A Date That Matters: The 99th’s First Steps Into Belgium, 4 September 1944

81 years ago today, the 99th Infantry Battalion crossed the border into Belgium - beginning a chapter of war and friendship that would last a lifetime.

I’ve been looking again at the reports from September 1944. The After Action Report says the 99th Infantry Battalion entered Belgium on the 5th. But the morning reports tell a different story.

At 16:00 on the 4th they pulled out of Bray-sur-Somme in France, rolling north in trucks and jeeps. They passed Amiens and Cambrai, landscapes scarred by the First World War, and kept pushing on.