”The Greatest of the Greatest Generation"

The 508^th PIR’s Company A with Hq1 light machinegun sections and 81m mortar observers manned the corridor portal - overlooking the Salm River Bridge at Vielsalm.  In the next hours hundreds of men and countless vehicles (trucks, tanks, towed artillery) from the badly mauled divisions moved through the corridor.

One of the largest groups to transit the 508^th PIR corridor to safety was Task Force Jones, more than 400 7^th armored Division men with equipment.

By late afternoon December 24, as the division engineers and 508^th PIR men had destroyed most of the bridges over the Salm River, no large-scale attacks had developed in the regimental area.  Nevertheless, many artillery supported skirmishes occurred as the Germans tried frantically to find ways to ford the ice-cold river.

 Kenneth "Rock" Merritt recalls. "I was the Hq1 Light Machine Gun Platoon Sergeant.  On December 24, Lt. Epps, the Assistant Platoon Leader, and I were visiting our machinegun positions overlooking the Salm River Bridge at Vielsalm.  When an America P-51 fighter dropped a bomb on our position.  Lt. Epps was buried.  We thought he was dead but dug him out and had him evacuated.  Epps survived."

Concurrently, on December 24, two Hq1 81mm Mortar Platoon  observers, Lt. E. McNerney and Lt. W. Young were wounded and evacuated. The 81mm mortar section leaders, S/Sgt. W. Goudy and S/Sgt  G. Sommerville replaced the lieutenants.  These noncoms served admirably as forward observers throughout the Battle of the Bulge, until late in February when they were severely wounded and evacuated – which unfortunately ended their careers in the 508^th PIR and in the U.S. Army.

During late afternoon that busy Christmas Eve, the 508^th PIR received orders to break contact with the Germans and withdraw from its present positions - intelligence estimates predicted an imminent large scale Ger man attack against the 82^nd Airborne Division area.  Therefore, it was prudent to straighten out the line in order to repulse the threatened attack.

The withdrawal order was a shock to everyone.  The 82^nd Airborne Division always prided itself on its record "no ground gained ever relinquished," was moving back!  However, the division and especially the 508^th PIR were in a precarious position.

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