101st Airborne Division (Air Assault) Soldiers experience Bastogne for 79th anniversary of Battle of the Bulge

BELGIUM

12.15.2023

Story by Staff Sgt. Joshua Joyner 

101st Airborne Division (Air Assault)

BASTOGNE, Belgium - Soldiers from the 101st Airborne Division (Air Assault) traveled around Bastogne, Belgium to see the battlegrounds where elements of the 101st had fought during the Battle of the Bulge in the winter of 1944.

101st Airborne Division (Air Assault) historian, 1st Lt. Patrick Seeling, and warfare historian Martin King, led the group of Soldiers from site to site to show where Soldiers had fought, had aid stations, had foxholes, and where the dead were buried.

This event helps commemorate the Battle of the Bulge, as it has been 79 years since the 101st Soldiers defended the region while surrounded by Nazi forces.

Capt. McKenzie Grandchamp, the Special Events Planner for the 101st Airborne Division, has a direct connection to the events of the past. Her two grandfathers had both fought during WWII, one with General Patton's 3rd Army, in or near Bastogne.

"Going through some places and imagining what was it like for him (grandfather)", Grandchamp said, "because I know there were casualties in his company and I've looked up the records. I know what my experience training in the Army has been like, and to go to some of those places and wonder, what did he feel the about those that he fought with and those that he served with? And did he feel the same way about those that he lost? Knowing it was so much worse for him. It doesn't really become real until you come somewhere like this."

The 101st Soldiers will continue honoring the legacy of their past brethren with a parade through the town of Bastogne on the 16th of December, 2023.

• Date Taken: 12.15.2023
• Date Posted: 12.17.2023 11:08
• Story ID: 460148
• Location: BE