It was late in January, 1945. The Battle of the Bulge, Hitler's massive onslaught of the Ardennes region of Belgium, had been raging for slightly more than a month.

On a bitterly cold morning in northern Luxembourg, a small country bordering Belgium on the southeast, the men of I Company, including Wayne Thompson of Bruning, prepared for the day's mission - a patrol into enemy territory.

The men loaded themselves down - weapons and cartridge belts full of ammunition, bandoliers with rifle ammunition across each shoulder - Thompson carried a walkie talkie and a pack with extra batteries and wire cutters.

Over the heavy wool uniforms and equipment the men added one final layer - a white sheet draped around them like a cape to camouflage them in the deep snow of the Ardennes forest.

Thompson and the others walked for the better part of the day, passing alternately through wooded areas and clearings. They had encountered no resistance and the mood became casual, the men began to relax.

About mid-afternoon they stepped out of the trees into a clearing and has gone about 75 yards when machine gun fire exploded around them.

Received Draft Notice

Two and a half years earlier, Thompson, then 35, was owner and editor of the Bruning Banner newspaper. He received his draft notice on September 3, 1943, giving him three weeks to report for duty.

Thompson closed the Banner office and made arrangements for his wife, Leona, to move into a house in Belvidere, where she could be near both parents.

The Army Way

Thompson was sent to Fort Leonardwood, Missouri, for basic training. Thompson said he soon learned that there was "the right way, the wrong way and the Army way."

His full name is William Wayne Thompson, but he had always gone by W. Wayne. When reporting for duty a sergeant asked what the initial 'W' stood for. Thompson told him, "William." The sergeant informed him that from that day forward, he was William W. Thompson.

Originally assigned to the Army Corps of Engineers, Thompson was trained to be an operator of motorized air compressors, which ran machinery such as saws and jackhammers.

In March of 1944 he boarded the ship Aquitania, and left for England. In June Thompson fell and fractured two ribs. "I learned later that if I hadn't been injured, I would have been part of the D-Day invasion on June 6," he said.

Became Infantry Rifleman

Heavy casualties plagued the infantry, which began calling for replacements from other branches of the Army. Thompson was assigned as one of those replacements and became a combat infantry rifleman. He and the others crossed the English Channel and landed on Omaha Beach.

They were headed for a staging area east of Paris. "We rode on eight-and- forties," Thompson said. "Those were vintage World War I train cars that were made to carry eight horses or 40 men."

When he arrived at the staging area, Thompson was assigned to the 11th Regiment of the 5th Division in the 3rd Army, which was commanded by General George S. Patton.

House to House Fighting

The 3rd Army made its way east toward Germany, fighting in several battles and skirmishes, including the liberation of the city of Metz, France. Working their way across the German border, the army crossed the Sauer River and crashed into Saurlautern, where they engaged in what Thompson called "house to house fighting."

"The houses were like duplexes - they had solid rock walls between them," he said. "There were snipers all around us. When they'd get into a house, instead of going all the way around the house, we'd blast through the wall and go through the hole. By the time we'd get in there, the snipers would be gone, so we'd blast through to the next house," he said. "We were only there for about two days when we got the call to pull out. We didn't know what for - we thought we were getting rest"

Panzer Armies Attack

On December 16, when the 3rd Army began clearing out Saurlatern, Hitler's Panzer armies launched their attack on the Ardennes. Unbeknownst to Allied intelligence, Hitler had managed to position 250,000 troops opposite the eastern border of Belgium.

After the Panzer armies struck, Thompson's group was sent to the northern part of Luxembourg to help stem the German advance on the south flank of the Battle of the Bulge.

Outpost Duty

Trudging northward the the Thompson's company entered entered Luxembourg. Going farther north they crossed the Saar River, where Thompson was assigned outpost duty. "We were on the south side of the Saar River. We watched for troops that might try to cross the river heading south."

"They were shelling that area the whole time we were there," he said. "At night they shot off so many flares it was as bright as day at times."

Night Patrols

Thompson's group also ran patrols at night into enemy territory, with the objective of taking prisoners, if possible, and gathering information on Germany defenses. 

They made several of these patrols, crossing the river under icy moonlight in rubber assault boats, always draped in their white camouflage sheets. Many times the men crossed the river undetected, but did run into German troops a few times.

It was on a similar patrol, only a few days before the Battle of the Bulge was to end, that Thompson and the members of his company stepped into the clearing and were greeted with machine gun fire.

Saved By Battery Pack

"We got about to the middle of the clearing, and that's when we got caught in the machine gun cross fire," he said. "there was noting to do but drop - for some of them it was too late to drop. As far as I know, I'm the only one that survived."

"I don't think I would have if it weren't for the pack with my batteries and the wire cutters," Thompson said. He believes that the gunfire struck his pack and the force knocked him down into the two foot snow. Thompson stayed down, camouflaged by his sheet, and dared not move.

"I could wiggle my fingers and my toes, but that's about it," he said.

Lost Consciousness

Thompson isn't sure how long he laid in the snow. In time he became drowsy and lost consciousness. When Thompson came to, he was lying on a cot under a large tent in a field hospital. He had been picked up by a search-and-rescue team during the night. He had nearly frozen to death.

"My memories from then on are kind of vague. I was put on a train and sent to a hospital in Paris for about ten days or two weeks," he said. "Then they sent me to England to two different hospitals. I was there until the middle of March."

Thompson was sent back to the U.S. in a convoy of ships, which landed on Easter Sunday, April 1st - which also coincided with his birthday.

He spent the next six months in Wakeman Army Hospital at Camp Atterbury, Indiana, where he recovered fully before being discharged on October 4, 1945.

Thompson returned to Bruning and "unlocked the Banner building, cleaned and oiled the machinery, and resumed publishing the Bruning Banner on November 15."