Battle of the Bulge: One Soldier's Story

After reading a Human Events column today about journalism and the Battle of the Bulge (this time of year being the 64th anniversary of the battle) I was reminded of one soldier in that battle and his story. A journalist, Don Mckee, tells the story of Morris Pettit, a soldier. I’m privileged to know both McKee and Pettit, having gone to church with both of them when I lived in Georgia. Following is the story as written by McKee in the Marietta Daily Journal on September 1, 1999:

American hero Morris Pettit still paying price of World War II

It has been a long, long battle for Morris Pettit, Army infantry volunteer, decorated World War II hero, awarded eight medals including the Bronze Star and Purple Heart with Oak Leaf Cluster.

Staff Sgt. Pettit, expert rifleman, tall and tough from the hills of Gilmer County, saw his first combat action in July 1944 near St. Lo, France, taking out a German position under heavy fire and fighting across France. He marched into Paris on Aug. 26, 1944, with the liberating First Army.

Then they hit the Ziegfried Line, Hitler’s ominous fortifications of concrete “dragon teeth” and “pillboxes” from which advancing troops were raked with withering fire. Pettit’s B Company drew the job of taking out pillboxes with tank support, but the first tank got stuck. Pettit and his men were pinned down all day by machine gun fire.

The next day they knocked out nine pillboxes. Pettit was wounded by artillery shell fragments and flown to England for recovery. By late November, he was back at the front in Luxembourg.

The Germans launched their last-ditch surprise attack Dec. 16, the Battle of the Bulge. Pettit joined an American tank unit blocking a road to Bastogne under orders for no retreat, but superior enemy forces quickly overran the Americans.

“The Germans opened machine gunfire on the hole I was in. The man next to me was killed, and I was shot in the back,” Pettit said. An exploding hand grenade hit his left arm.

He played dead for hours. Germans walked around shooting the wounded. But the German who pointed a gun at him spoke a little English, and Pettit talked his way out of dying that day.

They took his boots and overcoat. He was forced to march shoeless in the ice and snow. The temperatures fell as low as 20 below. It was one of the worst winters on record.

At a railway station, prisoners were packed into boxcars.

“The only food we had was icicles hanging from the boxcar,” he said.

Pettit wound up in Stalag 7 – A at Friezen.

Americans liberated the camp May 8, 1945. Pettit, who stood over 6 feet tall and weighed 210 before combat, lost 65 pounds in three months. His feet were badly frostbitten, and he needed more surgery on his arm.

He spent a year at Lawson Veterans Hospital in Chamblee. On June 1, 1946, he returned home to Gilmer County, and in December 1947, he married Laura Waddell. They have three sons—Joseph, John, and Mark. A daughter, Sheila, is deceased.

The battle isn’t over for Morris Pettit. Last September, one leg had to be amputated due to infections, effect of the old frostbite. Last week, doctors took off his other leg for the same reason.

The sergeant is 82 now, but he’s still a tough fighter.

He spoke quietly from his bed at VA Medical Center in Decatur.

“I’m doing fine,” he said.

Yes, you are, Morris Pettit, genuine American hero.