Topic category:  Other/General

I never forgot it. When I was maybe eight years old, I saw the picture, The Battle of the Bulge, for the first time. I didn’t get the point of the title, but I did get “Nuts!”

That was the response, on December 22, 1944, of Brig. Gen. Anthony C. McAuliffe to the demand by the Gerries, who had laid siege to us four days before in the Belgian town of Bastogne, that we surrender.

McAuliffe’s Web page at Arlington National Cemetery calls his one-word response “probably the most famous quote of World War II.” It became synonymous with the American can-do spirit.

Beginning on December 16, the Germans had made one last, bold, mad offensive, and broken through Allied lines, causing a “bulge.”

Bastogne was a hub of seven roads, which made it crucial for the Germans’ westward thrust, and thus it was crucial for us to stop them there.

Bastogne was hopeless. Due to inclement weather, we had no air support, and dwindling supplies. The town was occupied by the paratroopers of McAuliffe's 101st Airborne Divison, crack soldiers, to be sure, but men who were overmatched in numbers and weaponry by the encircling German forces. And yet, our boys held until the bad weather cleared, and we could get them air support and fresh supplies. We had inspired leadership, fresh troops, and good morale, while the Germans were weary, and their morale low. And then, on December 26, it was the Gerries who were surrendering.

And that helped break the back of the German offensive.

My mom says that my late Uncle Irwin, who made it to sergeant in the war, and then went back for more in Korea, fought in the Battle of the Bulge, but I don’t know if he was at Bastogne.

During Memorial Day weekend, my 11-year-old and I had the pleasure of watching Battleground (1949), the first movie depiction of the Battle of Bastogne.

Shortly before McAuliffe’s 46th birthday, he “parachuted into Normandy [with his men] on D-Day and … entered Holland by glider.”

A mere 19 days after McAuliffe’s men won the Battle of Bastogne, FDR awarded him the Distinguished Service Cross...

…for extraordinary heroism in connection with military operations against an armed enemy while serving as Acting Commander, 101st Airborne Division, in action against enemy forces from 17 to 26 December 1944, at Bastogne, Belgium.

During this period General McAuliffe was in command of the 101st Airborne Division during the siege of Bastogne, Belgium, by overwhelming enemy forces. Though the city was completely surrounded by the enemy, the spirit of the defending troops under this officer's inspiring, gallant leadership never wavered. Their courageous stand is epic.

General McAuliffe continuously exposed himself to enemy bombing, strafing, and armored and infantry attacks to personally direct his troops, utterly disregarding his own safety.

Brigadier General McAuliffe's courage, fearless determination and inspiring, heroic leadership exemplify the highest traditions of the military forces of the United States and reflect great credit upon himself, the 101st Airborne Division, and the United States Army.

Which brings us to Cong. Allen West (R, FL), who is a retired Army lieutenant colonel. The jihadis at CAIR demanded that West surrender, and denounce what they called “Anti-Islamic” groups, to which he has ties. Channeling the spirit of “General Mac,” the Congressman replied with a letter that simply said, “NUTS!”

That our Moslem enemies should fail to understand West’s response was to be expected. And I suppose it was to be expected that the MSM didn’t get it, either, under the category of shocking, but unsurprising. After all, they’re just as much our enemies as the jihadis, whom they support.

The matter most important to the alleged reporter supposedly covering the story for CBS News, Gio Benitez, who knows considerably less American history than my 11-year-old, was that he pronounce his name as if he were in a Latin American country. Senor Benitez told viewers, “This letter is extremely short, and nobody seems to know exactly what it means.”

But the people on the street interviewed by Benitez didn’t get it, either, and stupidly criticized West. “It doesn’t look too professional to me. It doesn’t look too thought out,” said one forty-something white man.

“Uh, maybe another sentence. Explaining?,” said an attractive woman in her thirties with a Spanish accent.

In its exquisite simplicity and powerful symbolism, West’s response could not have been better thought out, and explaining it would have ruined it.

Not that those dunces would have supported him, anyway.

One of the crack researchers at Benitez’ station then googled, apparently, and found what all patriotic Americans already knew, which the intrepid Senor Benitez announced as a scoop:

“Then we found this. During World War II, Gen. Anthony McAuliffe famously wrote a one-word letter to the Germans in response to a surrender ultimatum. The word used? Nuts!”

How can Benitez call it “famous,” if he’d never heard of it? Either the letter wasn’t famous, or he’s an utterly incompetent, affirmative action hire.

Benitez: [CAIR Jihadi Nezar] “Hamze doesn’t think he’ll ever find out what Congressman West meant with the word, because, he says, West has turned down all meetings with CAIR Florida.”

That’s funny. The Gerries figured it out, back in ‘44. Then again, back then the typical German officer knew more about American culture than today’s typical jihadi, reconquista, or media saboteur/insurgent. Heck, those people glory in their ignorance of American culture.

When Benitez asked CAIR Florida jihadi Nezar Hamze what he would say to West, Hamze replied, “I’d tell him to grow up, you know, to act like a congressman, and engage in dialogue, and to stop the schoolboy insults.”

What is there to talk about? The terms of surrender? To jihadis, “dialogue” has the same meaning that it does for black racists: ‘We dictate, and you submit, while nodding in assent.’

Benitez: “Now West did turn down an interview request from CBS4 News, and we are still waiting for a statement from his office.”

West had already made his statement.

Let me get this right. Even after one of the station’s researchers learned the meaning of “Nuts!,” the jihadi and Benitez still don’t understand what West said? No; they couldn't possibly be that stupid. What they are saying is that they refuse to accept what West said, and want to wear him down, by demanding that he "explain" himself.

I don’t need to read any polls to know that Congressman West just got himself a big surge among patriots.

So, how’s he on immigration? According to NumbersUSA, where illegal immigration is concerned, he’s as good as it gets. I was unable to determine the Congressman’s position on legal immigration.

Remember, “You can have any color you want, as long as it’s black.”

Nicholas Stix
Nicholas Stix, Uncensored

Biography - Nicholas Stix

Award-winning, New York-based freelancer Nicholas Stix founded A Different Drummer magazine (1989-93). Stix has written for Die Suedwest Presse, New York Daily News, New York Post, Newsday, Middle American News, Toogood Reports, Insight, Chronicles, the American Enterprise, Campus Reports, VDARE, the Weekly Standard, Front Page Magazine, Ideas on Liberty, National Review Online and the Illinois Leader. His column also appears at Men's News Daily, MichNews, Intellectual Conservative, Enter Stage Right and OpinioNet. Stix has studied at colleges and universities on two continents, and earned a couple of sheepskins, but he asks that the reader not hold that against him. His day jobs have included washing pots, building Daimler-Benzes on the assembly-line, tackling shoplifters and teaching college, but his favorite job was changing his son's diapers.