Very cool WW2 beer story
Also this:
http://www.stripes.com/news/former-paratrooper-recalls-wwii-incident-that-led-to-beer-fame-1.254178
Well, that gives new meaning to the reason why they call the 101st guys “The Belching Buzzards.”
With all due respect to the Screaming Eagles. 
Interesting that he’s wearing 101st on his hat and 82nd on his shoulder.
True American heroes - everyone who fought the Nazis in the Ardennes Forest at Christmas 1944.
Very cool story, thanks.
Awesome story. Thanks !
Thanks for posting this thirsty! A great tale!
Better than the Choking Chickens…
For those who would like to know more about this, watch the HBO miniseries Band of Brothers
It follows the men of Company E, in the 101st Airborne Division, 506th PIR, from their training for D-Day in England to their capture of Hitler’s Eagle’s Nest in Berchtesgaden at the end of the war. An amazing story! Those guys had some big ones, to do what they did.
Very good story. I have been to Bastogne, and did not know about the beer in the helmet story. I do know that veterans can find their foxholes or mortar pits out in the surrounding country side. Talked to a mortarman a few years back at a reunion that had found a few that he had dug, 40+ years later, with the use of some topo maps.
My FiL was in the 17th airborne, which helped relieve Bastogne, and afterwards were sent up to the North by Patton to secure that flank. It was cold, snowed heavily, roads were covered with ice. Lightly armed paratroopers, M1 Carbines and Bazookas, found themselves looking at 2 units of Tiger tanks that Hitler had sent in to regain ground and take Basogne. You don’t hear much of that fighting, which some say was the fiercest of the Bulge, as the 17th was disbanded after WWII, and the 101 and the 82 have the division historians to tell their stories.
The 17th was in reserves in England, was brought over quickly for the Bulge, had no winter boots or coats. Bradley had a need for bodies to plug the Bulge. Those guys had it rough, most got frostbite on their feet.
The 17th went on to fight many battles, the biggest was operation Varsity, which was the largest airborne assault of the war. Paratroopers and CG-4A gliders were used for that. There is a Waco CG-4A in a Museum in Iron Mountain MI, if anyone heads through the UP next year for the NHC. Half of those were built at the old Ford Woody factory during the war, which was in Kingford MI.
Edited for spelling.
I wrote about this a little bit earlier today.
Hell of a story.
One of my grandfathers was in Patton’s Third in relief of the troopers.
Something that amazed me when I went to Belgium for the first time was how much respect there was still being paid to the soldiers who held Bastogne.
My father was captured in the Battle of the Ardennes Forrest. Spent 5 months as a POW. He never spoke much about the battle, except for when he was captured. He said "I felt a gun barrel poked in my back while someone said ,Actung!, Rouse. I put my gun down, raised my hands and became a guest to Germany for 5 months. Lived on a diet of turnips and parsnips. We were not allowed them in the house while growing up.
My family served in the Pacific. My Uncle Larry was killed in action when the USS Juneau CL52 was sunk at the Naval Battle of Guadalcanal. My dad was a plank owner and served aboard USS Douglas A. Munro DE422. Dad passed away last March. My mom passed away two months later. They were together 62 years; apart for 52 days. We will be laying them to rest, together, in the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific (The Punchbowl) on December 5th.
My dad, who served for 11 years until my mom got sick, was a radioman (Chief) on the Indianapolis. He had many stories he could never talk about without breaking down and having to leave the room. One was of being ordered to close a water tight hatch while there were still men trying to get up from below. He saw the men’s faces nearly every night in his sleep.
A couple weeks before that fateful day the “Indy” went down, he told his CO that if he didn’t get off that “can” for a few days he was going AWOL. He was given leave and shortly thereafter she was sunk. He never did reconcile why he was still alive and nearly 900 others were not. It haunted his nights, and as a child, his screams haunted mine.
My condolences
Awesome story.
My grandfather fought in the Battle of the Bulge. He survived the war physically, but endured significant mental stress (PTS) after witnessing his partner’s gruesome death while driving a military vehicle. I haven’t had the opportunity to talk much about his service, as he passed many years ago, and from what I can remember it wasn’t something he liked to discuss.
Thanks for posting!
My Dad graduated high school early to join the army, but first marrying my Mom, and fought in the Battle of the Bulge. He said he never fired a shot, mostly walked across Europe carrying his weapon. He was impressed that Zurich was very clean. I have a cool mother-of-pearl cigarette lighter that he traded something with an Austrian to get. That’s about all he ever said about it. The GI bill put him through engineering school when he got back.
My Mom bought him that same rifle (M-1 or something?) for his birthday 30 years later.
Before she passed away, she gave me the cigarette case with her 1945 (?) photo and her letter in it that Dad carried with him during the war.
What this has to do with a great beer story I don’t know, but I thought I’d add to the nostalgia.
Awesome story, jeffy. I am so sorry that he passed away. He sounds like a great man. My father was 19 on D-day. But, he remained state side because his only brother, my uncle, was a POW in Europe. The greatest generation has some great believing! Thanks for sharing.
Wow, some great stories. Thanks for the original posts Thirsty.
Glad so many people liked the post. I thought it was a really unique beer story.
My Grandfather fought in WW2 also, but he was on the other side. He was in a Hungarian section of the German army on the Russian front. He told us some amazing stories.
My other Grandfather was in WW1! On the Allied side.
My dad’s dad came over from Germany after WWI and built PT boats on Long Island during
WWII. His brothers fought for the Germans during WWII. My mom’s dad was Swiss and already too old to fight. He owned a cheese business in Wisconsin.