Battle of the Bulge Burials in Gettysburg National Cemetery

Our men responded gallantly. These were the times when the grand strategy and the high hopes of high command became a soldiers’ war, sheer courage, and the instinct for survival.

Dwight Eisenhower wrote these words years after the conclusion of World War II, describing one of the toughest challenges of his military career: the Battle of the Bulge. In December 1944, with Allied forces on the verge of breaking into Germany, Hitler launched his desperate attempt to reverse the tide of the war in Western Europe. On the morning of December 16, tens of thousands of German soldiers poured into American lines, beginning what became the bloodiest battle for American forces in all of World War II. In the entirety of the war, one out of every ten American casualties fell during the Battle of the Bulge in the winter of 1944-1945, amounting to over 100,000 Americans killed, wounded, or missing. While the dead were initially interred overseas, many were brought home after the war at the request of their family members. Some of them were interred right here in the Gettysburg National Cemetery.

The son of Polish immigrants, Henry Wardenski was living in Philadelphia with his wife, Eleanor, when he joined the United States army in 1943. In 1939, when the war broke out in Europe, Henry’s mother and sister were killed in Poland, where they had been visiting family. Accordingly, when Henry was inducted into service, he joined the paratroopers so he could see plenty of action on the front lines. He was a part of the 508th Parachute Infantry Regiment, 82nd Airborne Division. When the German breakout attack began in December 1944, the 82nd was one of the American divisions thrown into the fray to stop the enemy advance. After several days of heavy fighting, the 508th PIR was at the town of Vielsalm, taking German artillery fire on Christmas Eve, 1944. It was there that Henry Wardenski was killed in action.

Wardenski was not the only member of the 82nd Airborne killed during the Bulge and later brought back to Gettysburg. Also in the division’s ranks were Lt. Henry Coustillac, the son of French immigrants, killed on January 7, 1945, and Corporal Glenn Kaufman, from Elderton, PA, killed on Christmas Eve, 1944. Both Coustillac and Kaufman were in anti-aircraft artillery batteries attached to the 82nd.

Lewis Flanigan was a medic, attached to the 30th Infantry Division during the fighting in the Bulge. He and his wife, Cathryn, lived in Lock Haven, PA, where Lewis worked as a pipe fitter before the war. After training in the U.S., Lewis went overseas and took part in the Normandy Invasion and the subsequent breakout into France. In August 1944 he was wounded near Mortain and awarded the Bronze Star and French Croix de Guerre. During the Bulge, the 30th Infantry Division played a key role in blunting the German advance, suffering heavy losses. On Christmas Day, 1944, Lewis was killed by German artillery fire while helping wounded American soldiers. His wife Cathryn never remarried. PFC Albert McDeavitt, also of the 30th ID, was killed on the same day, and is also buried here in Gettysburg.

Among the more infamous incidents of the Battle of the Bulge, the Malmedy Massacre took place on December 17, 1944. On what was the second day of the battle, a column of SS panzers came across the American 285th Field Artillery Observation Battalion near the town of Malmedy in Belgium. During an initial firefight, 28-year-old PFC Frederick Clark was killed in action while attempting to surrender. Clark was one of nine children, and his father worked as a coal miner near Pittsburgh. Once the other Americans had surrendered, the Germans rounded up their weapons and opened fire, murdering 84 defenseless soldiers. As word of the massacre spread, it fueled the vicious fighting on both sides during the rest of the battle.

Logero was killed in action 2 days before Christmas 1944, in the skies over Luxembourg.

NPS Photo

These are but a few stories of those who were killed in the Battle of the Bulge and are now buried here in Gettysburg. We know of at least thirty of these Battle of the Bulge casualties in Gettysburg, and we are learning more about them every day. Their sacrifices in the winter of 1944-1945 thwarted Germany’s last attempt to stave off defeat in Western Europe. Eisenhower would write of these soldiers years later, “I believe we can always rely, even as I had to in the Battle of the Bulge and the concurrent winter fighting from the North Sea to the Italian Alps, on the willingness and readiness of Americans, including young ones, to endure greatly in their country’s cause.”

