Twenty-four hours after the start of the Battle of the Bulge, a horrific chain of events began to unfold in the tiny Belgian town of Ligneuville. At the time, unknown to his family, Peter Rupp, a local hotelier, was an ardent member of the secret Belgian White Army. Hotel du Moulin had long been a \u201cstation\u201d in the \u201cunderground railroad\u201d network. Using the nom de guerre \u201cMonsieur Kramer\u201d, Peter had hidden allied airmen in a vacant room, until it was safe for to pass them on to the next recipient. In all, twenty two American, British and French airmen owed their lives to \u201cMonsieur Kramer\u201d who made sure his \u201cguests\u201d were always warm and well fed. Of the many narrow scrapes Peter experienced during the long four years of Nazi occupation, perhaps the closest came albeit unwittingly from his budget-minded wife Balbina when she called in the Gestapo to solve the mystery of why much of the hotels food stores were disappearing? Miraculously without ever revealing the truth, Rupp using every ounce of his persuasive power managed to get the investigation called off.<\/p>\n
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On December 17, 1944, anxiously from one of the hotel\u2019s kitchen windows Rupp looked on as eight American stragglers were forced marched by a German NCO into the yard at the front of the building. Using an automatic pistol the SS sergeant then started, one by one, to execute the helpless prisoners. Rushing to the rear of the building, Rupp shouted to another German sergeant that American prisoners were out front being murdered but these German troops showed no interest in what Rupp was trying to say\u2026no one cared or seemed to give a damn.