Roger Holloway was just 18 years old when he ended up in The Ardennes, Belgium, on the very first day of the Battle of the Bulge.
And within the very first hours of combat, he watched his buddy die of his wounds, he said.
“We came under fire, and a lot of men fell,” Holloway, of Michigan City and now 91 years old, said Monday during Veterans of the Battle of the Bulge Chpt. 30’s 15th Annual Memorial Service for the Ardennes Offensive. “His name was Chester Dombrowski, and I went over to him and said ‘Buddy, I’m with you.’ I held him until he closed his eyes.”
Holloway, born, raised and still living in Michigan City, suspected being in wartime wasn’t going to be easy with the 87th Division, 345th Regimen, Company L. But losing most of their men the first fight out was almost more than he could bear. He stayed in Belgium for the offensive’s entire duration, and the experience taught him to appreciate life much more.
Only 13 of Chpt. 30’s veterans who saw combat during that horrible time are still alive, compared with 105 in 2000, Chpt. 30 President Barry Veden said. Four members died during the last year alone.
“My memories of lost soldiers are confined to the men I knew long after the war ended who’re no longer with us: Men with names like Tuley, Dudash, Worthington Huffine, McDonnell, Smrt(CQ) and Veden. They were all special because of what they endured and who they became.”
Referring to World War II as “possibly the last necessary war,” Veden said the men at the Ardennes believed they were saving the world, but did so at great cost: 81,000 American soldiers were killed, wounded or captured in 41 days.
“The men fighting in the 1940s endured those losses and pressed on, for they had a job to finish. When they returned after the war, many of them went back to jobs they had before the war; some went on to college. They got married, had children and moved out to the suburbs, and helped create the middle class in America that we know today,” he said.
One person who might disagree with Veden’s assessment of the “last necessary war” is Chris Winters. Winters, who brought his kids — Chris Jr., Jeremiah, Janet and Jobe — to plant flowers at the grave of his sister, Jeannette Winters, the first soldier to be killed during the Second Iraq conflict, happened upon the service and paid their respects.
“It brings back a lot of memories for me, what she fought for,” Chris Winters said. “Being among these other veterans reminds us all that they sacrifice.”
Quinn is a freelancer.
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