I would like to relate this account of Manhay, Belgium as told by my father, Staff Sergeant Glenn R. Faus, 2nd Platoon, 238th Combat Engineer Battalion, 1st Army.

Our platoon arrived before dawn on December 24, 1944 after travelling all night from Eschweiler, Germany. We set up company headquarters in the woods outside Manhay. The way in and out of headquarters was marked by tracing tape. At dawn, we began laying mines in a field just outside of town. We worked all day laying the mines. There was so much snow we just buried them under the snow. That night, Christmas Eve, it was cold and clear as a bell. We went to sleep in an abandoned farmhouse alongside the field, as we were under orders to keep an eye on the field. After about an hour, all hell broke loose, and we were told that the German Panzer tanks were in our field. The report from a platoon member was that the Panzers were setting the mines off like "firecrackers", but were not being stopped. We were armed only with rifles and on foot, so we got out of there quick and back to headquarters. The next morning Captain John B. Wong, Co. Commander, reported that 5 Panzers had been disabled in our field with the tracks blown off.

Photo showing the Five German tanks

Many thanks for the photo you sent. I showed it to my father immediately and he is very appreciative. He had never seen the actual tanks after they were disabled, as he and his men withdrew as soon as they knew the tanks were in the field. Lieutenant Robert Latchaw and Captain John Wong were the men who went back to investigate the damage. He said to tell you that the farmhouse in the picture is the one where they were sleeping the night of Christmas Eve, 1944 when the Germans attacked.

My father was awarded the Bronze Star on January 6, 1945 - "for heroic achievement in connection with military operations against an enemy of the United States after his platoon was forced to withdraw from Manhay, despite enemy artillery and small arms fire, he returned to town to insure none of his men had been trapped by the enemy."