Maion,

I find that dropping something heavy and metal while screaming "Holy Cow there's a Moose in the yard!!!" usually gets them up. Once they've shot out of bed and their heart is pounding they'll be ready to dig into the presents.

Interesting links on the cigarette camps. I wonder if there is a comprehensive book out there on the camps and day to day life there.

I'm off to a friends for dinner and to exchange gifts. Tommorrow back to the grind. Saturday I'm having 14 people over for an evening of good friends and bad wine. I have several bottles of wines of questionable pedigree that I want to get rid of....I'm looking forward to "Tears of Gettysburg", a Cabernet from Pennsylvania (life is a Cabernet old chum). Hopefully it won't bring the guests to tears.

Love your sense of humor. Classic!

In case your lookin' for some fine wine in the near future, I own a store with a growing wine collection. Ya, we have Boone's, but also sell Kendall Jackson and some great Australians and New Zealands. Can't wait to hear about the experience!

Marion, thanks for the info on the cigarette camps. James Demopoulos went through Camp Lucky Strike at the end of his "tour of duty".

I have some photos of that.

Well, I actually have the original rolls of film and have to get them developed one day.

I only have a few photos at the moment, some are nice like the ones where the Statue of Liberty appears, the troop ships, etc.

Darlene, yes I know what you mean with having troubles finding information.

I encounter a lot of obstacles (1973 fire, wrong info, uncooperative clerks, etc) while researching units or particular GIs.

It is true that at some time US units were under British command. Especially right after Market Garden (September 44).

Another thing I was thinking about is that some units were rushed forward to occupy defensive positions so that the assault units could advance while trying to reduce The Bulge.

This happened from early January 45 onwards.

Erwin

"Merry Easter" is a result of my weird sense of humor.

Don't take notice, hehe.

I'm reading an excellent book called "11 Days In December Christmas at the Bulge" by Stanley Weintraub. (Just thought I'd mention that since we're talking about the Bulge). Its not a heavy technical book with lots of flank movements, but really gives you an idea of what both sides felt about the battle, and also the fact it occured during Christmas. I'm passing it on to a friend's father who was at the Bulge after I'm done.

Heck if my research had gone easily, I would have never met all you folks or chatted with the guy that was in my fathers unit. It is interesting that when I think I've made gains, I find there is so much more that I dont know.

Marion, wine and DVD's at your store? This sounds like one stop shopping for a weekend. If you were down south, you would also carry bait, like the video store near my friends house in Tenn had.

Erwin, if I see a man in the yard wearing bunny ears standing in my yard anytime soon, I'll toss a blanket out to you, because you'll freeze

He could be a snow hare .....

Erwin

Good one Erwin!!

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Marion, wine and DVD's at your store? This sounds like one stop shopping for a weekend. If you were down south, you would also carry bait, like the video store near my friends house in Tenn had.

We actually have people up here who ask why we don't sell bait in our store! No thanks. I leave that to my friend Mark who runs Dean's Bait and Tackle about a mile away... I don't want worms in the same place where I sell milk, cheese and bologna! Ewwww!!! Pass the wine would ya!

Erwin, with the snow in my yard, I might not even notice a very tall snow hare....until spring.

Marion, would you prefer the cherry wine from Tennessee, the rhubarb wine from Vermont, the blueberry wine from parts unknown, or the infamous Tears of Gettysburg from a vineyard near the Gettysburg Battlefield....? So many choices, so many guests to terrorize. I do have a sauterne in the basement that my brother bought as part of a case because it was bottled the year of my birth. Frankly I'm suprised that they were using glass for the bottles instead of the pottery used in other ancient wines....

On Sunday night I had the pleasure of speaking with a member of the 1251st Battalion Combat Engineers. That was my fathers unit and I've been struggling to find anything on the unit. One of the few sites that they were listed on the web, is about a monument in St Louis dedicated to Veterans of the Battle of the Bulge. There they were.... listed with the Combat Engineers. So...I emailed the webmaster and asked where they got the info placing their name on the monument. Several weeks passed and I got a call from the president of the organization that had a phone number of a member of the 1251st. So I called the gentleman. It was a wonderful talk. He doesnt remember my father (there were 550 of them) and started by saying that it was a long time ago and he didnt think he remembered much. We chatted a long time and he had lots to tell me about where they were during the Bulge (on the road to Antwerp, in case the Nazi's broke through Bastogne), their time at bridge school, demolition work, and their building the bridge over the Rhine at Dusseldorf. We also talked about their work in building parts of Camp Tophat. They did a lot of the cement work (thus starting my fathers obsession with the gray stuff). We talked about the M-1, Ernie Pyle, Hitlers death....

He was pleased to hear the story of my fathers return to the Rhine: In the 70's my father was sent to Germany on business. He was in Dusseldorf and found a cab driver that had been there during the war and remembered where the bridge was. He took my father to the spot and my father got out of the cab and walked down the river bank a bit. I asked him how it felt to stand there after all those years. He smiled and said " It was nice to stand there and not be shot at". I hope that for every soldier in every war, that they get to return to the battle sites and stand in peace.

I realize this thread is a few years old, but here's what I have - a photo from camp Top Hat of some of the 1251st. My late cousin, Veto Fontana, was in the 1251st. He has the arrow pointing at him in the photo. I understand he was posted at Hitler's Eagle's Nest for some duration of time.

Ken

Dear Ken:

So glad to see this old thread, brought back to life.

Love the pics. He looked like a really pleasant and happy fellow.

I look forward to talking about him and maybe seeing more photos if you have them. Thanks!!!

What great pictures!! The first person from the 1251st that I spoke with was from your Uncles company.

Did he ever speak about what they did while there?