George Morreale was inducted into the New York State Senate Veterans Hall of Fame on Tuesday. The Niagara Falls resident was nominated for the honor by Sen. Rob Ortt.
A decorated combat veteran of World War II, Army Sgt. George M. Morreale was drafted before he could even finish high school. Shortly after his 18th birthday in December of 1943, he registered with the local draft board — three months later he was notified by the U.S. Army that they were drafting him into service.
By November 1944, he was stepping off a ship in Scotland, where shortly after, he’d make his way across the English Channel to France. On Dec. 7, his 19th birthday, he and members of his unit began battling Germans.
In a Buffalo News article discussing his time overseas, Morreale recalls: “I was young and scared stiff. I didn’t realize what I was doing. It was kill or be killed. We had to commit ourselves to battle and that was it.”
As part of the 87th Infantry Division, 3rd Army, Morreale would soon go on to fight in the Battle of the Bulge, where he’d find himself positioned in a two-man foxhole for seven days and seven nights. Morreale recalls they had to lie still during the day, or German tanks would open fire wherever they spotted movement. Food came in the form of K-rations after nightfall, by men who crawled through the battlefield from foxhole to foxhole. Water came from eating snow, which was plentiful during what was one of the coldest, harshest winters on record at the time.
Relief came on a sunny Dec. 23 with the thunderous sound of American fighter planes taking out the German tanks and forcing a retreat. When Morreale finally got up, he realized his feet had been badly frostbitten. So bad, he had to be taken off the battlefield and sent to a hospital in Paris, where he was later told he’d be heading home.
Shortly after arriving home, the war came to an end and Morreale went back to finish high school at Trott Vocational School, where he focused on becoming a draftsman.
He married the former Margaret Suhansky, with whom he shares three children and seven grandchildren. Morreale is a lifelong resident of Niagara Falls — where he was employed as the city’s civil engineer, then became director of public works.
This past year, George Morreale celebrated his 100th birthday.
“George had an impressive military career at a very young age, and his story is truly inspirational — one of bravery, resilience, and an unbreakable sense of duty that defined his generation. As a young soldier, he served in the Battle of the Bulge, one of the most brutal and decisive campaigns of World War II — enduring relentless enemy attacks, food and ammunition shortages, and bitter cold. It’s an honor to highlight George’s sacrifice and military service, and induct him into the Veterans’ Hall of Fame,” Ortt said.