Memorial Lieutenant Eric Fisher Wood, lone warrior during the Battle of the Bulge

Hidden in the Ommerscheider Forest is a simple monument created by the inhabitants of the village of Meyerode, in commemoration of Eric Fisher Wood, a lieutenant of the 106th American infantry division.

He is the only member of his unit to refuse to surrender after a shooting exchange outside Schönberg on December 17, 1944, and fled into the woods. To a resident of Meyerode who offered him food and shelter, he said that if he could not reach the American lines, he would fight alone in the woods against the Germans. In the weeks that followed, several German patrols in the forest near Meyerode were attacked, resulting in casualties.

The body of Eric Fisher Wood was found in early February 1945, surrounded by seven Germans who had fallen in combat.

Jan Rymenams