A True Account of the U.S. Army’s Rainbow Division during the final days of WWII

In the early winter of 1945, the U.S. Army is working hard to stem the tide of the final German offensive on the Western Front that later became known as the Battle of the Bulge. Battling not only Germans, but fatigue, fear and rotating leadership, Kaltenhouse Remembered focuses on the men of the 42nd Rainbow Division’s 242/G Company through the eyes of mortarman Norm Thompson. The action takes place during the last days of Hitler’s ‘Operation Nordwind’ – sometimes referred to as the ‘other’ Battle of the Bulge – that occurred at and in the vicinity of Kaltenhouse, France, during the winter of 1945, ending with the German offensive defeated in late January. The ‘Bulge’ and its affiliated battles were among the deadliest of WWII.

Norman A. Thompson was a military veteran of WWII, artist, business entrepreneur, and father of eight children (all boys). He married Margie Anne Voeks in Minneapolis, Minnesota, before being shipped overseas during the latter stages of WWII. Once in Germany, he fought during the final German offensive of the war – the events of January 1945 that are dramatically depicted in Kaltenhouse Remembered. Thompson also participated in the liberation of the Dachau-Allach concentration camps in April 1945; an interview of Thompson recounting his experiences is part of the Oral History of WWII currently archived at the United States Holocaust Museum and is included in this volume. Thompson was awarded the Purple Heart and Bronze Star for his efforts. This 75th anniversary reprint of Kaltenhouse Remembered is published in memory of Norman Thompson and all of the veterans of the 42nd Rainbow Division, many of whom never returned from the war. Norm died in 2004 and Margie in 2008. They are survived by three of their eight sons.