Robert M. Preston
By Yvonne   Shinhoster Lamb Washington Post Staff Writer Saturday, September 23, 2006
Robert Milton Preston, 83, who died Sept. 12 of arrhythmia at his daughter's home in Monrovia, spent most of his life as an electrician working for construction and electrical firms on numerous government buildings in  Washington. But before that, he was a reluctant hero in World War II's fierce Battle of the Bulge and a prisoner of war for five months in Germany.
After being drafted into the Army at 20, Mr. Preston landed in England on   Oct. 13, 1944. He stayed there for three weeks before being posted across the channel in Butgenbach, Belgium.
Assigned to the Intelligence and Reconnaissance platoon, 394th Infantry Regiment, 99th Division, the young soldier ran sneak and peak  missions along the Ardennes front.
It was on one such mission that Preston and Sgt. George Redmond observed German movement from his observation post along the Ardennes forest,  the Montgomery Journal said in a 1981 article. The two soldiers reported seeing the troops -- the beginning of the German buildup for the battle.
For their discovery, Mr. Preston and the sergeant received the Combat Infantryman Badge.
Days later, Mr. Preston and the other members of his platoon positioned themselves in well-dug foxholes on the front near Lanzerath, Belgium, although the intelligence-gathering platoon was not supposed to be directly involved in the fighting.
However, it was. Mr. Preston recalled in the Journal article the early-morning start of the fighting. "The whole valley lit up,  he said. I've never seen anything like it..
Ordered to ;hold at all costs, the platoon held off German troops after three attacks lasting 18 hours. In the end, two American soldiers were killed, and the others, including Mr. Preston, were captured.
Mr. Preston was detained in a German prison camp for five months. Food was scarce, the weather was bitterly cold and living conditions were unsanitary. He suffered frostbite and many indignities, said his daughter, Pamela Richter of Pasadena, who said her father rarely spoke of his imprisonment and didn't consider himself a hero, as some had called him and the others.
If you'd been there, you'd have done the same thing, Mr. Preston said in 1981. You'd have no choice. But I'd tell you one thing, they'll never get me again. The indignities . . . no way.
Recognition for the small platoon came in October 1981, nearly 37 years after the start of the largest land battle in the Army's history. It followed the 1969 publication of a book, The Bitter Woods, written by John S.D. Eisenhower, a participant in the campaign and the son of Gen. Dwight D. Eisenhower. More interest came from Congress and the White House in the late 1970s.
The platoon received the Presidential Unit Citation for extraordinary heroism, and Mr. Preston and nine other soldiers were awarded the Bronze Star for valor.
Mr. Preston was born in Denton, Md., and attended  Woodrow Wilson High School in the District. After World War II, he returned to Washington and joined an apprenticeship program in the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers Local 26.
A lifetime member of the union, he worked for 24 years with the Walter C. Doe Corp. He applied his skills to numerous government building projects, including the Library of Congress, L'Enfant Plaza, the Smithsonian Institution and Blair House.
He worked at R.M. Thornton Controls before retiring in 1987 from Venture Associates Inc., an electrical firm.
A former resident of Silver Spring, Mr. Preston had lived in Monrovia since January.
He enjoyed reading history and was a Civil War buff. Crossword puzzles also held his interest, as well as watching the Washington Redskins, win or lose.
A man with a tremendous sense of humor, Mr. Preston loved Seinfeld  reruns. He also enjoyed quoting William Shakespeare, saying often, Brevity is the soul of wit.
His wife, Margery Washabau Preston, whom he married in 1950, died in 1991.
Besides his daughter, survivors include four other children, Paula Preston of Monrovia, Priscilla Preston-Shoap of Taneytown, Md., Robert Preston of Owings and Rebecca Preston of Germantown; a sister; eight grandchildren; and seven great-grandchildren.