I had to read about the nuts! Great article. Bless those guys.

Poems by John F. McCullagh : 71 / 675
Bastogne


The longest darkness of the year
comes as Christmas is drawing near.
We dug and cursed the frozen ground
The snow was deep, more coming down.

We are surrounded and outgunned.
We’re short of food and winter gear.
Medicines are running out
and we have scores of wounded here.

I do believe my feet are frozen
I can no longer feel my toes.
But still I will not leave the line
What I ‘d give for a cuppa joe.

The sounds of Panzers in the wind-
Shouts heard in a guttural tongue-
We brace for yet one more attack
and vow we won’t be overrun.

We’re the battling bastards of Bastogne
No mother, no father, no Uncle Sam
The Germans came, we beat them back-
But now we’re a much smaller band.

When our surrender was demanded
They say McAuliffe told them nuts.
I’ve heard that Patton will relieve us
We’re waiting on “old blood and guts

The poor guy. Never talked about his problems, virtually never told war stories. His children and grandchildren mostly know about his experiences through his service record, stories that he'd shared with his brothers but not his wife or kids, and the incredibly rare comment.

I figured out a very young age that many of his war stories, had he ever told any, would have been about German tanks. That's because until the day he died in 1992, he would occasionally wake up, grab his officer's side arm, and begin screaming about Panzers. Sometimes the family had to take cover, too, which was a little weird.

He was offered an opportunity to go to OCS and turned it down because he would have had to remain in the Army longer than he wanted after the war ended.

I don't know when he was given the Capt. rank. He declined the offer, he wanted a normal life in the US with a family, not career military.

My sister was born about nine months after he went overseas, so he had a lot to come home to.