Speaker 1: Welcome to Veterans Chronicles. I'm Greg Corumbus. Our guest in
Speaker 1: this edition is Harold Terrens. He's a US Army Air
Speaker 1: Corps veteran of World War II. He initially served with
Speaker 1: the three hundred and fiftieth Fighter Squadron in the Mighty
Speaker 1: eighth Air Force, based in England. He was later moved
Speaker 1: to several other locations to facilitate Allied shuttle bombing, including
Speaker 1: the Middle East and Russia. As you can tell within
Speaker 1: a few seconds of hearing his voice, Harold Terrens is
Speaker 1: a New Yorker through and through.
Speaker 2: I was born in the Bronx, New York, and I
Speaker 2: was raised in the Bronx until I enlisted in the
Speaker 2: Army in nineteen forty two.
Speaker 1: He was barely an adult on that Sunday afternoon, December seventh,
Speaker 1: nineteen forty one, when the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor.
Speaker 2: Well, I was playing basketball in the schoolyard. I was
Speaker 2: a little past at eighteen years of age, and someone
Speaker 2: came over. It was a Sunday afternoon and they told us,
Speaker 2: do you know the Japanese bomb Pearl Harbor? And I
Speaker 2: remember my first words were, where is Pearl Harbor. I
Speaker 2: never heard of it, and they said it's in Hawaii.
Speaker 2: I says, okay, And we continued playing basketball as if
Speaker 2: nothing happened until the next day. President Franklin Roosevelt says,
Speaker 2: we will all remember the Summer seventh, nineteen forty one
Speaker 2: as a day of them for me and I herewith
Speaker 2: asked Congress to declare war against Japan and Germany, and
Speaker 2: that's when we decided to enlist.
Speaker 1: Terence says, every kid he knew was very eager to
Speaker 1: join the war effort.
Speaker 2: No, none at all. I was just patriotic on me
Speaker 2: all my friends. We were going to get even with
Speaker 2: the German in the Japs, especially the Japanese for bombing
Speaker 2: Pearl Harbor, and we were all gung ho.
Speaker 1: Terren's own parents did not want him to serve, but
Speaker 1: finally relented when they saw that he would be the
Speaker 1: only kid in the neighborhood not to join the service.
Speaker 1: Terrence not only knew that he wanted to serve, he
Speaker 1: knew why. He just had to join the Air Corps,
Speaker 1: even though his plans didn't work out exactly as he envisioned.
Speaker 2: I wanted to be a pilot, so I chose the AIRCUO.
Speaker 2: But when I applied for pilots training, I took a
Speaker 2: colorbline test that I failed, and I could not become
Speaker 2: a pilot if I was colorbline, and I couldn't believe
Speaker 2: I was colorblind, so I took the test again and
Speaker 2: I failed again. So I did the next best thing,
Speaker 2: and I became a radio operator. And I went to
Speaker 2: Radio Operator Mechanics School in sou Full, South Dakota for
Speaker 2: five months to get MAYA I degree.
Speaker 1: Well disappointed in not becoming a pilot, Terrence quickly developed
Speaker 1: another vital skill, sending Morse code very quickly, not at all.
Speaker 2: None whatsoever. But I became proficient in a radio I
Speaker 2: remember was called a five twenty two Superheterodyne receiver, and
Speaker 2: I became a very high speed Morse code operator.
Speaker 3: I could take.
Speaker 2: Morse code and send it as fast as my own
Speaker 2: could write it and as fast as he could send it.
Speaker 1: Terrence was deployed to Europe on his twentieth birthday in
Speaker 1: nineteen forty three, and the secrecy meant he was a
Speaker 1: mystery no show at his own birthday party.
Speaker 2: On my twentieth birthday, I was home on furlough and
Speaker 2: my parents had planned a big party in our apartment building.
Speaker 2: In an empty apartment, they planned a big birthday for
Speaker 2: me and I received in the morning they told me
Speaker 2: everyone was confined to the base. It was in Uraschell,
Speaker 2: New York, right on the Long Island Sound, and we
Speaker 2: shipped out boarded a boat that night. No phone calls, nothing.
