News Release

Commemorate the Battle of the Bulge with Eisenhower National Historic Site

American engineers emerge from the woods and move out of defensive positions after fighting in the vicinity Bastogne, Belgium.

U.S. Army Center for Military History

News Release Date: November 30, 2023

Contact: Dan Vermilya

GETTYSBURG, PA – Seventy-nine years ago, the largest and costliest battle of World War II for United States forces was raging in the Ardennes Forrest of Belgium. Eisenhower National Historic Site (NHS) will commemorate the anniversary of the Battle of the Bulge with a special ranger-guided walking tour of Gettysburg National Cemetery on Saturday, December 16, at 3 pm. 

In December 1944 and January 1945, General Dwight D. Eisenhower and the Allied forces under his command endured the cold and bitter fury of a German assault. Nearly one in every ten American combat casualties during World War II fell during the Battle of the Bulge. Over a dozen of those casualties ultimately came to rest in Gettysburg National Cemetery. General Eisenhower later wrote that during the battle, American soldiers rose, “to new heights of courage, of resolution, and of effort.”  

This free guided walking tour will explore the stories of these Americans who, in Eisenhower’s words, “endure[d] greatly in their country’s cause” 79 years ago. This hour-long program will meet at the Taneytown Road entrance to the Gettysburg National Cemetery. Visitors are encouraged to dress for the elements and check the Eisenhower NHS website and Facebook page for updates in the event of inclement weather.

Eisenhower National Historic Site preserves and interprets the home and farms of the Eisenhower family as a fitting and enduring memorial to the life, work, and times of General Dwight David Eisenhower, 34th president of the United States, and to the events of far-reaching importance that occurred on the property. Learn more at www.nps.gov/eise.
 

www.nps.gov  

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