Starting on Dec. 16, 1944, and lasting for about a month, the United States Army along with units from the United Kingdom engaged in a stalemate military operation against the Nazi Army. The Battle of the Ardennes or most referred to as the Battle of the Bulge, saw the entrenched and halted United States 101 Airborne Division come under siege as the German Army made a last-ditch attempt to push back against the allied forces with a brazened offensive attack. Belgium was chosen by the Germans because of its hilly wooded terrain with unimproved roadways that cut through deep forests between towns.

The allies took positions on a long-extended front and were pushed back into the city of Antwerp, as the snow began to fall in December of 1944 creating a bulge in the Forward Battle Line.

The weather hampered both Germans and the American forces that would ordinarily be able to resupply and have additional air support. After several days the 101st Airborne Division under the command of General Anthony McAuliffe was offered a request for surrender from the German command to which he replied “Nuts!” After a bit more time and days of shelling and casualties the storm clouds lifted and General George S. Patton and his 3rd Army which had been streaking across the country to reach the beleaguered 101st liberated the town by breaking through the enemy lines and putting the German SS troops and Panzer divisions on full retreat.

At each of my commentary I have left the readers with different keywords. Ones that show the make-up of our country and its people. We’ve used words like “Resolve, Courage, Honor and Duty.” For this trip in history, we will visit a great addition to our glossary, and that word is “Tenacity.”

Imagine waiting every day for the signal that you would be overrun. The knowledge that you were surrounded and when that day or moment arrived you would most surely be killed or taken prisoner. Imagine carefully counting your ammunition and using the greatest discretion at firing your weapon even one shot because you wanted to spare your supplies for the big battle. Maybe you were told to count your stores to ration them and share them with others in your platoon.

These men lay in shallow foxholes they dug in the frozen earth with tiny shovels. They hunkered down in the cold freezing winter with improper clothing for their conditions. As each day drew on to the next, they survived with little water or food. They couldn’t light fires to cook or keep warm for fear of giving away their positions.

All the while the enemy artillery rained down overhead. The German infantry probing their lines under the cover of darkness.

I am amazed at what “tenacity” these soldiers had. How they not only escaped death but defended the town and their comrades, fighting not only the enemy but the weather and the odds.

Many of these men had been in uniform trudging across two countries for months. Surely their odds were growing thinner by the day. But these men had grit. They fought holding back an overwhelming force and secured their perimeter until additional forces could come to their rescue.

Although when reporters asked McAuliffe what he thought about Patton’s rescue, his reply was that they weren’t rescued, merely reinforced.

“Tenacity.” The ability to endure. The ability to press on and invent ways of survival. To not give up or surrender. This is a very important chapter in America’s history.

These men were all soldiers of Valor. These men are your grandparents or great grandparents. They might be dad, or just that guy down the road who yesterday needed a walker to go retrieve his mail. They came back from the horrors they saw from the hardships they faced and began to build an America. They set the benchmarks that we are now crossing.

We look at these men and we can see it in their eyes, or their stature. We see “tenacity.” We see the pain they try to hold so humbly from our concern. Soon there will be no “Greatest Generation,” that restored the will of all Americans to press onward and upward. So high and far that we’ve passed the moon and have graced other planets.

I leave you with these thoughts until our next delve into history and the associations they form to the modern days of man and a hope for the continuance of our mighty America.

Kirk L. Miller is commander of the Chautauqua County American Legion of the 8th District Department of New York.