| CALUMET (Monday, May 14)
The 254th Engineer C Battalion, in which a number of
local men serve, received the presidential citation
for its heroic work against the German offensive
last December.
An Army paper reports on the
citation as follows:
"It has been officially
announced that the 254th Engineer C Battalion has received
the Presidential Unit Citation. The battalion won the
citation for its courageous stand during Von Rundstedt's offensive
in December. Single handedly they held off the 1st SS Panzer
Division for nine precious hours on December 17, and diverted them
from their intended route through Butgenbach. This gave time for
the First US Inf. Div to come
|
into positions from which they held the flank of the Corps-and the Bulge.
"Slugging it out, even when actually overrun by tanks, the 254th saved huge stores of gasoline and rations in Butgenbach sorely needed by the Germans and deprived them of the use of the best routes to Liege and
Aachen.
"The citation is their reward for the determination, hero and esprit de corps displayed by the individual officers and men. Their successful action was carried out in spite of severe losses, and in spite of the fact that they were equipped only with small arms, rifles, grenades and bazookas, while their opponents attacked with tanks and armor."
Reprinted by permission from the Daily Mining
Gazette(Houghton, MI), May 14, 1945 |
