George Pelletier was there— The end of the Battle of the Bulge.

Days like today, I think of the many incredible WWII veterans I’ve met and shared their stories. On this day, 75 years ago, Hitler and his Third Reich we’re finally pushed back beyond the line. The line was the beginning of what would be known as the Battle of the Bulge.
the following excerpt is from George Pelletier. He was there. Here’s his words. God bless him and thank you sir for your incredible service.

A newly released award-winning book, “My Father’s War: Memories from Our Honored WWII Soldiers” written by Charley Valera chronicles the first-hand lives and accounts from soldiers across both the European and Pacific theaters of war. The book is available at Amazon, Barnes & Noble and other major booksellers. 

George J. Pelletier was  Born July 18, 1925 in Fitchburg Massachusetts. He was awarded the Combat Infantry Badge, Bronze Star with Oak Leaf Cluster, Good Conduct Medal, American Campaign Medal, European-African Middle-Eastern Campaign Medal, WWII Victory Medal, Army of Occupation Medal, three battle stars, and the Honorable Service Lapel Button WWII. Pelletier was a member of the Acorn unit and continues to be a supporter of VBOB. 

An excerpt of the book from George Pelletier. The Pearl Harbor attack “just shocked the whole nation.” He added, “We were just stunned that it had occurred. All the fellows in the area that were eighteen and nineteen enlisted right away. Everyone was responding to the crisis. I also had four brothers-in-law that enlisted immediately.” Pelletier nodded. “They all did. Everybody did.”

“Two days after my 19th birthday I was joined with the 87th and we’re getting ready to go overseas”, said Pelletier. He eventually sailed aboard the Queen Elizabeth on October 17,1944 to Glasgow, Scotland. Assembling in England, they moved across the channel to France during the last week of November. By December 6, the 87th had been reassembled near Metz.

He served in Europe under General George S. Patton’s 3rd Army as a machine-gunner in M Company, 345th Infantry, 87th Infantry Division. Pelletier saw action in France, Belgium, Luxemburg and Germany. He participated in some of the most vicious battles during World War Two including Ardennes (Battle of the Bulge), Rhineland, Central Europe, and occupation with Russian forces at the German-Czechoslavakian border.

There is a letter Pelletier wrote to his wife that he shared with me for this book. A portion from that letter read:

“…Soon we received our first mission. So we boarded aboard cattle cars and took off. Our mission was to take the remaining forts occupied by Germans and Metz, France. We were not there long before they all gave up. In the meantime two other regiments of our division were in action in the Saar, this all happening around 5th of December.

Now we took off for the Saar and were ready for action the next day. However, it wasn’t 24 hours before we jumped off. I will never forget it. The [Heinies] spotted us coming around the hill and started picking us off. Shells were landing everywhere as close as 5 yards from me. I was dazed but prayed like mad. I then spotted a hole in the ground, which probably saved my life, as three men behind me were hit. We took a beating that day. We dug in that night under fire. At 4 the next morning we took off or jumped off into the attack once again minus anything to eat or drink and minus sleep. That day we advanced 5 miles into the woods, flanking our objective, while other companies came in on the other sides. Again we were shelled continuously, one of my buddies was killed, two more wounded, all in my platoon. Soon we ran out of ammunition, had no water or food. There we dug in for two days hoping that Jerry didn’t see us, in the meantime one platoon of I Company [to] which we were attached started back for what we needed. We were 3 days without food or water, our squad or rather what was left four out of seven drank water from the water jacket of our gun. Incidentally I’m still a machine gunner. I was assistant gunner at the time. But 18 hours later we heard our platoon coming back with rations and water. Soon after that we were relieved by another battalion. Whew, what a relief. They continued on the attack while we drew back a mile or so, dug in, and rested up for 2 days.

We lost a lot of men here; it was rough. Then we pulled out again to dig in and hold our lines while divisions on our right and left caught up to us. Now the bulge started and we transferred from the Seventh Army to the Third. Then we took off for the bulge, a day later we jumped off into the attack and drove the Jerry back after he had counterattacked on New Year’s Eve. We lost more of our buddies here out of my platoon, again I escaped. We took a major part in the bulge and were successful. It was rough in the Ardennes Forest attacking in the snow, digging in and sleeping there but we came out OK still pounding the [Heinies’] back.

The bulge being nearly over we took off for Luxembourg. There we felt the Jerry out for a week, trying to find out what he had across the river. Now we were relieved by [a] new division and sent back into what was left of the bulge. We jumped off again to town after town and drove into Germany, being under constant fire of Jerry. Lost a few men.

All through this I’ve learned to realize a lot of things. I know what war is now. I’ve seen it, I’ve seen men die and maimed for life. I’ve seen homes destroyed, families all separated, poor, unfed little children. Now when I get back home I know what needs to be done and no one is to cross me or any other of these G.I.’s who know all this. We owe a debt to our buddies and we’re going to see that what they wanted and dreamed about is accomplished.

Now came the hard part, cracking the Siegfried Line.”