I was with B Company 504 P.I.R. 82nd ABN. Div. I was born 1922 in Detroit Michigan. I Married in 1946 and raised six children, all college educated.  I took the physical for military service 12-05-42 at age 19.  Entered US Army 1-43.  It took three times to get in the paratroopers as I was and still am, short, only 54 ! (All volunteer outfit)
   I went to jump school 08-44, joined 82nd in France as a replacement November 7, 1944.  When the Battle of the Bulge  broke out (12-17-44), we went up in trucks.  We went through Bastone before the 101st ABN Division got there.  The 101 was behind us.  We had krauts on our right and left and in front.  We met the full force at Cheneux Belgium (12-20&21-44).  We (Co B. & Co. C) received the Presidential Citation for that battle and stopping the enemy.  When we went into the Battle of the Bulge  we had 48 men in our platoon, we came out with 13.  I was one of the 13.  Harold Florey was my best combat buddy.  He died in 1991 of cancer.  He went through N. Africa, Sicily, Italy, and Holland. We both got hit.  His was worse, so he went back for a couple of weeks.  I stayed on line. I was in St Lo, St Vith, Malmedy, Antwerp, Bruxell, Liege, Remouchamps and many other Belgium cities that I dont know their names.
    At the end of Jan44, we were at Remouchamps for a week rest off the line.  My good buddy Harold Florey and I decided to take off to Liege on Sat. morning (hitchhiking).  We got there about noon.  We visited a restaurant and got a real surprise!  We were able to get hamburger steak and French fries and coffee!!  We may have received horse meat -to this day I dont know what that meat was!!! But it was great!!
    That night, we went to a bar (night club) dancing, etc. Everything was blacked out.  When a buzz bomb went over, the music and dancing stopped until it buzzed over, then the music and dancing started again.  Later that night, the M.P.s (military police) rounded up all the paratroopers and put us all in the Liege jail.  I had a 45 cal. Pistol in a shoulder holster under my E.T.O. jacket that the M.P.s missed.  There I was in the Liege jail with a loaded .45!!  About 2:00 a.m., Major Fordice Gorham came with 3-4 trucks to get us out.  After much arguing with the M.P. officers, he got us out and many, many weapons the MPs took - they had drawers full.
       After the Bulge  we hit the Seigfried Line , crossed the Roha, Rhine, Elbe and was stopped about 25-30 miles from Berlin to let the Russians take Berlin.  We occupied Berlin for 6 months and left Berlin to France, then Belgium again to ship home.  I was Discharged 01-46.
    I lost some good buddies over there.  Sidney Redburn, Hilton Holland, McLaughlin, Bill Jandran, Lowe, and some names I cant remember.
    Another experience was having frozen feet and burned hands while holding off an attack.  I was firing a B.A.R. (Browing Auto Rifle).  I fired about 200 rounds, it was rough!!  Holland got killed, our platoon leader wounded, his runner wounded, Fadely machine gunned in the legs.  I carried him to safety after their machine gun was knocked out by Murad Turk  Nersesian from Bronx, NY.
    I always wanted to go back to Liege and visit that jail I was in. Also, to go to Remouchamps because I went into the caves there where the people were living due to the buzz bombs and other shelling.  Each family had there own space in the caves for beds, cooking, etc.
    4-6 of us stayed in a small Apt. above a bakery.  Across the street was a creek or small river.  One of us would go upstream a few hundred feet and drop a grenade in the river. 3 or 4 guys would be on a small pedestrian bridge and catch the fish as they surfaced (knocked out).  I dont think the townspeople appreciated us doing that.