Local Veterans Recall Pearl Harbor

Some of the World War II veterans in Henderson County were still teens when they heard of Pearl Harbor, others had already volunteered for duty, and others making their way through college. Paul Roberts was in college at UT- Martin when he heard the news about Pearl Harbor. Roberts came home for the weekend with “all the boys twenty years or older getting their calls from the Army. Dad laughed and told me ‘Don’t worry, yours is here too!”  He was just past twenty when he entered service December 24th, 1942, with the 84th Infantry Division. Roberts recalls another December, the one in 1944. The Battle of the Bulge began December 16th when a German offensive of some 450,000 men poured into Belgium and Luxembourg over the next few weeks. The temperature was recorded at 14 degrees above zero the day of the attack, and remained one of the most brutal and harsh winters in European history. “My feet froze…I nearly froze to…

For complete coverage, see the 12-14-16 edition of The Lexington Progress.

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