In the Mailbag - December 2017
E. Jan Kounitz JK Memorial Collage Update The year was 1944, mid-December, with the worst winter of record raging in Europe, the Allies were under attack in what was to become known as the Battle-of-the-Bulge. Years later it would be calculated that this was the 4th most deadly military disaster the USA would ever have, almost 20, 000 men were killed. The battle lasted from 16 December 1944 to 25 January 1945. Staff Sargent Jerome “Jerry” Kounitz and his squad of men were caught in the thick of combat in Ardennes, Belgium ... they found themselves cut off from the command & control units surrounded by hostile forces. Telegrams were sent out to the families of these presumably “lost” men that they were MIA (missing in action) and presumed dead. Fortunately, the information was proven incorrect when in Mid-January S/S Kounitz and his men reemerged having been sheltered by valiant Belgium families that hid and fed them for the duration of their ordeal.