Artist Rob Brun

On December 16, 1944, the Germans launched the last major
offensive of the war, Operation Autumn Mist, also known as
the Ardennes Offensive and the Battle of the Bulge, an
attempt to push the Allied front line west from northern
France to northwestern Belgium.

The Battle of the Bulge, so-called because the Germans
created a “bulge” around the area of the Ardennes forest
in pushing through the American defensive line, was the
largest fought on the Western front.

American troops man trenches along a snowy hedgerow in
the northern Ardennes Forest during the Battle.  

An American artilleryman shaves in frigid cold, using a
helmet for a shaving bowl.

An American tank moves past another gun carriage which
slid off an icy road in the Ardennes Forest during the
Battle of the Bulge.

Belgian residents of a northern Ardennes hamlet flee the fighting during the
Battle of the Bulge.        
        
       

Leavey and Rex in 2012.     
    
    
   

Megan Leavey (41) is a US Marine corporal who served as a Military
Police K9 handler. She was paired with military working dog Rex
(E168). The pair served two deployments in Iraq together.

They were first deployed to Fallujah in 2005, and then to Ramadi
in 2006, where they were both wounded by an improvised explosive device. Leavey was awarded the Purple Heart and the Navy and
Marine Corps Achievement Medal with a "V" device denoting
heroism in combat.

In 2012, Rex developed facial palsy, which ended his bomb-
sniffing duties. Leavey was able to adopt him through the
intervention of Senator Chuck Schumer, around April 2012.  
   

While living with Leavey, Rex died of old age on December 22,
2012.

Lance Corporal Leavey with Rex in Iraq, November 2005.

(From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia)

Leavey is portrayed by Kate Mara, and had a
cameo appearance in the film as "Female Drill
Instructor #3". In 2019, she was one of two
recipients of the Genesis Legacy Medal which
was presented to her by the National Purple
Heart Honor Mission. 

Kate Rooney Mara (41)

In an event alternately described as one of the most heroic or
disastrous episodes in British military history, Lord James
Cardigan leads a charge of the Light Brigade cavalry against
well-defended Russian artillery during the Crimean War.

The British were winning the Battle of Balaklava when Cardigan
received his order to attack the Russians. His cavalry gallantly
charged down the valley and were decimated by the heavy
Russian guns, suffering 40 percent casualties. It was later
revealed that the order was the result of confusion and was
not given intentionally.

Lord Cardigan, who survived the battle, was hailed as a national
hero in Britain.

James Thomas Brudenell, 7th earl of Cardigan
(1797 – 1868) 

Hopelessly trapped at Yorktown, Virginia, British General
Lord Cornwallis surrendered 8,000 British soldiers and
seamen to a  larger Franco-American force on October
19, 1781, effectively bringing an end to the American
Revolution.

TIM MAGUIRE