On the central square of Bastogne, now called the McAuliffe Square after the commander of the 101st Airborne Division, stands a Sherman tank. I've visited Bastogne quite a lot, and have been standing next to this tank as many times, wondering what this tank has been through, who his crewmembers were, what happened to them. As a matter of coincidence, I got an email from Greg Urda:

"... my father's tank is one of the items (tank) in the Square today next to the sculpture of General McAuliffe.  My father was in
the Battle of the Bulge with the 11th Armored Division, 41st Tank Battalion, Company B.   His tank was knocked out of action the afternoon of December 30, 1944 on a farm near the village, Renuamont.  It is a couple of miles west of Bastogne.  It is on your website map of Bastogne.  My father and Tank Driver, Andrew Urda, and the bow gunner, Ivan Goldstein, were taken prisoner and sent to a concentration camp.  The other 3 crew members Tank Commander, Wallace Alexander,  Gunner, Cecil Peterman, and the Assistant Gunner, Dage Hebert, were badly wounded and left for the medics.   Wallace Alexander never made it back from the war, he was officially listed as FOD, Finding of Death, no remains were ever found.  Hebert and Peterman were eventually picked up by our medics and were never POW's."

Greg is now writing the story of his father's actions in World War 2, as so many of the younger generation are. I believe this is important, so the experiences of the men who fought this war are not forgotten.