Medal making its way home
Belgian diplomat to present honor to S.C. vet
DAVID PERLMUTT
Staff Writer
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Charlie Hawkins wants his two grandchildren to know what "Granddaddy" did in World War II and has begun assembling his medals and ribbons that tell part of the story.
Recently, he read that his unit, the Army's 99th Reconnaissance Troop, had received one of Belgium's most prestigious awards, a gold rope called a Fourragere, for its part in repelling Hitler's final charge in the critical Battle of the Bulge.
Hawkins never got one.
He was in a hospital bed, recuperating from wounds he'd received on Jan. 6, 1945.
So Hawkins called the Belgian Embassy in Washington, gave its military section his military serial number (13120661) and asked that if he were deserving of a Fourragere, too, he be mailed one.
Last week, Hawkins was informed that he is deserving of the medal that can be granted only by the king of Belgium.
But he won't be getting one by mail.
Instead, on Thursday, Belgian defense attache Gen. Dany Van de Ven is hand delivering a Fourragere to Hawkins' Lake Wylie, S.C., house on his way to Charleston.
"I almost dropped over," said Hawkins, 80. "I never thought about deserving something, but this is a medal that is awarded to the unit.
"This is unreal; something I'm really looking forward to."
Van de Ven, 52, feels so strongly about the Americans' part in freeing Belgium of Nazi tyranny he has traveled the country delivering medals to other veterans and taking part in dedication ceremonies of monuments to the battle. He's also helping organize a trip for U.S. Bulge veterans to Belgium for the battle's 60th anniversary.
"The general believes that if he can do something to show our appreciation to the Americans who came over and helped us, he will do it," said Christiane D'Haese, in charge of veterans affairs at the embassy. "Recently I had a call from someone in Alaska who said he needed a medal for someone who had just died, and the general said, `If I have to go to the store and buy it, I will do that.'
"That's how appreciative we are of you Americans."
The 99th arrived in England in October 1944, and stormed into the French port of Le Havre on Nov. 3, then fought its way into Belgium.
Hawkins, raised in Richmond, Va., was just 19 on Christmas Eve 1944 when he was wounded -- from shrapnel -- the first time atop a ridge his unit held near the Belgian city of Elsenborn.
That was eight days after the Bulge began on Dec. 16, when 29 German divisions (600,000 troops) stampeded across the Allied front through Luxembourg and into Belgium. A half-million Americans and 55,000 British were thrown at the assault. One by one, they recaptured towns and cities overrun by Germans.
The toll more than a month later: 81,000 Americans and 100,000 Germans killed, wounded or missing. Hitler's army was in shambles.
Hawkins' troop was charged with scouting the enemy, and slipping back to inform superiors of numbers, positions, ammunition depots and weaponry.
"Once you found the enemy, you were infantry," he said.
His unit held a northern section of the Bulge from the village of Malmedy to Elsenborn, near the German border.
Hawkins' recuperation was short, but six days into 1945 a German hand grenade landed near his right foot. Shrapnel hit him behind his right ear, in the back of his right leg, in the chest and left forearm.
He spent 14 months in hospitals getting his life back.
"War is not for old folks," he said. "At 19, I didn't think the Germans could hit me. War is for young people, who aren't married and don't have children and willing to give their life.
"... No one ever gives up their life willingly. Life is taken from them. As a general rule, we were all scared. But that didn't stop you from what you were told to do."
As a girl, D'Haese's playground was a German bunker. For years, a live German bomb was planted next to her home. Her school was a series of cabins, her real school destroyed.
"We just didn't have anything," she said. "That is why whatever we can do for these Americans who fought to liberate Belgium, we will. They are very dear to us."
Belgian diplomat to present honor to S.C. vet
DAVID PERLMUTT
Staff Writer
<!-- begin body-content -->
Charlie Hawkins wants his two grandchildren to know what "Granddaddy" did in World War II and has begun assembling his medals and ribbons that tell part of the story.
Recently, he read that his unit, the Army's 99th Reconnaissance Troop, had received one of Belgium's most prestigious awards, a gold rope called a Fourragere, for its part in repelling Hitler's final charge in the critical Battle of the Bulge.
Hawkins never got one.
He was in a hospital bed, recuperating from wounds he'd received on Jan. 6, 1945.
So Hawkins called the Belgian Embassy in Washington, gave its military section his military serial number (13120661) and asked that if he were deserving of a Fourragere, too, he be mailed one.
Last week, Hawkins was informed that he is deserving of the medal that can be granted only by the king of Belgium.
But he won't be getting one by mail.
Instead, on Thursday, Belgian defense attache Gen. Dany Van de Ven is hand delivering a Fourragere to Hawkins' Lake Wylie, S.C., house on his way to Charleston.
"I almost dropped over," said Hawkins, 80. "I never thought about deserving something, but this is a medal that is awarded to the unit.
"This is unreal; something I'm really looking forward to."
Van de Ven, 52, feels so strongly about the Americans' part in freeing Belgium of Nazi tyranny he has traveled the country delivering medals to other veterans and taking part in dedication ceremonies of monuments to the battle. He's also helping organize a trip for U.S. Bulge veterans to Belgium for the battle's 60th anniversary.
"The general believes that if he can do something to show our appreciation to the Americans who came over and helped us, he will do it," said Christiane D'Haese, in charge of veterans affairs at the embassy. "Recently I had a call from someone in Alaska who said he needed a medal for someone who had just died, and the general said, `If I have to go to the store and buy it, I will do that.'
"That's how appreciative we are of you Americans."
The 99th arrived in England in October 1944, and stormed into the French port of Le Havre on Nov. 3, then fought its way into Belgium.
Hawkins, raised in Richmond, Va., was just 19 on Christmas Eve 1944 when he was wounded -- from shrapnel -- the first time atop a ridge his unit held near the Belgian city of Elsenborn.
That was eight days after the Bulge began on Dec. 16, when 29 German divisions (600,000 troops) stampeded across the Allied front through Luxembourg and into Belgium. A half-million Americans and 55,000 British were thrown at the assault. One by one, they recaptured towns and cities overrun by Germans.
The toll more than a month later: 81,000 Americans and 100,000 Germans killed, wounded or missing. Hitler's army was in shambles.
Hawkins' troop was charged with scouting the enemy, and slipping back to inform superiors of numbers, positions, ammunition depots and weaponry.
"Once you found the enemy, you were infantry," he said.
His unit held a northern section of the Bulge from the village of Malmedy to Elsenborn, near the German border.
Hawkins' recuperation was short, but six days into 1945 a German hand grenade landed near his right foot. Shrapnel hit him behind his right ear, in the back of his right leg, in the chest and left forearm.
He spent 14 months in hospitals getting his life back.
"War is not for old folks," he said. "At 19, I didn't think the Germans could hit me. War is for young people, who aren't married and don't have children and willing to give their life.
"... No one ever gives up their life willingly. Life is taken from them. As a general rule, we were all scared. But that didn't stop you from what you were told to do."
As a girl, D'Haese's playground was a German bunker. For years, a live German bomb was planted next to her home. Her school was a series of cabins, her real school destroyed.
"We just didn't have anything," she said. "That is why whatever we can do for these Americans who fought to liberate Belgium, we will. They are very dear to us."