Speaker 2: My parents to all the people at the party, had
Speaker 2: no idea where I was, what I was doing, wired
Speaker 2: and show up for the party. But I boarded a
Speaker 2: ship called the Antlone Castle, a British ship, and we
Speaker 2: sailed up Long Island Sound and joined a nomada of
Speaker 2: about one hundred other ships because we felt safer when
Speaker 2: we sailed together. You know, there were so many German
Speaker 2: U boats out there looking the sink troop ships especially,
Speaker 2: and I was on a troop ship with about twelve
Speaker 2: thousand of the soldiers, and that would have been a big,
Speaker 2: a big win for the Germans if they could sink us,
Speaker 2: but they didn't. Ten days later, we we didn't know
Speaker 2: where we were going, but we ended up in Liverpool.
Speaker 1: Once in England, Terrence was tasked with taking care of
Speaker 1: the radios in several P forty sevens.
Speaker 2: I was assigned to four P forty seven thunder bullfighters,
Speaker 2: and I was assigned to make sure that the radio
Speaker 2: the ship to air was working. That's the five twenty
Speaker 2: two Super hundred heterodign receivers, so that we had no
Speaker 2: radar radar in those days, so there were only communication
Speaker 2: and means of getting back to the base were this radio,
Speaker 2: the air the ground radio that would take them bring
Speaker 2: them back home if they were in distress or lost
Speaker 2: their compass or whatever. I would make sure that the
Speaker 2: radio was working. I would every day before they went
Speaker 2: on a mission, I will test the radios to make
Speaker 2: sure they were okay.
Speaker 1: More than eighty years later, Terrence still remembers the courage
Speaker 1: it took for the men to fly and the many
Speaker 1: who did not come home.
Speaker 2: They did everything. They had a bomb on the reach wing.
Speaker 2: They escorted the B seventeen flying fortresses that when they
Speaker 2: went on bombing missions. I remember the first day on
Speaker 2: D Day, we had sixty planes on our outfit and
Speaker 2: we lost thirty. And I knew every pilot that got
Speaker 2: killed or was captured or bailed out or became a
Speaker 2: prisoner of war. And it was a devastating experience because
Speaker 2: within by the time I left the outfit, we lost
Speaker 2: every single pilot. Everyone was replaced. It was we were
Speaker 2: losing the war. When I first got overseas well, I
Speaker 2: thought we were all going to get killed.
Speaker 1: Terrence stressed that he rarely had to repair radios that
Speaker 1: had been shot up. He primarily made sure they were
Speaker 1: working prior to every mission.
Speaker 2: The only repair jobs we had were when the planes
Speaker 2: came back and they were damaged because of shrapnel. They
Speaker 2: were hit by shrapnel or enemy fire, but that wasn't
Speaker 2: that often. Every single day we checked the radio to
Speaker 2: make sure that it worked.
Speaker 1: When Terrence got to Britain in nineteen forty three, bomber
Speaker 1: crews had some of the shortest life expectancies in the military.
Speaker 1: He says, completing the number of missions to earn a
Speaker 1: ticket home was considered a miracle.
Speaker 2: When the Memphis Bell was if you remember that story,
Speaker 2: when that flying fortress flew thirty missions, it was like
Speaker 2: a miracle. No plane flew thirty missions, no plane survived
Speaker 2: that long. It was a miracle that they did and
Speaker 2: that they survived them and one home.
Speaker 1: Terrence says he quickly became close with the P forty
Speaker 1: seven pilots as they prepared for and returned from their missions,
Speaker 1: a difficult practice given how many men were lost.
Speaker 2: Every single one of them was a friend of mine.
Speaker 2: You know, we had a wonderful relationship. It was one big,
Speaker 2: happy family, all of us, including the captain, doing no hat.
Speaker 1: More than twenty seven thousand Americans were killed in the
Speaker 1: skies over Europe and World War two, and another nine
Speaker 1: thousand were wounded. Terrence now gives us his gripping recollection
Speaker 1: of D Day and the days that followed.
Speaker 2: The morning began about thirty six hours prior to the day.
