70 years ago - the Battle of the Bulge. Posts coin from WWII

EagleEye

It was the last gasp of the German war effort. A major winter offensive that ultimately failed, but at great cost.

Post a coin from WWII, preferably 1944.

lasvegasteddy

anytime i think i got it rough...all i have to do is think what these vets trudged through and i cheer up

not exactly a 1944 here rick
not even the best of image...seller's image that the "9" looked sweet on
but so iconic of a war issue here...i really hope to find a toner one day of a steelie...but they're just too far n few

coinsarefun

291fifth

1945 should do as well since the battle lasted until Hitler called it off following the Mid-January Soviet offensive in the east and the loss of a high percentage of his armor in the Ardennes Offensive (Battle of the Bulge).

Many US tankers of the period, when asked what the best US anti-tank weapon was, would answer "the P-47".

ricko

Gorgeous Walker Stef....Cheers, RickO

Swampboy

Edit to say my Dad was shot down over Germany in 1944. Thank God his chute worked

bluelobster

Gotta love the WWII guys from "the greatest generation".
My dad was a forward observer with the 30th Infantry division. working his way through the hedgerows in France
Needless to say, I'm glad he made it back.

Not too many of those guys left, I miss them...

Barndog

Jules Reiver earned a Bronze Star during The Battle of the Bulge, so this is fitting:

SkyMan

While any coin from the war years qualifies, somehow the steelies and the silver nickels seem most appropriate. I also like coins that are 1944 D as they make me think of D Day in 1944. So, with that background...





And thinking of P-47's, here's a group of guys that really knew how to get the best out of them...

bluelobster

Speaking of those P-47s and tank killers, I guess they were built like a tank, My dad told me he had seen some that were shot to pieces and still got home.
He also mentioned that when he was landing in Normandy, he saw couple of the German Messerschmidt jets, and they were faster they anything the allies had.......

Faster than anything, except a P-47 in a dive.

LindeDad

Dad was there. Did not see him until I was a toddler.

I was born earlier in the year.

keyman64

BryceM

During the 1990s I lived in Belgium and in the Alsasce-Lorraine for several months. My wife and I try to make it back every few years. The Ardennes today is a beautiful, peaceful area. It's hard to imagine it as a major battlefield. There are several WWII museums & monuments in the area. One of my favorite stops is at the American Cemetery near St. Avold, France where many of our boys are buried who died during the advance to the Siegfried Line. While not as famous as the Normandy Cemetery or the one where General Patton is buried in Luxembourg, it's actually the largest US WWII cemetery in Europe.

If you've never seen a US Military Cemetery overseas, you really should try to make the effort. The grounds and markers are immaculately kept. It's a real source of pride, especially when compared to the scattered British and German cemeteries.

Despite all of this, the mint was making still cranking out some pretty nice material:

crazyhounddog

TwoSides2aCoin

My dad (RIP: 1921-1999) was in WW II, in Italy and Northern Africa. 1942-1945.

LotsoLuck

dadams

Cocoinut

The Battle of the Bulge lasted until late January 1945. Here are the 2 coins designed by Adolph A. Weinman that circulated at the time.

kaz

Time to re read "Citizen Soldiers" by Stephen Ambrose, and look at the appropriate episodes of "Band of Brothers"

It's hard to imagine what those conditions were like.

I still think the best one-worder is Gen McCauliffe's response to the German demands to surrender Bastogne: "Nuts"

My dad was a Staff Sgt in a hospital in England at the time (he was 34 and and "old man" by WWII standards). he had memories of tankers horribly burned when their lightly armored Shermans were lit up by the Panzers. A terrible time that brought out the best in people.

MrHalfDime

"Jules Reiver earned a Bronze Star during The Battle of the Bulge"

This is true, but the story doesn't end there. Jules Reiver was a very modest man, and like so many of our heroic veterans, he never boasted about, and rarely even talked about, his WWII experiences. But over the period of years that I knew Jules I came to learn of his considerable contribution to the Allied effort during the Battle of the Bulge. Rather than recount the story here, let me just say this. There have been several movies made over the years about the Battle of the Bulge, but perhaps the best known starred Henry Fonda. The next time you have an opportunity to watch that movie, be sure to pay close attention to the closing credits, where it states "Henry Fonda played the part of Jules Reiver". It was an honor just to know this man.