A July 4th Message

A story takes shape during the Battle of the Bulge during World War 2. Lt Lyle Bouk and 17 other soldiers (along with five artillery observers) were tasked with manning a quiet, Belgium outpost in Lanzerath. They knew it was a dangerous assignment due to its strategic location, due to their lack of manpower, and due to their lack of firepower do defend their position should they face a significant enemy presence. Nonetheless, they dug-in and were ready to hold their position if called upon. It wouldn’t take long for them to find out their fate.

On December 16th, 1944, the lead elements of a vaunted German military unit moved into position. In front of them was Bouk’s platoon of troops. The 3rd Fallschirmjager Division was set to spearhead the attack. This German unit had been part of the counter attack at Normandy. They had stalled the Allied capture of St Lo, and one could make a case that tactic(in part at least) kept us in the hedgerows for a month. In short, these were some of Germany’s best remaining units.

As the Battle of the Bulge commenced, many American positions near the Ardennes were being over-run by a large, scale surprise German counter offensive. German divisions were pouring through the infamous forest under the cover of dense pine canopy and bad weather(US air power struggled to support troops during that offensive due to bad weather).

Bouk’s eighteen soldiers and five forward artillery observers of Intelligence and Reconnaissance (I&R) of the 394th Infantry Regiment, 99th Infantry Division, were thrust immediately into battle as German infantry columns approached their position. Hitler had counted on American soldiers to flee in the face of numbers which were 10:1 and sometimes 40:1. Instead, our men held their positions. Bouk’s platoon would deliver catastrophic damage to the enemy from their fixed position. Check out this quote about Bouk’s I&R regiment…

By mid-afternoon there were 400 to 500 bodies in front of the IR platoon. Only one American had been killed, although half the eighteen men of the platoon were wounded. There was a lull. Bouck said to James, “I want you to take the men who want to go and get out.” “Are you coming?” “No, I have orders to hold at all costs. I’m staying.” “Then we’ll all stay.” Stephen Ambrose, Citizen Soldiers, (1997)

They held their position until they ran out of ammunition and all were nearly injured. When the German army finally over-ran the position, they were shocked and in disbelief at the small number of American soldiers they found. How had so few American soldiers held-up an entire German battalion? So, impressed by the courage, one German solider said…

When he came to, a German officer tried to interrogate him but gave it up, leaned over James’s stretcher, and whispered in English, “Ami, you and your comrades are brave men.” Stephen Ambrose, Citizen Soldiers, (1997)

The bravery of individual American soldiers that day is legendary. It shook the Germans. John Eisenhower would write…

“The action of the I&R Platoon, 394th Infantry,” John Eisenhower wrote in The Bitter Woods, his penetrating study of command in the Ardennes, “was remarkable for the contribution that a handful of men was able to make on December 16.” Bouck and his men had successfully blocked the Lanzerath road against a full-strength German battalion for a day, inflicting catastrophic casualties of more than 50 percent. ~Brent Dyck, Warfare History Network, “Hold at All Costs” (2022)

Roughly 23 men. Their task? Hold their position. Halt the advance of the enemy. At great risk to their own personal safety, those men defended freedom on that little hilltop in Lanzareth, Belgium.

Eventually Bouk and his men would be taken captive and sit-out the rest of the war in a German POW camp. They had no idea (until the war was over) that they had thrown off the German battle plan(timing) so badly, that the German Army could not reach its goals. This scenario would be played-out up and down the American lines that day.

In Bastogne, the 101st Airborne would famously halt wave after wave of German attacks to take the little crossroads. In the bitter cold and snow without their normal air cover, American units would fiercely defend every inch of ground.

Historically, it seems to me that freedom fighters are almost always outnumbered. Whether it be our soldiers in the Ardennes during WW2 or the Continental Army during Revolutionary War, freedom is often defended by a few on behalf of the many.

So, on this Independence Day and as we celebrate our nation’s 250th year, we remember the price of freedom. We understand that the ideal of freedom continues to need defending. We take courage from those who have valiantly protected it. In remembering those who have preserved freedom for this generation, I will close with these words which have been lived out by multiple generations since its signing…

And for the support of this Declaration, with a firm reliance on the protection of divine Providence, we mutually pledge to each other our Lives, our Fortunes and our sacred Honor. The Declaration of Independence (July 4th, 1776)

Lives. Fortune. Sacred honor.

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