Back in Belgium our first stop was in a small town called Lanzareth. Here is where one of the first and legendary actions happened. This is a picture of the monument to the 18-man Intelligence and Reconnaissance Platoon, 396th Regiment, 99th Infantry Battalion, led by Lt. Lyle Bouck. He was one of the first Americans to see the German attacking columns led by the notorious Joachim Piper of the 1st SS Panzer Regiment. Lt Bouck had the high ground (just behind me us as we took the picture) in well prepared positions just inside the dense forest. The platoon was able to ambush and hold off a full strength German SS Parachute Battalion for an entire day. After running out of ammunition they were all captured. The efforts of these heroic men delayed Piper enough so that he was not able to meet his time table for reaching Antwerp and thus the attack failed. This was the most decorated platoon in WW II and received the Presidential Unit Citation.
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