My father was just 18 when he was sent to fight the war.
He turned 19 on the Ardenes front in November of 1944.
He faught in combat, spent 4 months as a prisoner of war but somehow he survived.
He was liberated from prison camp in april and came home in May of 1945.
Dad was just a boy in 1944 when he went to fight for uncle Sam.
But when his hitch was done and he came home dad came home a man.
TRANSFORMED FROM BOYS TO MEN
They were but boys when they loaded on those ships and sailed from that new England shore.
Nine months later they returned as men. Transformed by the experience of war.
Everyone thought the war was all but over by December 44.
top command believed Hitler didn't have the resources to mount an offensive any more.
So the boys were sent to the Belgium front. To the forest called the ardenes wood.
It was supposed to be a quiet sector of the line. they wanted to break the boys in slowly if they could.
For a few weeks the ardenes front was quiet. Just like the brass had said it'd be.
But on the 16th of December the boys woke up to sound of artilary!
It was like the gates of hell had burst asunder and all of hell came flooding in.
They would soon find out if they would run like boys or would they stand and fight like men.
The artillary fell silent as the eastern sky turned from dark to light
Soon to be replaced by small arms fire all along the line, center left and right
No one could of blamed those boys that day if they had turned and run
After all the boys had yet to be bapitized by fire and were out numbered four to one
the Germans must of thought those youg boys could be easily routed into flight
How surprised they must of been when they didn't run but instead they decided they would fight
the battle raged all day long and mass confusion reigned.
at the end of the day the Germans realized how little ground they'd gained.
As darkness fell the fighting slowed and it was time to count the cost.
Although it was true that the boys hadn't won that day neither had they lost.
battle has a way of changing people and these boys would never be the same again
See they had started the morning out as boys but they ended the day as men
In war decisions come with a price and the price of deciding to stand and fight was high
The price was some were wounded some were captured and some even had die
Now 77 years later, the few boys that are still alive, think back to way back when.
To December 1944 when they started the day as just mere boys but ended it as men.
©verseless
V