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Mess Cup

(c) Pocumtuck Valley Memorial Association, Deerfield MA. All rights reserved.
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This mess cup belonged to Robert Pichette of Ashfield, Massachusetts, who served during World War II (WWII) with the Yankee Division and saw action on many fronts, including the Battle of the Bulge. He scratched the names of his regiment's locations on the cup. Largest among these markings is the place where he most likely longed to be; back home in Ashfield. The Battle of the Bulge (12/16/44 to 01/28/45) was the United States' largest land battle of WWII. Powerful German armies plunged into the heavily forested Ardennes region of eastern Belgium and northern Luxembourg, an area thought least likely for a German offensive. More than a million men fought in this battle including some 600,000 Germans, 500,000 Americans, and 55,000 British. There were 81,000 U.S. casualties, with 19,000 killed. With few forces left to defend "The Reich" the Germans could not prolong the inevitable. Germany's final defeat was only months away.

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