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WORLD WAR II BASTOGNE, Belgium — Eighty years later, World War II veteran David Marshall has a picture in his wallet of him fighting in the snow and bitter cold in one of the defining moments of the four-year conflict: the Battle of the Bulge. The 100-year-old vet was part of commemorations on Friday as the United States, its European allies and a dwindling number of veterans remembered the month of dramatic fighting that stopped Adolf Hitler's last-ditch offensive and opened the way for the full Nazi defeat. Still, beyond the ceremonies and this weekend's events in Belgium and Luxembourg to commemorate one of the most important and deadly battles that helped decide the war, Marshall wants people to go one step beyond just remembering it.
The young should "study about the war," Marshall said in an interview with The Associated Press. "Learn all you can about it in order to prevent any future war. People are also reading.
.. "If you forget the past, you are not going to have a future," said Marshall, who worked a mortar in the battle.
At dawn on Dec. 16, 1944, more than 200,000 German soldiers threw Hitler's last hopes behind an unexpected attack through the dense woods of Belgium and Luxembourg's hilly Ardennes. It ultimately made sure the Allied advance, started on the D-Day beaches of Normandy in June 1944, could continue right on to Berlin.
Initially outnumbered, U.S. troops delayed the attack enough in fierce fighting to allow reinforcements to stream in and turn the tide of the battle by Christmas.
After the fighting in the Battle of the Bulge ended on Jan. 28, 1945, Allied forces invaded Germany, eventually leading to the Nazi surrender and the end of the war in Europe. Germany is now an ally of the United States and its wartime partners in NATO and the symbolism was not wasted on such a day.
"There's no reason we cannot get along," said veteran Gilbert Charleston, 101, a Choctow Nation Elder of the 739th Tank Battalion, after he shared memories over the picture with Marshall. "If they would just take the time to be kind to each other and not try to be so possessive — help when help is needed," he said. "I think the world would be a lot better place.
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