Former World War II U.S. Army battalion Cpl Harold Billow still can't believe how lucky he is after all these years.
In addition to being 92, Billow is one of two remaining vets alive who can still recall his surviving the notorious Malmedy Massacre in Belgium -- the result of about 130 American soldiers cutoff by a German offensive which forced them to surrender.
This massacre by the Germans during the infamous Battle of the Bulge was a Nazi war crime where 87 trapped American prisoners of war were shot in cold blood on December 17, 1944, at the Baugnez crossroads just outside of Malmedy on their way to St. Vith, Belgium.
Billow of Mount Joy, Lancaster County, spoke before a crowd of nearly 200 veterans and their wives during a monthly meeting of the Lehigh Valley Veterans History Project held at the Center for Lehigh Valley Active Life on Elm Street in Allentown.
Dressed in his vintage uniform and just over five feet tall with a slim build, Billow said, "It felt like days, even weeks" lying in the snowy ground face-down as the Germans fired machine guns positioned atop tanks at the mass of American soldiers standing before them.
He also noted how the Nazi SS soldiers sifted through the slain bodies looking for any signs of life and how he had to stifle his breath to remain undetected and continue "playing dead." He said if he had moved in the slightest he would have been detected instantly and shot in the head.
Billow said the Germans stated there was no time for them to take any prisoners; therefore the captured Americans were to be killed.
He pointed out when a number of prisoners fled the gunfire and hid in a nearby café, the SS doused the building with gas, set it on fire, and shot anyone fleeing the scene on foot.
He said he eventually was picked up by another American battalion nearby before he could be recaptured by the Germans.
Billows said he hoped to survive the ordeal in the hopes of testifying about the atrocity. He added although he himself never appeared at the Nuremburg war crimes trials, he knew of several fellow survivors who managed to testify against the Nazis.
At the end of the war in Europe, Billows said he left for England where he married his wife Vera before returning to the U.S. to work for Tyco in Reading.
For every national holiday celebrated, Billows said he decorates the front yard of his Mount Joy home with 87 flags to commemorate the men who perished in Malmedy at the hands of the Nazis.
U.S. Congressman Charlie Dent (R-PA 15th District) presented Billow with a special citation in recognition for his bravery and service to nation.
Local students such as Salisbury High School student Catherine Kenyon said Billow's speech is recorded on digital video disc (DVD) and transcribed by students such as herself as part of their senior history project.
She said the students' efforts are forwarded to the Library of Congress where they become part of the National Veterans History Project archives.
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