Nuts Anyone?

We can use some optimism right now. Retired Lt. Gen. Harry Kinnard, who passed away January 5, is an example. He helped engineer a burst of optimism at a crucial moment during World War II. He suggested that Brig. Gen. Anthony McAuliffe answer a German ultimatum at Bastogne with one word: "Nuts!"

Retired Lt. Gen. Harry Kinnard passed away January 5, 2009 at age 93.

Picture the following:

• It's December 22, 1944. The German Army has shocked everyone with a surprise counter-offensive (the Battle of the Bulge).
• The town of Bastogne, Belgium, sits strategically at the crossroads of several routes, much like Gettysburg of Civil War fame. German military leaders intend to take the town as part of a strategy to push to the coastal port of Antwerp, splitting the Allies in two.
• Gen. Eisenhower orders Bastogne held at all costs. 17,000 U.S. soldiers are positioned in and around the town. One of them is Colonel Harry Kinnard, a 29 year-old decorated paratrooper, member of the 101st Airborne.
• Bastogne is surrounded by 40,000 soldiers of the German Army. It is very cold and snowy and many American soldiers lack winter gear. Foul weather has made it impossible to drop supplies from the air. Ammunition and supplies are precariously low.
• German couriers appear at the U.S. lines under a white flag with a message for the American commander, Gen. McAuliffe. Surrender in two hours or be annihilated.
• "Us surrender? Aw, nuts!" McAuliffe says to his staff which includes Kinnard. He asks for ideas on how to word a response. Kinnard answers, "That first remark of yours would be hard to beat." "What do you mean?" McAuliffe answered. "Sir, you said 'Nuts.'" Other members of McAuliffe's staff approve of Kinnard's idea.
• McAuliffe then writes this: "To the German commander: Nuts! A. C. McAuliffe, American Commander."

Thus was created one of the most inspiring and succinct communications in World War II. The next day the skies cleared permitting air retaliation and parachute drops. On December 26 General Patton's army broke through to Bastogne and the battle ended three weeks later.

What this story tells us today is:

• When "surrounded," i.e., faced with economic hard times, don't despair.
• Maintain a can-do attitude.
• Speak hopefully.
• Find inspiration in the examples of those who lived through much harder times.

For more perspective, that of a soldier in a foxhole during the battle, go to http://kclibrary.lonestar.edu/peniche.html. Eduardo Peniche, retired professor of Spanish at Lone Star College in Texas, provides an excellent account that made me feel I was there. Included are compelling images of things he did, some quite simple. For example:

• Lining the bottom of his foxhole with straw.
• Observing how water was freezing in his canteen.
• Attending church service on Christmas Eve.
• Hearing German prisoners of war singing Silent Night ("Stille Nacht").

Quick Vue: This video provides an overview of the Battle of Bastogne. Lt. Gen. Kinnard appears at 1:40 into the video.


Sources for this post include The New York Post and Leatherneck.com.