Speaker 2: We were all confined to base. Nobody was allowed on
Speaker 2: or off. This was around June fourth, D Day with
Speaker 2: June sixth. On June fourth, no one could use the phone.
Speaker 2: No one could communicate with the outside world. There was
Speaker 2: no male coming in or out, no communication whatsoever. What
Speaker 2: we did for thirty six hours prior to D Day
Speaker 2: we painted a stripe across every under each wing of
Speaker 2: our plane, a white stripe. Every Allied plane had a
Speaker 2: white stripe painted under each wing. I don't know if
Speaker 2: history knows this, but every Allied plane that was involved
Speaker 2: in D Day had a white stripe on so that
Speaker 2: they were easily recognizable by other Allied planes like the
Speaker 2: British or the Canadian Air Force. They would recognize our planes.
Speaker 2: Their planes also had a white stripe. All Allied planes
Speaker 2: were pain so we painted airplanes for We didn't even sleep.
Speaker 2: We just had to make sure everything was in order.
Speaker 2: We had to check everything thoroughly. We knew something was
Speaker 2: we had no idea what was going on until D
Speaker 2: They when they when they came back, the planes were damaged.
Speaker 2: Some tried to land and exploded on on a landing,
Speaker 2: and it was a terrible scene for the for the
Speaker 2: balance of the my tenure at the station with the
Speaker 2: three fifty terrible. I'm getting all emotional now. And they
Speaker 2: asked for volunteers around ten days after D Day to
Speaker 2: go to Normandy to bring back freed prisoners or war
Speaker 2: British and American pliers that were shot down in prison
Speaker 2: for years in the Stalags in the German prison camps
Speaker 2: and they were treated by Polly. I volunteered to go.
Speaker 2: It was quite an experienced landing in Normandy. Deep in
Speaker 2: Normandy is D plus twelve that I first winned, and
Speaker 2: one batch that we brought back with German prisoners that
Speaker 2: we took that. We brought them back to England. They
Speaker 2: were young kids. Mostly, they weren't even twenty years old.
Speaker 2: Some of them they were Hitler was using all of
Speaker 2: whatever he had left, although we were still losing the
Speaker 2: war until D Day. Then things started to turn around.
Speaker 1: That's Harold Terrence. He's a US Army Air Corps veteran
Speaker 1: of World War Two. We'll have much more of his
Speaker 1: story in just a moment. I'm Greg Corumbus and this
Speaker 1: is Veterans Chronicles.
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Speaker 1: This is Veterans Chronicles. I'm Greg Corumbus. Our guest in
Speaker 1: this edition is Harold Terrens, a US Army Air Corps
Speaker 1: veteran of World War Two. Just days after the Allies
Speaker 1: launched the D Day invasion, the Germans unleashed a surprise
Speaker 1: of their own, the V one rocket also known as
Speaker 1: buzz bombs, and Harold Terrence barely survived one while in London.
Speaker 2: Most people don't know about the V one and the
Speaker 2: V two rockets that the Germans had. The one rocket
Speaker 2: was called a buzz bomb. It was set off from
Speaker 2: Belgium and it chugged along in the sky. It was
Speaker 2: a bomb that was set up and designated to land
Speaker 2: in London. When this bomb stopped and you could see
Speaker 2: the bomb going because it was it just chugged along
Speaker 2: in the sky and when it stopped, it just went
Speaker 2: straight down. Its purpose was to blow up whatever was
Speaker 2: it in its path or at the end of the road. Anyway,
Speaker 2: I was in an apartment building and a buzz uponmb
Speaker 2: We watched it and stopped. We were praying for it
Speaker 2: to pass by, and it hit the building next to
Speaker 2: us pretty much an our building just crumbled. I was
Speaker 2: on the fourth floor and I remember rescuing some some families,
Speaker 2: you know, kids, and the whole place was on fire
Speaker 2: and I ended up in the hospital. You don't get
Speaker 2: a purple heart for that. The ceiling came down army
Speaker 2: by my head. I was all cut up and I
Speaker 2: was unconscious. It was I was almost buried in plaster
Speaker 2: from the from the walls of the building, and I
Speaker 2: thought it was buried alive at the time.
