The University of Wisconsin-Madison freshman was enjoying breakfast Dec. 7, 1941 when an announcement interrupted the morning music and his meal: Japan had attacked Pearl Harbor.

Little did Wenzel know that in three years, he would find himself amid the largest and bloodiest battle American forces experienced in World War II. He has chronicled his war experience in a self-published book, "A Time to Remember."

Now a retired educator living in Prairie du Sac, Wenzel grew up in Menomonee Falls. He planned to study medicine at UW. Once the war started, he transferred to UW-Milwaukee to be closer to home. A year to the day after the Pearl Harbor bombing, Wenzel enlisted in the U.S. Army.

He joined the medical corps, and was attached to an infantry battalion as a medic. Before heading overseas in October 1944, he returned home for a week to marry high school sweetheart Verna Jensen and celebrate a brief honeymoon. Wenzel wouldn’t see his bride again for two years. But he didn’t complain — unlike so many who took part in the Battle of the Bulge, Wenzel felt blessed to have returned at all.

Adolf Hitler sent German troops through the mountainous ravines of Belgium to capture Antwerp in hopes of splitting the Allied line and taking its only deep sea port.

"That was his last gasp," Wenzel said.

Wenzel’s unit came down from the north to free Bastogne, the control of whose crossroads were vital to the German attack.

"From then on, it was a matter of killing Germans and pushing them back," he said.

As a medic, Wenzel got a firsthand view of war’s brutality. Again and again, he performed field amputations and then carried the wounded to Jeeps for transport to aid stations. He saw soldiers blown in half.

"We cut arms and legs off there, right on the spot," he said. "We saw the most terrible things you could see."

The Battle of the Bulge, also known as the Ardennes Offensive, lasted from Dec. 16, 1944 to Jan. 25, 1945. Wenzel’s rifle company started combat on Christmas Day with 200 men. By Jan. 13, it was down to 28.

On that day, Wenzel’s arm was struck by steel shrapnel. He kept working, but eventually contracted blood poisoning. He was evacuated, and woke up in a Paris hospital after being unconscious for at least two days.

While the war and that battle were times many would prefer to forget, Wenzel doesn’t hesitate to look back. In fact, in later years he returned to Europe to revisit the places he saw as a soldier. "It made a better man out of me, I know that," he said of his time in the Army.

After recuperating, Wenzel was reassigned to an Adjutant General Corps clinic, and then to the Judge Advocate General Corps as a translator. Having grown up with German-speaking parents, he was ideally suited to take testimony from enemy troops.

He returned home in February 1946, enrolling at UW-Milwaukee under the GI Bill. He earned a bachelor’s degree at Milwaukee, plus a master’s and a doctorate at UW-Madison. Wenzel worked in clinics creating programs for developmentally challenged children, and went on to chair the special education department at UW-Oshkosh. He and Verna had two sons, Pete and William, the latter of whom represents Prairie du Sac on the Sauk County Board.

His sons encouraged Wenzel to write his story.

"Put this stuff down," they said, "We’d like to know what you did in the war."

Wenzel spent about three years writing. Experience with a previous book about his childhood, "Confessions of a Good Boy," taught him he’d be better off publishing the book himself. So he created Eagle Cove Press.

The author said he hopes readers will be enriched by a firsthand view of World War II. The book is available at local libraries, and Wenzel sells copies from his home. Some have bought copies and sent them to friends and family serving in the Middle East.

"I think I’ve had some rather unique experiences, and I’d like to share them with people," he said.

Today, Wenzel is active in veterans organizations and the Civil Air Patrol. He also is an avid watercolor artist. He figures he’ll be lucky to break even on the book, but that’s not a concern because his primary goal is to educate readers about what happened in Europe during the war.

"It’s the best thing I ever did as far as a veteran," Wenzel said of writing the book. "If they get the book, they’ll enjoy it and they’ll give it to somebody else."