, walk up to the window and order under the humming neon lights. There’s a list of the ice cream flavors of the day, and the flavors are always changing. This is a challenge for me. Occasionally I find something I really like, but it is never there twice.

Tonight we pulled up about a half hour before the place closed and the guy at the window, Matt, knew it. He was older than the usual high schooler working there and he knew that too. The Yankee ordered her usual. I hemmed and hawed and agonized.

What is the Oreo cheesecake like? I asked.

“It tastes like cheesecake … with Oreos,” Matt said.

He gave me a sample. He was correct. I ordered it.

It was good. I’ll probably never see it offered there again.