‘Battle of Bulge’ Marker
To Be Dedicated May 12
By Sandy Vondrasek Cooch

Gordon Pettingell of Brookfield is hoping for a big turnout for the May 12 dedication of a new memorial honoring Battle of the Bulge veterans, at the Vermont Veterans Memorial Cemetery in Randolph Center. Everyone is invited to the 2 p.m. event, and Pettingell is hoping for a large contingent of veterans, including some of his World War II peers.

A member of national and regional Battle of the Bulge veteran organizations, as well as the Randolph VFW, Pettingell noted that next week’s dedication comes just one year after the dedication of a handsome monument, also honoring Bulge veterans, at Arlington National Cemetery.

The national monument was funded by the governments of Belgium and Luxembourg in gratitude for the soldiers who served and died in the fierce battle, fought in heavily forested Ardennes region of eastern Belgium and northern Luxembourg.

Launched by the Nazis on Dec. 16, 1944, the battle was the Germans’ attempt to break the thinly spread U.S. line of defense, and to trap Allied Forces in Belgium and Luxembourg. With Allied reinforcements, however, the Nazi assault was rebuffed, and the Germans suffered a terrible loss of men, tanks, and planes over the six-week battle.

The brutal campaign, which concluded Jan. 25, 1945, involved more than one million soldiers, Allied and German. U.S deaths totaled more than 19,000, making this the largest, bloodiest land battle ever fought by U.S. soldiers.

Pettingell, a member of the 101st Infantry, 26th "Yankee" Division, fought in the final two weeks of the battle. One of the casualties, he was evacuated with frostbitten feet and later awarded a Purple Heart.

Last year, Pettingell and other members of the Tri-State Chapter #17 of Battle of the Bulge veterans, voted to contribute $500 towards a monument at the Vermont state veterans’ cemetery in Randolph Center. Members of the VFW in White River Junction contributed the balance needed, after Pettingell delivered a personal appeal.

This week, Pettingell saluted Dennis Aja of North Barre Granite Co., who carved and helped design the monument, and to cemetery supervisor Edward Burkart, for his cooperation. The Vermont memorial, like its more elaborate counterpart in Virginia, is made from Barre granite.

The monument was set in the Randolph Center cemetery November 11, 2006, on the "second circle," just beyond the circle of flags at the cemetery entrance.

The May 12 ceremony will include comments by Daniel Boone of Randolph, state commander for the VFW, and by Edgar Bill, president of the Tri-State Chapter. Other dignitaries will attend, and following the ceremony refreshments will be served at VTC’s Morey Lounge.

In the past year, Pettingell has worked to have the memorial created, set in place, and dedicated in a timely manner.

As he wrote cemetery officials last year, when seeking permission to place the monument: "We, ‘the aging ones,’ feel the need of haste in this matter. If we wait for the planned expansion above the chapel area, many of us will not be around to see its dedication."

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