This blog is intended to provide an account of the combat actions of second battaltion of the 501st Parachute Infantry Regiment (2/501) of the 101st Airborne Division during the Bastogne Campaigne during the Battle of the Bulge.

This account is in no way complete, but is the result of research I understook over the course of several years beginning in 2001 and is on going.

My uncle, Peter H. Broome, was a member of Easy Company, 501st Parachute Infantry Regiment of the 101st Airborne Division and saw his first combat as a replacement in that company during the fight for Bastogne, Belgium. As with many people who had relatives in World War Two, or any war, I had heard as a child from my mother an apocryphal story about his time at Bastogne that intrigued me all of my life. This story, one sentence long, was that he had nothing to eat but applesauce while at Bastogne. Over the years a few more bits came to me about Bastogne, but it was the applesauce story that I needed to have verified and explained. It was not until 1992, twenty-seven years after I first heard the applesauce story, that I found myself in a position to ask him about the war. I believe he was waiting for someone to ask, for he replied, "Oh, sure!" What came next as he talked without pause for nearly two hours astounded me, for I had no idea the extent of what he experienced. There was much more than mere applesauce. It was at this time that I first heard of the place called Bizory, a name he and his fellow paratrooper would soon call "Misery".

An enigma, a great mystery began to grow in my mind. Where was Bizory? What happened? What does the place look like? Most of all, he described an ancient, small chapel, the most prominent landmark within sight. It was the feature of the landscape that allowed him and the other troopers to know where they were. It was a place of refuge for some and a possible deathtrap to others. I had to find out what happened.

There is still very little written about Bizory in any accounting of the 101st at Bastogne and the Battle of the Bulge. If at all, Bizory gets mentioned in a sentence that might read, "Second Battalion took Bizory....." But that could not be all there was to it. I have now come to know that an entire book cold be written to describe what some books leave with a single sentence.

So, what happened? I began to read all I could get my hands on. better yet, I had to go there and see this place for myself. This I did, with my cousin, in March 2001. This trip, culminating in a walk into the cold, Belgian countryside, not knowing exactly where we were going or what we would find, much as he was doing when he first went there with 2/501, would change both my cousin's and my life, enriching our understanding and appreciation for my Uncle, and also all of the men who fought and died in the Second World War, especially in the Battle of the Bulge.

My research has allowed me to meet the veterans, the fine men who were there and kind to share with me their experiences.

To be continued.