Battle of the Bulge Burials in the Gettysburg National Cemetery, with Grave Locations

Those names below with video profiles in our WWII Burials in the Gettysburg National Cemetery video series have links to learn more about their story.

• Edward R. Bieski, PFC, Co. C, 253^rd Infantry, 63^rd Division, Section 2, Row 6, Grave 34

• John W. Black, Private, 18^th Infantry, 1^st Division, Section 2, Row 7, Grave 1

• Floyd Burge, Corporal, Co. A, 628^th Tank Destroyer Bn, 5^th Armored Division, Section 2, Row 1, Grave 39

• Amedeo Caruso, Private, Company F, 333rd Infantry, 84th Division, Section 2, Row 1, Grave 36

• Frederick Clark, PFC, Battery B, 285th Field Artillery Observation Battalion, Section 2, Row 2, Grave 54

• Melvin Cole, Private, 517^th Regimental Combat Team, Section 2

• Henry Coustillac, Lieutenant, Battery D, 80th Anti-Aircraft Battalion, 82nd Airborne Division, Section 1, Row 4, Grave 13

• John Davidson, Tec/5, 14th Cavalry, Section 1, Row 2, Grave 1

• Charles Earhart, Tec/5, 14th Cavalry, Section 3, Row 1, Grave 33

• Lewis Flanigan, Tec/5, Combat Medic, 30th Infantry Division, Section 2, Row 1, Grave 39

• Russel H. Fritsch, SSgt., Signal Corps, Co E., 393^rd Infantry, Section 2, Row 2, Grave 40

• James Richard Gray, Private, Co. G, 329^th Regiment, 83^rd Division, Section 3, Row 2, Grave 26

• Glenn Kaufman, Corporal, 80th Airborne Anti Aircraft Battalion, Battery B, 82nd Airborne, Section 1, Row 3, Grave 11

• John B. Kish, Private, 345^th Infantry, 87^th Division, Section 2, Row 3, Grave 42

• Henry Kovaleski, Private, 289th Regiment, 75th Division, KIA Dec 25, 1944, Section 1, Row 3, Grave 10

• James Logero, Tech Sgt., 559th Bomb Squadron, 387th Bomb Group, Section 2, Row 4, Grave 36

• Edward Materewicz, Sgt., 790^th Bomb Squadron, 467^th Bomb Group, Section 2, Row 3, Grave 55.

• Andrew A. Matsko, Private, Battery F, 80^th Anti-Aircraft Battalion, 82^nd Airborne.

• Henry Maul, PFC, 30th Infantry Division, Section 3, Row 1, Grave 31

• Albert McDeavitt, PFC, 120th Regiment, 30th Division, Section 1, Row 1, Grave 1

• Nicholas Negra, PFC, 90th Recon Squadron, 10th Armored Division, Section 3, Row 7, Grave 26

• William C. Olson, Tec/4, 7th Armored Division, Section 1, Row 3, Grave 12

• Raymond Pisiecki, Tec/5, Coastal Artillery Corps, January 3, 1945, Section 3, Row 2, Grave 24

• Lloyd E. Rauch, PFC, 289^th Infantry, 75^th Division, Section 2, Row 1, Grave 42

• William B. Sherlock, Corporal, Field Artillery, Section 2, Row 2, Grave 45

• Robert O. Stitzer, Private, 23^rd Infantry, 2^nd Division, Section 3, Row 6, Grave 17

• Sigfried Szymanski, Sgt., 23^rd Infantry, 2^nd Division, Section 2, Row 1, Grave 51

• Earl G. Swope, Jr., SSgt., Company C, 393^rd Infantry Regiment, 99^th Infantry Division, Section 3, Row 5, Grave 16.

• Henry Wardenski, Private, HQ Company, 508th PIR, 82nd Airborne, Section 3, Row 2, Grave 15

• William Weekley, Lieutenant, 289^th Infantry, 75^th Division, Section 3, Row 2, Grave 31

• George T. “Pete” Yankura, PFC, Co. B, 16^th Infantry, 78^th Division, Section 2, Row 2, Grave 10