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by Barry J. Veden (Author)
The year was 1944 and America was at war. The Allies had landed in Normandy on June 6 and had steadily pushed the German armies out of France toward the Fatherland. On December 16, 1944, approximately 600,000 German soldiers launched, what they called, the Ardennes Offensive. The enemy attacked the American forces along the Siegfried Line where Belgium and the tiny Grand Duchy of Luxembourg border on Germany. Before the advance was halted ten days later, a bulge created in the American lines by the more than half million Nazi soldiers would give birth to the term, the Battle of the Bulge. Officially ending on January 25, 1945, the Battle of the Bulge would claim more than 80,000 American casualties - young soldiers killed, wounded or captured - all in 41 days. Now, approximately 60 years after the battle began, 35 northern Indiana soldiers who took part in the Battle of the Bulge relive their experiences as they remember it now. In one interview, a veteran says, "I can still see the faces of the men I killed in combat. I often wonder what they would have done with their lives had they lived." Another says that he has memories that haunt him to this day, and then he relates one such incident. Return with the author to the 1940s as these aged veterans reminisce about the Battle of the Bulge and discuss how those cold, dark days in Europe helped shape the remainder of their lives.
Author Biography
Barry Veden began his writing career while a member of the corporate communications team of an Indiana Fortune 500 company. He served as the editor of the company's weekly communication newsletter for nine years. During that time, he also contributed to monthly and quarterly publications that served active and retired employees of the company, and was a communication liaison between management and union employees. In 1997, he was named editor of The Bulge Battle News, a publication for World War II veterans. After his retirement in 2004, he wrote and published his first book, My Heroes, containing interviews with over 30 Northern Indiana WWII veterans who survived the largest land battle ever fought by the U.S. Army.
