Dawn on November 17, 1944 showed overcast skies and colder temperatures which made sentry duty especially uncomfortable and trying with the need of staying fully alert during that night.
But at our outpost the seventeenth of December was just a copy of the16th.  One soldier brought us some K rations and a little bit of news.  One of our other platoons had been in a brief fire fight with some Germans and in this short skirmish our executive officer had been shot in the head and killed.  Our orders  were to continue manning  fox holes and report any unusual activity.
As it turned out there was nothing to report.  For me it was just another lonely day in a fox hole originally made for two soldiers.  However the man who was supposed to be with me had been wounded two days before by a shell burst and was now in hospital somewhere.
 The forest never looked more hostile with clouds and fog sometimes at tree top level. 
Of the German offensive we were told nothing.