JIM FRIDAS

MASSACRE AT MALMEDY                            article by:  James Thomas Fridas


One of my favorite news casters was the late great Paul Harvey, he would always start a sentence about a subject then inject,  "And now for the rest of the story"!  Well during WWII there were millions of untold stories that may never be told, god knows though and that is what counts!
During the start of WWII for America the California National Guard was called up the same day and Master Sergeant George Malekos living on Arguello Street in San Francisco was on a military vehicle the next morning December 8, 1941 for Camp San Luis Obispo in Southern California, from there it was on to North Africa and the entire route to Berlin.


It was a time when the world went crazy, the Nazi's and the Japanese Empire and the Mad man Mussolini declared war on a civilized world, the Army landed in North Africa, Sicily, Italy, France at the D-Day landing all the way to the battle of the Bulge.


For many the war was an act of history and they do not even know why it was fought, but it was because of mad men who wanted to rule the world.


At the Ardenne  in France the Americans were surprise on December 16 1944 when the Nazi's sprung a winter offensive and caught hundreds of men and massacred them on the road to Aragone the Nazi's surrounded a group of Americans and the Lieutenant surrendered them even though the men wanted to continue fighting.


So they marched them up to another group of Americans that were being marched up the hill as the two units came together Master Sergeant George Malekos told the men when he gave the word to break and run, pass it on.


When they got to the top of the hill the Nazi's brought large trucks up to the point were the men were and when they dropped the rear steel doors they made a thud and the guards turned their heads just then Master Sergeant George Malekos yelled NOW!  So the men broke and ran as fast as they could, as they did the Nazi's started shooting them and yelling Americanish come back, come back my ass came the response and they killed around 80 men while around 70 made it back to American lines and the story has been told about the Malmedy Massacre and told perhaps a hundred different ways, this then is how I heard it and there it is for all the world to read.