Speaker 3: That was a harrowing experience.
Speaker 1: Less than a month after D Day, Tarrence suddenly found
Speaker 1: himself being transferred and not knowing where to or why.
Speaker 1: He suspected it was because the base commander had an
Speaker 1: eye for Terren's English girlfriend. Regardless of the reason, Terrence
Speaker 1: was soon in North Africa.
Speaker 2: I went to Land's End. I boorder the plane. I
Speaker 2: remember sitting next to Joe Lewis, who was the heavyweight
Speaker 2: champion of the world at that time. He was entertaining
Speaker 2: troops and six hours later, I think it was with
Speaker 2: radio silence and of flying over enemy territory, we landed
Speaker 2: in Casablanca. But while we were flying, I said, where
Speaker 2: am I going? Why am I leaving my outfit? And
Speaker 2: where am I going?
Speaker 4: And why was I sent on this mission?
Speaker 2: It was either to get rid of me because Captain
Speaker 2: Neuhart wanted my girlfriend, or the fact that I was
Speaker 2: a high speed radio operator and they needed me for
Speaker 2: a special assignment because they were Morse code operators. With
Speaker 2: my knowledge and wisdom of the code, they needed me
Speaker 2: for a special assignment. I didn't know. To this day,
Speaker 2: I don't know why I was sent anyway, I landed
Speaker 2: in Casablanca. A few days later. We went to Algier's Tunisia, Libya,
Speaker 2: and finally Cairo, and stayed there about a week waiting
Speaker 2: for further orders. And then we went to the Tripoli
Speaker 2: Baghdad and finally Terran Persia.
Speaker 4: I stayed there a couple of weeks.
Speaker 3: I remember.
Speaker 1: Terrence was assigned to several spots in the Middle East
Speaker 1: to support Allied shuttle bombings, including Tehran, which led to
Speaker 1: one of his most unpleasant memories.
Speaker 2: I decided to go out one night, and I didn't
Speaker 2: know when I was going to be leaving Torr and
Speaker 2: I went into a nightclub in Turin. I sat at
Speaker 2: the table. I ordered a glass of wine. I didn't drink,
Speaker 2: but I guess I had ordered something. And the young
Speaker 2: girl sat down at the table and said, may I
Speaker 2: sit here? She looked like clear patcha very beautiful and
Speaker 2: she said I have a glass of wine. I said yes,
Speaker 2: and she slipped me a mickey. I don't know if
Speaker 2: you know what that expression means, but in those days
Speaker 2: it was very popular.
Speaker 4: She put a little pill.
Speaker 2: In my drink while I wasn't looking, and it knocked
Speaker 2: me out almost completely. Two men came in, took me
Speaker 2: on the reach, one on the reach arm put me
Speaker 2: in a big black car, and the next thing I knew,
Speaker 2: I ended up on the Sahara desert, emblazing sunlight. The
Speaker 2: next morning, stark naked, burning to death. Can you picture that? Picture?
Speaker 2: Me on the sand dune on the Sahara Desert in Africa,
Speaker 2: Stark naked. I just had I did have my dog
Speaker 2: takes on. They left me with that, and I'm holding myself,
Speaker 2: covering myself from the from the sun. It was burning hot,
Speaker 2: and I stood. I was stood that way. I lay
Speaker 2: on the hot sand for five hours. Luckily, an mp G,
Speaker 2: a jeep with two MPs came by because it happened before,
Speaker 2: and they took me and put me in jail. They
Speaker 2: didn't know who I was, and they kept me a
Speaker 2: couple of days until they found my papers.
Speaker 3: I had my papers there. I told them to look through.
Speaker 2: They checked everything out and I was okay, and then
Speaker 2: they after a few more days, I was put on
Speaker 2: a plane to go to a poul Tava in Russia.
Speaker 1: Heraldared this is a US Army Air Corps veteran of
Speaker 1: World War II. We'll hear the rest of his story,
Speaker 1: including his wedding in Normandy on the eightieth anniversary of
Speaker 1: D Day in twenty twenty four. I'm Greg Corumbus and
Speaker 1: this is Veterans Chronicles. This is Veterans Chronicles. I'm Greg Corumbus.
