Nearly surrounded by the enemy, the Recon Troop soldiers were forced to retreat from the town. In mid-December, however, their bucolic stay in Eschweiler was shattered by the Battle of the Bulge. Quickly the two bonded, sharing a friendship not unlike long-lost brothers. Mauritius, chatting and getting to know the local priest. A devout Catholic, George spent much of his free time in the town's small church, St. Following the horrific fighting in the Huertgen forest, the 28th Cavalry Recon Troop was sent west for R & R, to a small farming village in Luxembourg called Eschweiler.įor the next month the Recon Troop soldiers lived amonst the townspeople, sharing their homes, meals, hopes, and dreams. Insisting on serving as a buck-private, George was assigned to a Recon Troop that would see action after the D-Day invasion in France, Belgium and Luxembourg. Tall, handsome, Ivy League educated, speaking fluent German and French, "Merg" as he was know to his friends, did what many in his generation did following the surprise attack on Pearl Harbor: He enlisted in the Army. George Mergenthaler, the grandson of the inventor of the Linotype, was an only child, and at the time of his birth in 1920, became the sole male heir the family fortune.
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