“Holiday Greetings” – A December 1944 advertisement for Stegmaier Brewery wished customers a “Victorious New Year”

A patriotic, holiday-themed beer advertisement from the Wilkes-Barre-based Stegmaier Brewing Company appeared in December 1944.

Letters from War – A photograph of the Nazi panzer destroyed by Irvin Schwartz in the Battle of the Bulge

In May 1945, the West Schuylkill Press-Herald published a photograph taken during the Battle of the Bulge showing a tank destroyed by Sgt. Irvin Schwartz.

An account of Irvin Schwartz’s participation in the Battle of Dom Bütgenbach – December 21, 1944

A 1990 study by a defense contractor details the experiences of Irvin Schwartz and his comrades in the hellish Battle of Dom Bütgenbach in 1944.

Letters From War – The Battle of Dom Bütgenbach, December 21, 1944

In as much detail as he could get by US Army censors, Irvin Schwartz describes his unit's action in the Battle of the Bulge in December 1944.

Letters from War – No peace for the holidays as the Battle of the Bulge raged, December 1944-January 1945

Irvin Schwartz's letter home to Schuylkill County in January 1945 explained the bleak holidays he spent on the front lines of the Battle of the Bulge.

Letters from War – A meeting of Schuylkill County natives on the front lines in Europe, December 1944

A letter from Corporal Irvin Schwartz from December 1944 is excerpted in the West Schuylkill Press-Herald.

Letters from War – Battlefield promotion and war souvenirs, December 1944

The West Schuylkill Press-Herald announced Irvin Schwartz's promotion to corporal in December 1944 and that Schwartz's family received war souvenirs from Europe.

Letters from War – “Our Battle for Aachen,” 1944

Irvin Schwartz's vivid description in a letter home to Schuylkill County describes the horror of the Battle of Aachen in October 1944.

Letters from War – Holiday greetings from the front lines in Nazi Germany, November 1944

Desperate to share Christmas cheer and hopes for a happy New Year, Pfc. Irvin Schwartz wished holiday greetings to friends and family through the newspaper.

Letters from War – The first letter from inside Hitler’s crumbling “Third Reich,” October 1944

In his first letter from inside Germany, Pfc. Irvin Schwartz describes interactions with residents of newly occupied Nazi territory.