Here's another version of the story. Many do not emphasize that the
woman betrayer was a friend and visitor at the Langer's house the night
she told the SS where the 11 were hiding
Wereth 11
The 11, from the 333rd Field Artillery Battalion, were tortured and shot after
surrendering to Nazi SS troopers in Wereth.
Their bodies lay for two months at the edge of a pasture, covered by the snow
of a hard winter. Details of their story were provided by Willi and Adda Rikken,
Belgians who lived through the German occupation of their country and learned
of the atrocity from villagers who witnessed it.
Overrun in Battle of the Bulge
The men were providing artillery support for American forces during early stages
of the Battle of the Bulge. By the morning of Dec. 17, 1944, their position was overrun.
Betrayed in Wereth
The 11 sought refuge in Wereth, a small village in the Ardennes. The family of Mathius
Langer befriended them. A German sympathizer woman friend of the Langer family
who had been at the Langer house betrayed the men to the SS
The GIs had only two rifles among them, so they had to surrender. They were forced
to sit in the frigid road from 3 p.m. until dark. Then they were marched to the edge
of a pasture. Villagers heard gunshots. The next day, they saw the bodies lying in
a ditch. Fearful of the Germans, they didn’t touch the victims. In February 1945,
villagers led a U.S. Army grave-registration unit to the site.
The Rikkens Meet the Lichtenfelds
Norman S. Lichtenfeld, M.D., of Mobile, Alabama, and his father went to Belgium
in 1994 for the 50th anniversary of the Battle of the Bulge. The elder Lichtenfeld
had been captured in the battle. The Rikkens often led Americans on tours of World
War II sites. They showed the Lichtenfelds the site of the massacre, marked by a
simple monument.
Dr. Lichtenfeld returned to the United States to spearhead a drive to raise funds
for a more elaborate monument.
A Marble Monument
Today, the site is marked by a marble gravestone with a panel that describes in
four languages – English, French, Dutch and Flemish – what happened there.
Each year around Memorial Day, a service is held in honor of the Wereth 11.
Names of the Wereth 11
The Germans who executed the Wereth 11 were never identified. The hometowns
of the 11 victims have not all been determined, but their names are engraved
on the gravestone:
Technical Sergeant William Edward Pritchett of Alabama .
Technical Sergeant James A. Stewart of West Virginia.
Staff Sergeant Thomas J. Forte .
Corporal Mager Bradley of Mississippi.
Private First Class George Davis of Alabama.
Private First Class James Leatherwood .
Private First Class George W. Morten.
Private First Class Due W. Turner of Arkansas.
Private Curtis Adams of South Carolina .
Private Robert Green.
Private Nathanial Moss.
Belgian Gratitude
Most Belgians resented the conquering Germans but welcomed the American
liberators, said Adda Ricken during a visit to America. Every household wanted
to have at least one American soldier as a guest, she said.
But they couldn’t understand why white soldiers couldn't accept their hospitality
in the presence of black soldiers.
"White mama cries, black mama cries," said Adda.
At Wereth, their tears mingle in remembrance.
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