Page 29

Sunday, 17 December, 1944 – Wednesday, 20 December, 1944

[Continued from previous page] German plane. They must have looked up our record. We do not lack for excitement now and it is very unusual when our sleep is not disturbed by 88’s, or other artillery pieces.

Monday, 18 December [1944] Gros Rederching
2ND Platoon subjected to artillery fire all night long, but the boys were well dug in, and suffered no casualties. The F.A. and around them had 6 men killed. P51 flew over today- too low. We put a few holes in his fuselage but didn’t bring him down (Thank God). Big tank battle going on today.

Tuesday, 19 December [1944] Gros Rederching
Today was rough. About 3PM the Jerries started heaving everything that they had at us. Watching from a window of my C.P. I saw one of our men hit by shrapnel. He was about 80 yards away. Porterfield (a medic) and myself took off across the field and had to hit the ground twice before we reached him. Two more came over as we were putting him on the stretcher. The wounded man was Gragg.¹ He took it very nicely.

Wednesday, 20 December [1944] Gros-Rederching
About 12 men were wounded in yesterday’s shelling. Today, A-Btry. lost a gun and a truck to enemy action. Our 2ND Platoon still under constant fire. The 87 Division (we are with it) has pushed ahead further than our forces on the flanks thus making us a spear head. As a result we are being shelled from the flanks. One of the fire units got a deer the other day. They are having venison for dinner tomorrow. [Continued on next page]

Inserts

Photograph of unidentified woman.

This is the famous Patton prayer card issued to all members of the Third Army, to which Goetz’s unit was attached, beginning on December 12, 1944. The prayer and Christmas greeting were composed by the chaplain of the Third Army, James H. O’Neill, at the request of General George Patton, who believed that prayer could provide his troops with relief from the long period of rainy weather that had slowed the army’s movement throughout the fall of 1944. Patton ordered O’Neill to print 250,000 copies of the prayer card. He also ordered him to send out a training letter to all the chaplains in the Third Army instructing them to preach the importance of prayer to their troops.
On December 23rd, the rain stopped and the cloud cover broke, allowing for the parachute airdrop of much needed supplies to the besieged troops of the 101st Airborne division in Bastogne, and for the resumption of air attacks on German troops. Three days later, the advance units of Patton’s army arrived in Bastogne, marking a pivotal moment in the Battle of the Bulge. According to James O’Neill’s recollection of events, Patton later remarked: “Well Padre, our prayers worked. I knew they would.” James H. O’Neill, “The True Story of the Patton Prayer,” Review of the News, 6 October 1971, www.pattonhqu.com/prayer.

Reverse of prayer card.