However, to establish the safety corridor, the 508^th PIR had organized an eight-mile salient extending into the German lines, and the regiment was vulnerable to being cutoff, surrounded and destroyed. 

Hq1 mortar platoon observers and machine gunners were positioned at the tip of the salient, supporting the battalion’s rifle companies. 

On Christmas Eve, the regiment was  ordered to withdraw and join the 82^nd Airborne Division forces deployed on the main battle position.

Throughout that cold, snowy Christmas Eve night, Hq1 men executed a dangerous withdrawal. Impeded by deep snow and cold, and German  patrols, the trudging columns of men moved through the night to the new battle position. 

Near the end of the first week in January 1945, the 508^th PIR launched a counterattack through the Ardennes and the fortified Siegfried Line.

The Hq1 men experienced the perils of winter warfare in the coldest winter Europe had in many years.

The men fought in the bitter cold, through deep snow and hilly terrain. Casualties from the weather were equal to or greater than that those inflicted by the Germans.

Many casualties were in danger of freezing to death before they could be evacuated.  

By March 1945, the 508^th PIR was occupying the west bank of the Roer River. The German “bulge” had  been destroyed and the regiment was relieved from combat. It returned to Sissonne where it occupied a tent camp.

Training commenced immediately including a practice parachute jump. A few weeks later, the regiment was ordered to an airfield outside of Paris, alerted to parachute into prisoner-of-war camps to rescue allied prisoners. 

After several weeks, these dangerous missions were cancelled; the war in Europe had ended. 

The 508^th PIR was selected to be the security force and honor guard for General Eisenhower’s headquarters in Frankfurt, Germany. 

While in Nottingham, England Vernon Tharaldson demonstrated a unique aptitude for boxing, and was immediately drafted into the regimental boxing team, he became a star. The fighters provided many enjoyable hours of entertainment for the troops.  Vernon’s popularity as a boxer in-creased when he fought exhibition rounds with Joe Louis.