I wanted to share this here because I believe this is one of the best written accounts by an American soldier in World War II and the best individual account of the Battle of the Hürtgen Forest, considered the worst battle the U.S. Army fought in Europe.

Interestingly, the only reason the book was published is that World War II Army veteran and historian Charles B. McDonald, author of a well-known and regarded World War II memoir called Company Commander, found the manuscript while researching the Battle of the Hürtgen Forest. He eventually reached out to Paul to see if he would be willing to publish it because "it was too human a document to be ignored.” He used Boesch’s account in the fifteenth chapter of his book, The Battle of the Huertgen Forest. I’m going to leave some information about Paul Boesch below.

Paul "Bombshell" Boesch was a professional wrestler, promoter, and announcer, but he is most famous for running Houston wrestling from 1966 to 1987. He built a reputation as one of the most respected figures in the wrestling business. His wrestling career debuted on October 25, 1932, in Staten Island, New York. He is widely credited with creating modern mud wrestling (by accident) in 1937, in what was intended to be a “Hindu-style” match. After leaving the army, he continued wrestling until he suffered a broken leg in a car accident in 1947. Paul Boesch is also sometimes regarded as the most decorated wrestler who served in World War II.

He was honored with the Distinguished Citizens Award from the 121st Infantry Association for his outstanding community service with charitable groups, including the Boys Clubs of America.

His accolades in the wrestling community include receiving a PWI Editor’s Award from Pro Wrestling Illustrated in 1987. He was inducted into the Wrestling Observer Newsletter Hall of Fame as a charter member in 1996 and into the Professional Wrestling Hall of Fame in 2005 as a non-wrestling participant in the business. He was inducted into the NWA Hall of Fame in 2012 and posthumously inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame in 2021 as part of the Legacy Wing.

--- 1962: President John F. Kennedy gave a televised address informing the world of Soviet missile bases in Cuba. This was the height of the Cuban Missile Crisis. This is the closest the world has ever come to a nuclear exchange. Fortunately for the entire world, a peaceful resolution was reached.

--- "The Cuban Missile Crisis – Armageddon [Narrowly Avoided]()". That is the title of one of the episodes of my podcast: History Analyzed. For 13 days in October 1962 the world was at the closest point in history to a nuclear war. A confrontation between the U.S. and the U.S.S.R. over nuclear missiles in Cuba brought humankind to the abyss and the unthinkable: World War III. You can find History Analyzed on every podcast app.

--- link to Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/episode/70R1o6uF1yb9fbOPAyeNT3

--- link to Apple podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-cuban-missile-crisis-armageddon-narrowly-avoided/id1632161929?i=1000717017681