On Dec. 16, 1944, 21-year-old Army Cpl. Gordon Hearne found himself in an hours-long gun battle with German soldiers in the Belgium countryside — one of countless such stories that marked the ...

BASTOGNE, Belgium — On Dec. 16, 1944, as the snow fell mercilessly and the temperatures dropped below freezing, Germany launched their last major counteroffensive of World War II, the Battle of ...