Souvenir brass plaques, made by the people of the town of Bastogne, Belgium in honor of General Anthony "Nuts" McAuliffe's reply to the Nazi surrender demand on Dec. 22, 1944 during the Battle of the Bulge. These plaques - made of melted-down artillery brass casings - were given to the men of the 101st Airborne Division. / Courtesy Robert Bosacki
Robert Bosacki
Age: 85
Born: Nov. 23, 1924
Hometown: Los Angeles
Residence: Palm Desert
Military branch: U.S. Army; 101st Airborne Division; 502nd Parachute Infantry Regiment; 2nd Battalion; D Company
Years served: February, 1943 - April, 1946.
Rank: Sergeant
Family: Wife Joy; four children, Brad Bosacki of Leucadia, Jeffry Bosacki of Palm Springs, Nanette McGrath of Carlsbad and Doreen Lundahl of San Ramon; 11 grandchildren; four great-grandchildren
About this series
Staff writer Denise Goolsby will profile desert veterans from World War II through the end of 2010 — the 65th anniversary of the end of the war. Contact her at (760) 778-4587 or via e-mail at denise.goolsby@thedesertsun.com
Coming tomorrow
U.S. Army Air Corps veteran Andy Korosi of Desert Hot Springs.
LEARN MORE: Read about other Coachella Valley residents who served in World War II at www.mydesert.com/WWII
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U.S. Army Sgt. Robert Bosacki, a member of the 101st Airborne Division, arrived in Europe as a replacement for the battered paratroopers battling the Germans across Europe.
Because of the immediate need for men on the front lines, “our first (practice) jump was out of an airplane, not a tower,” he said.
Bosacki was sent overseas and quickly transported to Belgium during the Battle of the Bulge.
But he didn't jump into the fight.
“We came into Bastogne by truck,” he said. “The weather was so bad the airplanes couldn't get through.”
Arriving on Dec. 18, 1944, Bosacki's squad made it through to Bastogne shortly before the enemy encircled the Belgian town. The last troops attempting to enter the town suffered the biggest losses.
“They wiped out all of our medics,” he said.
Moving along the Rhine River in Longchamps, Belgium, Bosacki's squad got pummeled by artillery blasts nearly every day.
“We lost quite a few guys that first morning,” he said.
The morning barrage killed the two men in charge of the squad, and Bosacki was thrust into the role of squad leader.
Walking in snow — sometimes knee-deep — the rookie GI — who would soon be promoted to sergeant — led his squad through enemy territory.
“I didn't know what combat was,” he said.
Bosacki carried the mortar on his shoulder as the squad slogged through the snow and into the teeth of the enemy.
“We came up to a barbed-wire fence, he said. “My parachute got hung up halfway over. The machine gun bullets were coming at me. I could see them hitting the snow.”
The surrounded troops were freed by General George Patton's Third Army.
A couple of months following the end of the war in Europe on May 8, 1945, while the troops were still in France — kicking back and relaxing for the most part — Bosacki said the men were ordered to don their uniforms and get into formation.
After the men were assembled, a car pulled up nearby.
“Lo and behold, General (Dwight) Eisenhower got out,” he said.
The general's aide was carrying souvenir brass plaques, made by the people of the town of Bastogne in honor of General Anthony “Nuts” McAuliffe's refusal to surrender to the Nazis on Dec. 22, 1944 when the 101st was surrounded by the German Army at Bastogne.
The 101st held out long enough for Patton's Third Army to break through the line, forcing the German retreat.
These plaques, made of melted-down artillery brass casings, were given to the men of the 101st Airborne Division.
“Eisenhower himself came and handed every one of us this brass plaque,” he said. “He was just the nicest, gentlest man.”
“Eisenhower saluted, took a plaque from his aide, presented it to me and said, ‘Congratulations, sergeant,' and moved on to the next man. It was an experience.”
Not long after Eisenhower's appearance, Bosacki participated in the GI Olympics before heading back to the States.
Bosacki, an accomplished high-jumper, traveled around to track meets in France.
The athletes had been warned not to drink water out of the village fountains, but at one point Bosacki did.
More than 200 boils popped up all over his body.
“I was still jumping when somebody said, ‘Boy, your legs look terrible,'” he said.
The doctor took one look at Bosacki and put him in the hospital — where he stayed for the next month.
“He said, ‘Sergeant, let's try this new medicine,'” Bosacki said. “He cut it open, took the junk out, took a needle and jammed it full of penicillin.”
Returning to France after his recovery, Bosacki found that his division had moved during his absence and was back home, celebrating in New York.
Bosacki, meanwhile, couldn't locate his military records that had been left with the division.
“I had no papers on me,” he said. “I had to find me before I could come home.'”
“I had the most lonely Christmas in a tent all by myself in an empty camp,” Bosacki said, lamenting the winter of 1945.
He was eventually assigned to a POW holding camp in a little village of France, where an officer came to the rescue.
“He said, ‘Get all your stuff, we're going to create you,'” Bosacki said.
Bosacki's information and records were reproduced on blank service record paper — his ticket back to the States.
“I was probably looking for myself for five to six months that was the worst part of the whole damn war,” he said. “I had a bad feeling I was going to be stuck in Europe my whole life.
