MECHANICSVILLE, Va. -- Mary Ann Smith has so many questions about her father, but the 82-year-old Mechanicsville woman knows the answers will never materialize.
"Thinking about what if. Wondering what would my dad be like as he grew older,” Smith said.
Smith's curiosity about James H. Coates hasn’t waned in 80 years.
Her father remains shrouded in mystery despite the soldier’s association with one of the most well-documented and infamous events of World War II.
When Pvt. Coates left Virginia for war in Europe, he left behind his wife, a daughter, and an infant son.
Barely two years old at the time, Smith was too young to remember much of anything about her dad.
On December 17, 1944, during the Battle of the Bulge, Coates’ battalion would make history for all the wrong reasons.
"The unit my father was in had stopped. It was a convoy of the different trucks,” Smith said.
The Germans attacked members of the 285th Field Artillery Observation Battalion near the small town of Malmedy, Belgium.
The Americans, including Coates, surrendered.
The soldiers expected to spend the duration of the war sitting in a P.O.W. camp. But their captors had no desire to take along prisoners.
"They took them prisoner and took them to an open field and corralled them all together,” Smith said. "Somebody made the command to shoot the soldiers gathered in the field."
The Germans opened fire.
Within minutes, dozens of American soldiers, including Mary Ann Smith’s father, lay dead in the snow.
James Coates was just 22 years old.
"They mowed them down in the field with a machine gun," Smith said. "They took things off of their bodies. They shot them in the head. They did anything to make sure the were no survivors. So that nobody could tell the story."
Eighty-six Americans were killed in what later became known as The Malmedy Massacre. A dozen American soldiers escaped.
Four thousand miles away, the Coates family shattered when the telegram regarding James Coates' death arrived.
At home, his death became a taboo subject.
Mary Ann Smith said her mom Mattie suffered in silence.
"She said he was my only love,” Smith recalled. “I never remember growing up and seeing my mother cry. But I’m willing to bet you she did then.”
Years after the war, there would be no happy homecoming nor ticker tape parade for Pvt. Coates.
“My dad’s father said he wanted to bring him home. My mother agreed to that. He is buried in Kilmarnock,” Smith said.
Jim Treisler, the Director of Education at the Virginia War Memorial, said the Malmedy Massacre was an unnecessary evil that extinguished so many innocent lives.
"They thought they would surrender and be safe. Instead, they were murdered,” Treisler said. “Mary Ann lost a lifetime that she could have spent with her father because of that incident. It is incredibly painful. It is remarkable how she has spent her life talking about the war. Talking about the massacre.”
Mary Ann Smith has tried to keep her father close and safeguards his few personal belongings like his wallet and dog tag.
"It means I’m touching something he touched," she said. "I could never replace them."
Smith fears that what happened in that distant snow-covered field so long ago will be forgotten forever. So beyond the artifacts, she has vowed to honor her father’s memory. Since 2009, Smith has served as President of the Crater Chapter of the Battle of the Bulge Association.
”I want them to know that things like that do happen,” she said. “It makes me feel good that I’m able to tell the story."
Smith organizes exhibits and attends reunions with WWII veterans. Her service is part of her lifelong healing process.
“I know I was a Daddy’s Girl. I would have always been. Still am. I just don’t have him to share it with,” she said.
For Mary Ann Smith, so many questions remain about Private James H. Coates. But 80 years on, this Gold Star daughter is comforted knowing two things for certain about her beloved dad.
“He will be forever handsome. He will never grow old,” she said.
There is a stone memorial in Malmedy, Belgium with the names of each victim engraved in stone. The last survivor of the Malmedy Massacre, Harold Billow from Pennsylvania, died in 2022.
Watch Greg McQuade's stories on CBS 6 and WTVR.com. If you know someone Greg should profile, email him at greg.mcquade@wtvr.com.
