Bulge

Edwin F. "Eddie" Hauser, a decorated World War II veteran who landed at Normandy on D-Day, died Sept. 24 of kidney failure at his Ellicott City home. He was 94. Mr. Hauser was born and raised in Baltimore. His mother was a baker, and his father died when he was 3. After graduating from Polytechnic Institute, he worked at Bethlehem Steel Corp. at Sparrows Point. Mr. Hauser enlisted in the Army in 1941 and served in Europe with the fabled 29th Division. A technical sergeant assigned to an artillery unit, he landed at Omaha Beach on the morning of June 6, 1944, with the 29th Division.

As teachers at the Renaissance Institute, retirees Sidney Leibovitz and Gregory Halpin fascinate their adult students with history courses ranging from the Chinese Revolution to French Connections. Their own histories are fascinating, too. Leibovitz's love of history dates to his service in the Army's 99th Infantry Division, where he fought in the Battle of the Bulge. Halpin is also a former longtime director of what is now the Maryland Port Administration - and he's was a radio newscaster in the late 1940s, when television was in its infancy.

Alger Zapf Jr., former president of the George H. Wahmann Manufacturing Co., died July 22 from complications of Alzheimer's disease at his home in Sarasota, Fla. The former North Baltimore resident was 86. Mr. Zapf was born and raised in Royal Oak, Mich., and graduated in 1942 from Dondero High School. He enlisted in the Army after high school, and part of his military training was at Western Maryland College, now McDaniel College, where he met his future wife, Frances Virginia Wahmann.

On Christmas Day during the Battle of the Bulge, Paul J. Wiedorfer charged 150 yards across a snow- and ice-covered field under intense enemy fire, single-handedly knocked out two German machine gun nests and took 24 prisoners. His spectacular feat earned him the Medal of Honor, the nation's highest military honor. "Suddenly something popped into my mind. Something had to be done, and someone had to do it. And I just did it. I can't tell you why," Mr. Wiedorfer recalled in a 2008 interview with The Baltimore Sun. Mr. Wiedorfer died Wednesday of heart failure at Loch Raven Community Living and Rehabilitation Center.

Paul J. Wiedorfer, who was Maryland's last surviving World War II recipient of the Congressional Medal of Honor, died Wednesday of heart failure at Loch Raven Community Living and Rehabilitation Center. The former Baltimore Gas and Electric Co. director of safety and training, who lived in Parkville, was 90. Wiedorfer, who was decorated with the nation's highest military honor for bravery, had dashed some 150 yards across a field and singlehandedly knocked out two German machine gun nests during the Battle of the Bulge.

One harsh winter long ago, as he led an encampment of soldiers near a European forest, it never occurred to Alfred H.M. Shehab, then a brash young Army lieutenant, that he and his 30-man unit were a part of military history. "A platoon leader is so busy thinking about what might happen and how to make things go right" that it's hard to grasp much of a broader perspective, says Shehab, a 91-year-old retired lieutenant colonel who lives near Fort Meade. As it was, the 3rd Platoon of B Troop in the 38th Cavalry Reconnaissance Squadron (Mechanized)

W eeks ago, when everyone was worried about the feet of snow piling up around Baltimore, inches of another sort were accumulating inside. Having trouble buttoning your pants lately? After back-to-back snowstorms, and who knows how many days of snow-day eating, Marylanders are still feeling the storms' effects - on waistlines, thighs and butts. Snow pounds. And they're not exactly melting away. Take Jennifer Silate. The 32-year-old Baltimore marketing manager entered the new year determined to do away with, as she calls it, the "holiday slide."

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.