Thinking of my dad on Dec. 21 ... his birthday. Larry Gould (Laurence M. Gould III) was born in Lacota, Michigan in 1917, on a day that was the quintessential example of Michigan weather. He said the afternoon his mother went into labor was as warm as a beautiful autumn day; by the time he was born (near midnight was as close as he could come to citing a time), a blizzard was raging. His only birthday with more miserable weather, I think, was his 27th. As a paratrooper with the 101st Airborne Division of the US Army, he spent Dec. 21, 1944 trying to hold the town of Bastogne, Belgium from being overrun by the advancing German army. III Corps of Pattons Third Army arrived in Bastogne that day but it wasnt until Dec. 26 that the battle began - slowly - to turn in the Americans favor; and it wasnt until Jan. 28, that US troops were able to completely retake the Bulge. Their job was made much harder by the weather, which was the coldest, snowiest winter ever observed in the region. Dad seldom spoke of his WWII experience, but it was a test of character that marked and shaped him indelibly. He was a remarkable man. I loved him very much. He died Jan. 13, 1983, and I miss him still.
Posted on: Sun, 21 Dec 2014 19:58:12 +0000
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