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He was wounded at the end of 1944, in Belgium, in the Battle of the Bulge. The Allies pushing toward the German border had been surprised by a powerful counterattack. Woody and others of the 101st Airborne Division had held out at a vital crossroads town called Bastogne. When the Germans sent a formal letter demanding surrender, General McAuliffe sent back a one-word message that became famous: "Nuts!"
Woody's right leg was smashed up by machine-gun bullets on Christmas Day. It hurt like hell. Even worse, it was a month before he got out of the besieged town and into a real hospital.
His bones would mend, and he might even lose the limp, but his leg would never again be strong enough for parachuting.
The Battle of the Bulge was the last offensive of Hitler's army in the west. After that they would never counterattack again.
Woody returned to civilian life, which meant he could live at his parents' apartment in Washington and enjoy being fussed over by his mother. When the plaster cast came off he went back to work at his father's office.
On Thursday, April 12, 1945, he was in the Capitol building, the home of the Senate and the House of Representatives, hobbling slowly through the basement, talking to his father about refugees. "We think about twenty-one million people in Europe have been driven from their homes," said Gus. "The United Nations Relief and Rehabilitation Administration is ready to help them."
"I guess that will start any day now," said Woody. "The Red Army is almost in Berlin."
"And the U.S. Army is only fifty miles away."
"How much longer can Hitler hold out?"
"A sane man would have surrendered by now."
Woody lowered his voice. "Somebody told me the Russians found what seems to have been an extermination camp. The Nazis killed hundreds of people a day there. A place called Auschwitz, in Poland."
Gus nodded grimly. "It's true. The public don't know yet, but they'll find out sooner or later."
"Someone should be put on trial for that."
"The UN War Crimes Commission has been at work for a couple of years now, making lists of war criminals and collecting evidence. Someone will be put on trial, provided we can keep the United Nations going after the war."
"Of course we can," Woody said indignantly. "Roosevelt campaigned on that basis last year, and he won the election. The United Nations conference opens in San Francisco in a couple of weeks." San Francisco had a special significance for Woody, because Bella Hernandez lived there, but he had not yet told his father about her. "The American people want to see international cooperation, so that we never have another war like this one. Who could be against that?"
"You'd be surprised. Look, most Republicans are decent men who simply have a view of the world that is different from ours. But there is a hard core of fucking nutcases."
Woody was startled. His father rarely swore.
"The types who planned an insurrection against Roosevelt in the thirties," Gus went on. "Businessmen like Henry Ford, who thought Hitler was a good
strong anti-Communist leader. They sign up for right-wing groups such as America First."
Woody could not remember him speaking this angrily before.
"If these fools have their way, there will be a third world war even worse than the first two," Gus said. "I've lost a son to war, and if I ever have a grandson I don't want to lose him too."
Woody suffered a stab of grief: Joanne would have given Gus grandchildren, if she had lived.
Right now Woody was not even dating, so grandchildren were a distant prospect--unless he could track down Bella in San Francisco . . .
"We can't do anything about complete idiots," Gus went on. "But perhaps we can deal with Senator Vandenberg."
Arthur Vandenberg was a Republican from Michigan, a conservative, and an opponent of Roosevelt's New Deal. He was on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee with Gus.
"He's our greatest danger," Gus said. "He may be self-important and vain, but he commands respect. The president has been wooing him, and he's come around to our point of view, but he could backslide."
"Why would he do that?"
"He's strongly anti-Communist."
"Nothing wrong with that. We are too."
"Yes, but Arthur is kind of rigid about it. He'll get riled if we do anything he thinks is kowtowing to Moscow."
