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6 Army Hist. 1 (1985)

handle is hein.milandgov/aryhsy0006 and id is 1 raw text is: The ARMYHISTORIAN A PUBLICATION OF THE UNITED STATES ARMY CENTER OF MILITARY HISTORY Number 6 Washington, D C. Winter 1985 Commemoration in Military History Education: The Engineer Role in the Battle of the Bulge 141.1 T, GreenwOod As the forty-year anniversaries of events in the closing months of World War lI roll by, commemorations proliferate in the United States and abroad. In and of themselves, corn- memorattions are fine occasions, but heyond that they are attenti n-get era, vehicles for put- ting actual participants in the Army`, pat in contact with today's soldiers, and means to gei across historical programs. The Historical Divi- sion, Office of the Chief of Engineers (OCE), recently had a measure of success with a corm- memoration of this type, and we would like to share with our Army colleagues how we weni about it. In 1983, the Historical Division initiated a program to collect interviews and papers from Army veterans who had participated as Engi- neers in the Battle of the Bulge. The primary impetus for this effort was two-fold: the dsiore to supplement the Division's oral history tollec- tion with special interviews on the role of the Engineers in the Bulge fighting, and the need to gather additional information on Army Engi- neer battalion and company operations for use in the Military History Education Program at the U.S. Arny Engineer School at Fort Del.. voir, Virginia. The Historical Division began its Battle of the Bulge program by trying to identify those living veterans who had participated in the battle as engineers, especially as battalion and group commanders. West Point registers and retired officers lists, which provided many names, were supplemented with general appeals in retired officers' and veterans' magazines Al- though repes were few, those we re iv proved very usefuL The interviews added new materials to the Historical Division's research collections. During the summer of 1984 the many fortieth anniversary commemorations of events in Eu- rope during 1944, such as the fall of Rome and D-Day provided examples for emulation. After discussing the idea of a special fortieth amtiver- sary commemoration of the Engineer role in the Battle of the Bulge with my staft and identifying possible participat. I co tac ed Col. Ralph Rundle, Assistant Commandant of the Engineer School, We agreed that ive former Engineer officers who had participated in the battle should come to the school and tell of their personal experiences forty years ago. To put the battle into perspective, we also agreed to invite Charles B. MacDonald, author of Company Commander and A Time for Trum- per The Untold Story of the ittle of the ulge, the latter just then being released, to provide an overview of the battle. Colonel Rundle ordered the School Secre- tary and Director. Department of Combined Arms, to complete all necessary arrangements to guarantee that all Engineer OIeIr Ad- vanced and Basic Course students, as well as the school's staff and faculty. would attend the presentation. The School Secretary cleared 12 and 13 December for the program, and then we at the Historical Division began calling pro- spective participants. In order to provide a broad perapvctivc, we asked Maj. Gen. William AK Carter (USA, re- Mine detctioi. ui critlccdu Eroineer r-ote i~rh, Paarric Of theA ige,

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