Newton Battle of the Bulge veteran reflects on harrowing experiences
Wicked Local MetroDec 19, 2018
"I think about it all the time," said Goolkasian, a Purple Heart recipient, while relaxing in his homey living room last week. Drafted at age 21 in 1942, he vividly tells stories about many of his good friends from the military who didn't survive the war, pragmatically adding, "But life has to go on."
Goolkasian's own journey into combat began in
"If the whole German army was there, I could have cared less," he said, happy to get off the ship and be on solid ground.
Shortly after his arrival, on
The battle raged from
In honor of his courageous service, his daughter
To make the surprise even more special, her friend
"My dad holds his emotions a little close but he was clearly overwhelmed by the appearance of those soldiers," said Keane in an email after the delivery.
Surviving the attack
Goolkasian's survival on
He said that normally the German tanks were slightly better equipped than their American counterparts, but on
He said two were turned sideways, which made them much easier to hit. He surmised they were turned because they may have been frozen in the mud and were trying to shake themselves loose.
"And that was the end of it," said Goolkasian. "This was the job we had to do. It was a case of kill or be killed, which is war in and of itself."
Although a commander wanted to give them Silver Stars for excellent shooting, he said, "We weren't interested in Silver Stars or anything of the like. These glorifications -- you don't go looking for those in combat. ... They were meaningless."
In fact, he said, "The best thing you were looking for was not to get a Purple Heart," since those were given to soldiers who were wounded or killed.
But the next day, the outcome drastically changed.
As their tank was shelled with mortars and Goolkasian was firing one of the vehicle's guns, all of a sudden he felt his left arm go numb, at first not realizing he'd been hit.
"The blood was just pouring out as if I had turned on a faucet," he said, although strangely he felt no pain because his nerves were destroyed and it was cold.
He saw the gunner had lost his left ear, so he yelled down to the driver that they were shot, that he'd try to get to an aid station and told him to stay in tank
As they tried to find shelter, he heard an explosion that propelled him up in the air, blew off his shoe, and sent shrapnel into his foot.
"The stuff was coming in like crazy," Goolkasian recalled.
His left hand grievously injured, he was helped to a barn by a soldier whose name remains a mystery to this day.
They soon arrived at the aid station in a nearby church where the doctor gave him two shots of cognac and two vials of plasma, he recalled.
With the Nazis firing on the halftrack that had been converted into an ambulance, Goolkasian eventually arrived in Bastogne and was put on a train to
Planning for the future
After being hospitalized in
Dr.
Even before he was discharged in
"I just made up my mind," he said.
While being treated,
Eleanora -- who would become his wife after five years of dating -- said she first thought he was "a wiseguy" since he was always joking around.
Together for almost seven decades,
A realist, he said, "What have we learned from war? Nothing."
However, what his family, friends and other veterans have learned is that Goolkasian has many fascinating stories to tell about his harrowing experiences during that crucial period of World War II. His daughter, Keane, said she and her dad are collaborating on his biography, with him telling the stories as she edits them. Whenever the book comes out, it will be an engrossing read by a humble family man who still calls
For information on the Battle of the Bulge from the
For an interactive timeline on the Battle of the Bulge from the
___
(c)2018 Wicked Local Metro, Needham, Mass.
Visit Wicked Local Metro, Needham, Mass. at needham.wickedlocal.com
Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.