Veteran recalls WWII’s bloodiest battle

Groveland Twp.-Elvis McConnaughhay points to a small scar on his left hand just above his thumb.
‘Right there,? said McConnaughhay. ‘That’s where the shrapnel got me,? he chuckles glancing down at the small dime sized mark on his hand.
‘The Lord blessed me and I came home’many didn’t make it.?
The scar is just one of the indelible memories that linger from some frigid winter days prior to Christmas 1944, when McConnaughhay, then a 25-year-old private in the 112th infantry encountered some of the most momentous surges of the Germany army. The Battle of the Bulge, so named for the bulging shape of the battle area, was perhaps the most decisive encounter of World War II.
Born in 1919 and raised in rural Buffington, Mo., McConnaughhay worked on the family farm until he was 25 years old. He was drafted in 1944 and assigned to Camp Roberts, Calif. for 13 weeks of basic training.
Following a weeklong train-trip across the United States he departed New York harbor for Europe via the RMS Queen Elizabeth on Aug. 28, 1944. He left behind his wife Sue,18 and a son Clifford, 4.
‘When we headed out we passed the Statue of Liberty’honestly I never thought I’d see it again.?
McConnaughhay arrived in Europe on Sept. 3, 1944 and marched across France toward Germany with the 112th Infantry Regiment part of the 28th Division. Their mission was to support the 28th Division, nicknamed by the Germans as the ‘Bloody Bucket? due to such high casualties.
‘We were continually attacked by the German bombers as we marched across France,? said McConnaughhay. ‘I lived and slept in foxholes. I would pray that my feet would freeze but they never did. And even if you were wounded you just had to wait till they came and got you.?
‘A few weeks before Christmas we were pinned down by German fire and I was very sick,? said McConnaughhay. ‘It was either die in this foxhole or run out and get medical help for my pneumonia’so I decided to make a run for it.?
McConnaughhay safely slipped out of the front line and was taken to a church in nearby Saint-Di?, France where he was treated for his pneumonia. Just prior to leaving the church he was given a steel jacketed New Testament bible by those at the make-shift hospital.
After his release later in December 1944, the 112th Infantry combat team including McConnaughhay was holding a six and one-half mile sector near Belgium when Germans attacked with nine divisions.
‘I was eating a can of cold beans and franks,? said McConnaughhay, recalling a few days before Christmas 1944. ‘An (American) soldier came running toward me with this glazed look on his face. I asked what’s the trouble, ‘you’ll see? he replied ‘you’ll see? and then he just ran off.?
Within seconds several German soldiers emerged from the small village which McConnaughhay had been covering from a foxhole outside the town.
‘It all happened so fast,? he said. ‘All of a sudden I looked around and my unit was gone, I was alone and the Germans were moving in.?
Dressed in a long overcoat laden with Christmas gifts sent from home including toothpaste, cookies and socks’McConnaughhay quickly vacated his foxhole. German infantry and tanks spotted him and commenced firing as he traversed a several hundred yard open field toward cover in a nearby forest.
‘The snow was knee deep and I could hear the shots flying by me,? he said. ‘So when I started running in the snow my heavy coat including all my Christmas presents weighted me down’so I stripped my coat off along with a bandolier of shells from around my neck.?
A low fence blocked the edge of the forest so McConnaughhay rolled under the barrier lifting the fence up with his left hand. Once in the forest he met with other soldiers but was unsure if they were a part of his unit.
‘I just kept running through the woods. I finally realized I had been hit in the hand and eventually found some of our troops,? said McConnaughhay.
McConnaughhay along with about six others would walk until they found safety with a Belgium family.
‘I remember spending Christmas Day with this farmer couple, she cooked hot soup for us with vegetables from their garden.?
After leaving the Belgium farm McConnaughh was treated for his wound at a nearby U.S. medic station.
McConnaughhay would spend the remainder of the war as a cook and return back to the United States on Aug. 3, 1945. He would serve at Camp Shelby Miss. until his discharge Oct. 25, 1945 and move to Michigan in 1948.
‘I took no wild chances’I did what I had to get out and not be a hero. I wanted to get back home and be with my family.?
McConnaughhay was awarded the Purple Heart, Good Conduct Medal, American Campaign Medal, Europe, Africa, Mid East Campaign Medal, World War II Victory Medal WWII Occupation Service Medal with Germany Bar and Combat Infantryman’s Badge. His unit received the Distinguished Unit Citation, Luxembourg Croix de Guerre, and was cited in the Order of the Day of the Belgian Amy for action in the Ardennes.