The American St. Nicholas

The Victory Girls have a blog post up about the modern origin of St. Nick in Germany.

In 1944, the 28th Infantry Division, 112th Regiment of the Pennsylvania National Guard had taken casualties and were exhausted from the Battle of Huertgen Forest on the Western Front in Germany. The GIs were sent to Wiltz, Luxembourg for rest and recuperation. There the story of the American Saint Nicholas played out.

Go read it all.  What caught my eye is the unit.  My Great-Uncle, whom I just recently learned about this year, was assigned to the 28th Infantry Division, 112th Infantry Regiment.  He died a little less than two months prior to the unit being sent to Luxembourg.

They were suffering the privations of war, missing the comforts of home, and in foreign countries. Their loneliness and fear had to be overwhelming. Yet, the GI’s of the 112th Regiment, PNG gave what they had to let children have a Christmas for the first time in years. 

The story of the GIs and the American Saint Nicholas is a story that every one of us should know and treasure.

This is what American troops do.  This is who we truly are.