Speaker 1: Our guest in this edition is Harold Terrans. He's a
Speaker 1: US Army Air Corps veteran of World War II. Terrence
Speaker 1: serviced radios for P forty seven Thunderbolts with the three
Speaker 1: hundred and fiftieth Fighter Squadron in the eighth Air Force
Speaker 1: based in England. In just a moment, we will hear
Speaker 1: all about how Harold and his new bride made worldwide
Speaker 1: headlines in June of twenty twenty four when they got
Speaker 1: married in Normandy on the eightieth anniversary of D Day.
Speaker 1: And that was just the beginning of a magical day
Speaker 1: for Harold and Genie thanks to royal treatment from the
Speaker 1: French government. But first we head back to the war
Speaker 1: and the Allied shuttle bombings that Terrence was supporting in
Speaker 1: North d Africa and the Middle East. Eventually he ended
Speaker 1: up doing the same in Russia. Terrence explains what shuttle
Speaker 1: bombing was and how it worked.
Speaker 2: My final destination. I finally got my final flight to Russia,
Speaker 2: to the Ukraine, to a town called Poltava, and we
Speaker 2: set up what is known today and they don't know
Speaker 2: this in the history books, that was called twenty four
Speaker 2: hour shuttle bombing. It started in England. The B seventeen
Speaker 2: bombers would take off from England. They would bomb the
Speaker 2: Polasti oil fields in Romania which were under German control
Speaker 2: and they were too far from England to get back.
Speaker 2: They didn't have enough fuel, so they continued on to
Speaker 2: Russia to the airfield where I was waiting for them.
Speaker 2: They would land there. Yeah, they would spend six hours
Speaker 2: there refueling, getting new bomb loads, taking care of themselves.
Speaker 2: The wounded would be taken to hospitals. Then they would
Speaker 2: take off, bomb the plus the oil fields again and
Speaker 2: continue on to Italy where they did the same thing
Speaker 2: and then flew back to England, all in a twenty
Speaker 2: four hour period, and that was called twenty four hour
Speaker 2: shuttle bombing.
Speaker 1: But shuttle bombing didn't last long from his position in Russia,
Speaker 1: and Terrence almost didn't last very long either. Another questionable
Speaker 1: decision left him close to death, but he managed to
Speaker 1: pull through.
Speaker 2: It ended the twenty four hour shuttle bombing when our
Speaker 2: planes were followed into Russia by German Messa Schmidt fighter planes.
Speaker 2: And then the next night they came over and bombed
Speaker 2: our air field. They destroyed my tent where I lived,
Speaker 2: and I wasn't named. The mission was aborted. It ended
Speaker 2: right there and there I developed this CENTERIO ended up
Speaker 2: in then ePRO in a hospital where almost died. I
Speaker 2: ended up going down to eighty eight pounds in a coma,
Speaker 2: so I drank milk that I was warned not to drink,
Speaker 2: that it was not pasteurized, and it made me very sick.
Speaker 1: The German surrendered to the Allies in Europe officially on
Speaker 1: May eighth, nineteen forty five, although the surrender to the
Speaker 1: US occurred a day earlier, on May ninth, nineteen forty five.
Speaker 1: Relieved that the war was over, Terrence found himself utterly
Speaker 1: shocked by his encounter with a German woman who showed
Speaker 1: no change of heart at all by the end of
Speaker 1: the fighting.
