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A World War II veteran and the nation's oldest living Medal of Honor recipient has died in New Jersey. Nicholas Oresko, an Army master sergeant who was badly wounded as he single-handedly took out two enemy bunkers during the Battle of the Bulge in 1945, died Friday night at Englewood Hospital and Medical Center, hospital officials announced Saturday. He was 96. Oresko had been hospitalized after injuring himself in a fall at an assisted living center in Cresskill. He died of complications from surgery.

Al Jaffe was a scrappy, streetwise Jewish kid from the Bronx who climbed into a P-51 Mustang fighter plane in the last year of World War II and flew it into history. Second Lt. Abraham “Al’’ Jaffe completed 77 reconnaissance missions in Europe, including one that helped turn the tide of the war during the pivotal Battle of the Bulge. He was also involved in holding the bridge at Remagen, Germany, enabling U.S. troops to cross the Rhine River two months before the war ended. His exploits inspired Henry Fonda’s character, Lt. Col. Daniel Kiley, in the 1965 feature film...

December 1944 World War Two was in overdrive. The major powers were slugging it out about the world - in Europe, Africa, and in the Pacific for 5 long years already- since 1939. The United States had entered the fray when the US Congress had declared war on Japan (December 8, 1941) for attacking Pearl Harbor (December 7, 1941). Then on December 11, 1941, Germany and Italy had declared war on the United States. We were in the war for the long haul. Early December 1944, we had thought the war, at least in Europe, would be over in a...

Breath taking pics...

U.S. Honors Belgian Nurse for Valor in World War II BRUSSELS (AP) — A Belgian nurse who saved the lives of hundreds of American soldiers during the Battle of the Bulge at the end of World War II was given an American award for valor on Monday. The nurse, Augusta Chiwy, who is 93, received the Civilian Award for Humanitarian Service medal from the American ambassador, Howard Gutman, in a ceremony at the military museum in Brussels. “She helped, she helped and she helped,” Mr. Gutman said. He explained the long delay — 67 years — in presenting the award...

<p>BRUSSELS (AP) -- A Belgian nurse who saved the lives of hundreds of American soldiers during the Battle of the Bulge at the end of World War II was given a U.S. award for valor Monday - 67 years late.</p>

Rep. Anthony Weiner has called an afternoon news conference Monday amid a fresh round of sordid allegations involving the married congressman, including the release of a new set of photos that appear to show him posing shirtless. The website BigGovernment.com, run by conservative rabble-rouser Andrew Breitbart, reignited the frenzy it had started involving the New York Democrat in a series of posts Monday. One photo shows a man's naked torso; the subject's full face is not visible, but pictures in the background include Weiner. The website says a young woman provided the photos, sent to her from what is allegedly...

As tomorrow is the 66th Anniversary, I am posting this bit of history. Much to learn from this all American HERO. There is a video embedded in the link, I'll post the link to the video in comments. It is well worth watching. Neil "But for everyone, surely, what we have gone through in this period -- I am addressing myself to the School -- surely from this period of ten months, this is the lesson: Never give in. Never give in. Never, never, never, never -- in nothing, great or small, large or petty -- never give in, except...

...“This is personal to me,” he said. “I would be speaking with a German accent right now instead of a French accent if it weren’t for you,” he told the vets. French is the national language of Belgium. Diplomats from both Belgium and Luxembourg were in attendance at both events Saturday. Belgian Air Force Brig. Gen. Mike Delobel, defense attaché for the Belgian Embassy in Washington, D.C., and Consul Mario Wiesen of Luxembourg said they were there to recognize the contribution the veterans made in the liberation of their countries. “It’s a unique opportunity to say ‘thank you’,” Wiesen said....

Demetri “Dee” Paris of Silver Spring, Md., stood on the 50-yard line of Williams-Brice Stadium next to U.S. Sen. Lindsey Graham, “2001” blaring, fans roaring and Gamecock players flooding the field in what has been called the greatest entrance in sports. “Wow,” said the 95-year-old president of the national Veterans of the Battle of the Bulge organization, who had just tossed the coin to open the game. “I live near the University of Maryland, but it’s nothing like this. This is wild!” Battle of the Bulge veteran Leif Maseng from Columbia rode with other veterans in a procession from Uptown...

