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Dropped out of school and tried to get into the Navy. He wanted to get into a submarine. The Navy would not take him because his teeth did not line up with a breathing apparatus. Harry then went to work for a while until his draft papers came in from the Army.
Harry became a Medic in the Army and thought he was assigned because he worked at a drug store even though he really did not know anything about medicine. He asked for the engineers and was denied so he asked to be in field artillery, again denied then he said put in my in the infantry so Harry was put in as a medic. Harry volunteered for the airborne because they paid $50 a month extra; he again tried to get out of the medics but they did not let him. |
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Fort Benning, Georgia for jump training. |
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Went overseas and landed in Ireland then off to England. |
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1:10 AM jumped out of his C-47 airplane into Normandy with just three men on his plane and he was the last one out. He ended up near Utah beach, surround by barb wire high in the air and he used his knife to cut off his parachute. The German’s were shooting at him the entire time. Worked his way 5 or 6 miles inland by himself when he ran into a German patrol.
2PM Captured by Germans and became a POW. Harry still had his parachute harness on. |
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Made it to Germany to a POW Camp. Harry was actually allowed to write a few letters back to his family. |
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Liberated by the Russians at Stalag II-A. Harry said the treatment was not too bad but the food was terrible and lost 30 or 40 pounds down to 155 pounds. |
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Harry used to go to reunions for the 101st which is infamously known because the book and HBO series Band of Brothers. He said he met a few of them at the reunion but did not know during the war. He knew a first sergeant Tom Atley in F company who said F company did all the fighting and E company 506 got all the publicity. |