I married his daughter in 1974 and he talked a little to me but not much. When my son was a senior in high school he had to do a paper and decided to write about the 99th and the Battle of the Bulge. My son had accompanied my father-in-law to a couple of 99th reunions and just loved the guys that were his grandpa's buddies.

     Melvin had not received three Bronze Stars that were on his discharge paper and tried to get them for his three grandsons. The paperwork was lost in a fire so he was unable to receive those medals.

     Melvin died in August 2000, and after his death a pastor friend of ours told us that Dad had relayed a story to him, as a fellow infantryman, about being there at the massacre at Malmedy. He told this pastor that he buried himself in dense briars/hedge row in order to survive.

     When the family was going through his personal belongings we found some letters that were sent to Mom that told of something terrible but no one from the family ever heard him say a thing about the incident. Of course, it was not uncommon for Dad not to talk about the war because he had nightmares.

     Were there survivors of the massacre at Malmedy? Does anyone remember Melvin Bane? I believe he was in 393rd and he talked about delivering mail during the war. I understand that many men came home from the war, went on with life, and never said a thing about that time in their lives.

Ken Buchanan