Paul P. Blitz, a decorated World War II veteran who fought in the Battle of the Bulge, died from complications of pneumonia Oct. 19 at Franklin Square Hospital Center. The longtime Essex resident was 95.
Born in Monessen, Pa., the son of Finnish immigrants, he was six months old when his family moved to Weirton, W.Va., when his father went to work for Weirton Steel Co.
In 1920, they moved to the St. Helena neighborhood of Dundalk, when the elder Mr. Blitz took a job with Bethlehem Steel Corp. at Sparrows Point.
Mr. Blitz attended schools in Sparrows Point and Hampstead Hill Junior High School. After dropping out of school, he worked at Bethlehem Steel before taking a job at Crown Cork & Seal Co.
In 1943, Mr. Blitz was drafted into the Army and completed radio school at Fort Benning, Ga., and during the war years, served as a radio operator with the 69th Infantry Division and the 30th Infantry Division.
After being shipped to Massachusetts in June 1944, Mr. Blitz and his fellow soldiers boarded the Cunard liner RMS Aquitania for a voyage across the U-boat-infested North Atlantic to England.
In the fall of 1944, Mr. Blitz joined the 117th Infantry Regiment of the 30 Infantry Division, which was preparing to cross the Roer River into Germany.
In the early dawn of Dec. 16, 1944, Mr. Blitz and his unit were informed that they were pulling out.
"We assumed we were going to cross the Roer River but we were heading west. I was in the back of a truck seeing French road signs and thought we were heading back to France," Mr. Blitz recounted in a story published in the Essex Avenue News in 1994. "Then, the Germans were firing flares into the air and lighting up the skies. They spotted our convoy and started firing at us," he said.
After abandoning their vehicles and seeking safety in a nearby orchard, the men were ordered to re-board their vehicles, and the convoy resumed its journey.
"On the way, we encountered some MP's who told us we were going to Malmedy, Belgium. The Germans were spearheading an advance knowing that new, green inexperienced troops were in the Ardennes Forest," he said.
They were billeted in a large building that was also used as a first-aid station.
"We were given blood-stained cots and blood-soaked blankets. I went exploring in the building. I went across the hall and saw the body of a woman with her leg blown off," he said. "I closed the door and went to bed."