NEW YORK - Retired Lt. Gen. Harry W.O. Kinnard, a paratroop officer who suggested the famously defiant answer "Nuts!" to a German demand for surrender during the 1944 Battle of the Bulge, has died. He was 93.

Book just published that details the delaying action by certain US Army units that made it possible for the 101st Airborne (and other units) to have a Bastogne to defend.

A new book tells a grim but heroic story. In the fall of 1944 the Allies had every reason to hope that the war in Europe would be over by Christmas, but on December 25, 1944, American troops found themselves stuck behind a new German line. On December 16, 30 German divisions, 10 of them armored divisions, had attacked the American Army along the Belgian-German border, achieving absolute tactical and strategic surprise. The result was the largest battle Americans have ever fought in. Some 640,000 of them took part in the Battle of the Bulge. Stanley Weintraub, Evan Pugh...

Yesterday (December 16) marked the 62nd anniversary of the start of a German counter-offensive, known in the history books the Battle of the Bulge. It was also the longest fought and costliest battle the United States Army had ever fought, before or since. The details for this offensive were months in the planning by Adolf Hitler and the very highest echelons of the German high command. This plan was so top secret that none of the field commanders had an inkling that there was even one being planned until they were briefed about it six weeks before the scheduled jump...

This Day In History | World War II December 16 1944 Battle of the Bulge On this day, the Germans launch the last major offensive of the war, Operation Mist, also known as the Ardennes Offensive and the Battle of the Bulge, an attempt to push the Allied front line west from northern France to northwestern Belgium. The Battle of the Bulge, so-called because the Germans created a "bulge" around the area of the Ardennes forest in pushing through the American defensive line, was the largest fought on the Western front. The Germans threw 250,000 soldiers into the initial assault,...

IT'S a bird, it's a plane — it's superbulge! "Superman Returns" star Brandon Routh is supposedly giving the suits at Warner Brothers fits because of his prodigious package of masculinity. The 26-year-old beefcake's extra-large endowment is said to be so distracting through his skin-tight costume that producers may have to shrink him during post-production. "It's a major issue for the studio," a "Superman Returns" production source fretted to the London Sun. "Brandon is extremely well-endowed and they don't want it up on the big screen. We may be forced to erase his package with digital effects."

The Hill is a specialized publication, mostly for Members of Congress and those whose living depends on Congress. Still, an article in The Hill today (Wednesday) is typical of the media coverage of the Senate vote yesterday to require “reports” to Congress on the progress of the Iraq War. The title is “Needed: An Exit Strategy from Iraq.” It is written by Rep. Jane Harmon (D. Calif) and its lede includes these paragraphs. "There is now a strong bipartisan consensus that we need an exit strategy. But yet to emerge is the content of that strategy. "We have two overriding...

Lord, Keep our Troops forever in Your care Give them victory over the enemy... Grant them a safe and swift return... Bless those who mourn the lost. . FReepers from the Foxhole join in prayer for all those serving their country at this time. ...................................................................................... ........................................... U.S. Military History, Current Events and Veterans Issues Where Duty, Honor and Countryare acknowledged, affirmed and commemorated. Our Mission: The FReeper Foxhole is dedicated to Veterans of our Nation's military forces and to others who are affected in their relationships with Veterans. In the FReeper Foxhole, Veterans or their family members should feel...

"Surprise attacks in supposedly secure areas. A spike in casualties. A few baffled American commanders. Suspicions of degrading morale within some units. Outright refusal to carry out lawful orders in others. Troops stretched too thin. Blame heaped on planners and those said to be responsible for unreliable intelligence. Sound familiar? It all began 60 years ago — this very Christmas season — when the German army, in a last-ditch effort, smashed through the Ardennes and struck the primary Allied lines in Belgium."

BRUNSWICK, Ga. (AP) — With the Battle of the Bulge raging in Western Europe during World War II, workers at a Brunswick shipyard were determined to deliver one more ship by year's end. To get the job done, laborers were needed around the clock on Christmas Day. About 1,500 volunteered, and they worked without pay. Newspapers across the United States carried the story in their afternoon editions Dec. 25, and 60 years later, their hard work and generosity remains a point of pride in the coastal city.