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"Battle Baby" is a term that was used in World War II. The Allies had taken a large hit with many men dying and wounded. The 99th Infantry was basically "thrown together" in order to get bodies over to Belgium. These boys were EXTREMELY green and had never been battle tested. That is why they were called the "Battle Babies".

The 99th Infantry Division was put along the Elsonborn Ridge in Belgium so that they could be in a somewhat "quiet" place to get used to battle. Little did everyone know that Germany had a plan to make a "last ditch" effort at breaking through the Allied lines. Germany chose to do this by gathering together the strongest panzer divisions that they had left and attacking the greenest allied troops - the 99th being a significant part of the Southern line. The "green" troops held the line and kept the Germans from advancing through. This battle became the infamous "Battle of the Bulge".

Later on the 99th advanced to a bridgehead at a small town in Belgium by the name of Remagen. The Germans had gone up and down the Rhine river destroying every bridge in order to keep the allies from easily entering Germany. The bridge at Remagen had charges set, but they didn't explode. The Germans sent one of their soldiers down to the bridge in order to manually detonate the explosives. After the dust cleared they saw that the bridge was severely damaged, but STILL STANDING! The Allies found the bridge and began sending troops across en masse. This bridge had gaping holes in it large enough to drop a jeep through and the Allied soldiers were receiving massive gunfire from the German side (which was very hilly and had a lot of spots to fire from). The 99th was the first to have their entire division across the bridge. They then began slowly advancing into Germany. It was at this time that my uncle was killed (March 1945). Later in the month Germany surrendered.