His buddy wanted a drink, so he got him a beer. An Army veteran didn’t know his epic beer run was World War II legend for 65 years
Speranza was a member of the storied 101st Airborne, 501st Parachute Infantry Company and was in the American-held city of Bastogne during the Battle of the Bulge. Within five days of the German surprise attack, Bastogne was surrounded and under siege. The only defenders of the city were the 101st Airborne, the all-Black 969th Artillery Battalion, and Combat Command B of the 10th Armored Division.
These soldiers would not give up the city despite being completely surrounded and cut off from the rest of the Allied forces. It would be nearly a week before Gen. George S. Patton’s Third Army would arrive to relieve them.
In the middle of that, an injured friend asked for something to drink. So Vincent Speranza went looking for something.
Today that act is commemorated by Airborne Beer.
The beer was designed by a local brewer 20 years before to honor the legend of the GI who made a beer run for his friend, but no one realized it was real until Vincent Speranza told them the story.
It is traditionally served with a small ceramic helmet, because that is all he had to carry the beer he found in pub, nearby to where the injured were being tended.
Defending the beer. Dem's heroes! That might explain why Paton's forces were in such a hurry.
ReplyDeleteBeer's the center, or one of the centers, of civilization since it is bacteriologically "safe" and full of vitamins from the yeasties.