American Battle Monuments Commission to commemorate 80th anniversary of the Battle of the Bulge
The American Battle Monuments Commission will commemorate the 80th anniversary of the Battle of the Bulge at two of its sites in Belgium and Luxembourg in December.
The Battle of the Bulge Monument at Bastogne, Belgium, and Luxembourg American Cemetery, Luxembourg, will host ceremonies Dec. 13, at 4 p.m. CET and Dec. 14, at 10 a.m. CET, respectively. The events will be attended by U.S. representatives including ABMC Commissioner Brig. Gen. Matthew E. Jones and ABMC Secretary Charles K. Djou, as well as dignitaries from Belgium and Luxembourg. U.S. World War II veterans and their family members are also expected.
On Dec. 16, 1944, the Germans launched the last major counteroffensive of the war on the western front. The Ardennes Forest was chosen. On Dec. 26, 1944, 10 days after the initial enemy attack, the lead elements of Third Army reached the crossroads town of Bastogne, where the 101st Airborne Division had been surrounded since Dec. 21. The 101st’s defense of Bastogne and its road network fatally delayed the enemy advance, allowing time for the establishment of defenses around the shoulders and front of the salient and the counterattack of Third Army. Large, allied counterattacks against both shoulders of the salient began on Jan. 1, 1945. By Jan. 25, all enemy forces had been pushed back to their starting point.
Pfc. Reed A. Davis is example of a U.S. service member who paid the ultimate sacrifice for our freedom. Davis was born in 1910 in Ohio. Prior to the war he worked as a machine operator in a steel mill. He was married and had a 7-year-old son. When he was drafted in 1944, he was 34 years old. Davis was a member of the 26th Infantry Division that fought in Luxembourg during the Battle of the Bulge. He was killed in action on Dec. 25, 1944, as the 26th Division was trying to defend the Sûre River crossings in the North of Luxembourg against a strong German offensive. Davis was posthumously awarded the Silver Star Medal and the Purple Heart. He is buried in Luxembourg American Cemetery in Plot G, Row 2, Grave 20.
Luxembourg American Cemetery was established on Dec. 29, 1944, by the 609th Quartermaster Company of the U.S. Third Army while Allied Forces were stemming the enemy's desperate Ardennes Offensive, one of the critical battles of World War II. The city of Luxembourg served as headquarters for Gen. George S. Patton's U.S. Third Army. The cemetery is the final resting place of Patton. Sloping away from the terrace is the cemetery where approximately 5,100 service members lie, many of whom lost their lives in the Battle of the Bulge and in the advance to the Rhine River. An additional approximately 400 others are memorialized on the wall of the missing.
For more than 100 years, the ABMC has been committed to its mission: honoring the service, achievements and sacrifices of the U.S. service members who made the ultimate sacrifice during American conflicts abroad, including the ones who fought in the Battle of the Bulge.