Steve Walas (left - A/31), Alvie Davis (center - HQ/38), Bud Edelmann (147) Photograph thanks to Wilco Krul Click on the photo for a full-sized image.

SC 279944 - 24 Jan 45 - Parachute Infantrymen moving toward enemy position around St. Vith, Belgium, 7th Armored Division, 509th Parachute Infantry. (by Pfc. Murray Shub, 165th) Click on the photo for a full-sized image.

The photograph on the left was taken 19 August 1971 and printed in the Chicago Sun-Times newspaper 20 August 1971. There were apparently two captions - an initial one and a second one, which was probably the one used in the newspaper.

1. Steve Walas, of Garfield Heights, Ohio.
   Alvie Davis, of Magnolia, Miss.
   Harry “Bud” Edelmann, of Chagrin Falls, Ohio.
   “We can laugh about it now, but it wasn’t funny at the time,” says Steve as he points to himself on a tank during the Battle of the Bulge. They are members of the Seventh Armored Division and are holding their 25th reunion at the Pick-Congress.

2. They remember Battle of Bulge
   “We can laugh about it now, but it wasn’t funny at the time,” says Steve Walas (left) of Garfield Heights, Ohio, as he and former 7th Armored Division buddies Alvie Davis (center), Magnolia, Miss., and Harry Edelmann, Chagrin Falls, Ohio, recall the Battle of the Bulge in World War II. They’re viewing pictures of the battle. The 7th veterans are holding their 25th reunion at the Pick-Congress Hotel through Saturday. (Sun-Times Photo by Bob Kotalik)

The photograph on the right is the Signal Corps photograph SC 279944, to which Steve Walas is pointing.

Steve Walas was a member of Company A, 31st Tank Battalion. On 24 January, according to the A/31 Morning Reports, the Company started the day 1/2 mile SE of Born, Belgium (map coordinates VP 8693) and ended the day at Neider Emmels, Belgium (VP 8391), moving a distance of about 2 miles, with Nieder Emmels being the only town on the route. So it seems likely that the photograph was taken at Nieder Emmels, which is about 2 miles north of St. Vith.

The first caption for the 1971 photograph says that Steve Walas is pointing to himself. He is pointing at the man in the snow camouflage clothing who is standing inside the lower hatch of the tank. This is the bow gunner's position.

At the time of the photograph, the tanks of 31st Tank Battalion and the infantry of 48th Armored Infantry Battalion and of the 509th Parachute Infantry Regiment (attached to 7th Armored Division for the retaking of St. Vith, Belgium) were divided into task forces. A/31 was in Task Force "A", under the command of Lt. Col. Richard Chappuis, commanding the 48th Armored Infantry Battalion, and the infantry of this task force were from Headquarters/48, A/48, and B/48 - plus 1st platoon of A/33. But there were no elements of 509 PIR in the task force. The 509 PIR troops were split up between Task Force "B" (Tomasik, CO of 509 PIR - with HQ, A and B/409 and B/31 and 3/A/33) and Task Force "C" (Erlenbusch, CO of 31st Tank - with C/509 and HQ and C/31 and C/49 and 3/A/33). So there were no members of 509 PIR in the same task force as Steve Walas' A/31. This leads to some doubt whether the photographer was correct when he wrote that Steve was pointing to himself.