Speaker 2: The worst story I ever heard in the war had
Speaker 2: nothing to do with wounds or anything. It happened that
Speaker 2: day after the war ended. It happened May ninth, nineteen
Speaker 2: forty five. The war ended May eighth, and everybody was
Speaker 2: celebrating that night. Before we partied, everybody was drunk. I
Speaker 2: didn't drink at the time, so I just served the
Speaker 2: whiskey in the officers club till all the pilots, everybody
Speaker 2: got smashed. They got wasted, everybody except me. And the
Speaker 2: next morning they asked for volunteers to go to Germany
Speaker 2: to bring back three prisoners of war, and I volunteered,
Speaker 2: and I went on a B seventeen flying fortress, and
Speaker 2: we landed in Munster, Germany, which was bombed in every
Speaker 2: single day and night for almost seven months. I walked
Speaker 2: along the streets there looking for free prisoners, and they
Speaker 2: were all wandering aimless. They were emaciated. These little pilots
Speaker 2: that were shot down just released. While I was gathering
Speaker 2: these pillows together, a German woman came over to me
Speaker 2: and asked me if i'd like a cup of tea,
Speaker 2: and I said yes, so I would. And she took
Speaker 2: me into her house and she couldn't speak English, just
Speaker 2: a few words, and she poured the tea and lifted
Speaker 2: her cup and she said Heil Hitler. And I had
Speaker 2: never heard that before, and that shook me up terribly.
Speaker 2: It sort of made me crazy. I lost control, and
Speaker 2: I said to her, lady, you lost the war. The
Speaker 2: war ended yesterday. It's over. The boat sank. Get used
Speaker 2: to it. And I stormed out of that place or
Speaker 2: all upset. And to this day, some nights I closed
Speaker 2: my eyes and I think of that scene. I said
Speaker 2: that I shouldn't have killed her, but the war was over.
Speaker 2: It was a day later. I was very upset. I
Speaker 2: never heard Heil Hitler before he was also dead Yell.
Speaker 1: Harold Terrans returned to Normandy in the years that followed,
Speaker 1: and was present for the ceremonies commemorating the seventy fifth
Speaker 1: anniversary of D Day in twenty nineteen. He enthusiastically planned
Speaker 1: to return in twenty twenty four, but something had changed
Speaker 1: over those five years. Terrence was now in a deeply
Speaker 1: committed romance with Genie Swirlin, and since he has his
Speaker 1: own French connection, Terrence and Swirlen not only made the
Speaker 1: trip to Normandy for the ceremonies at the beaches, they
Speaker 1: made plans to tie the knot just a few miles away.
Speaker 1: Swerlin was ninety six and Harold Terrence was a spry
Speaker 1: one hundred years old.
Speaker 2: I have friends at the French embassy down in Miami,
Speaker 2: so general as a friend of mine, they recommended that
Speaker 2: I get married.
Speaker 3: Why not it?
Speaker 2: Normandy went on there on June sixth, so I said
Speaker 2: the Genie. I got on one knee in the garage.
Speaker 2: I said, you want to get married? She said sure.
Speaker 2: We had the most magnificent wedding ever in caroonton Ley
Speaker 2: my day in Normandy, which is about twenty twenty miles
Speaker 2: from Omaha Beach. The mayor of the town, which is
Speaker 2: part of history, like the most fierce fighting took place
Speaker 2: during the Normandy invasion. More in Caronton, More books. I
Speaker 2: have so many books about Caroonton and the mayor of Caroonton,
Speaker 2: Je Jean Jacques Olona, married us. My little great granddaughter
Speaker 2: of sixteen was the flower girl. All of Genie's children
Speaker 2: were there, My children were there. My grand daughter, who
Speaker 2: was that president of the a cappella group at University
Speaker 2: of Pennsylvania sang Whitney Houston song.
Speaker 4: I Will Always Love You.
Speaker 2: It was one of the most beautiful wedding ceremonies.
Speaker 4: You love.
Speaker 2: My friend had twenty four bagpipers playing there as well,
Speaker 2: and we had one of the greatest opera singers, Miss Liberty, singing.
Speaker 2: And then we had a lunch and I had all
Speaker 2: my French friends, my dear friends there, and then I
Speaker 2: got a call from the head of protocol in Paris
Speaker 2: that the President Macrone of France is inviting me and
Speaker 2: Jennie that night to a state dinner at the Palace,
Speaker 2: and Biden.
Speaker 3: Was there, and I'm overwhelmed.
Speaker 2: It was the greatest day of my life to get
Speaker 2: married in the morning and have the friends secret service
Speaker 2: drive us three hours from Normandy to Paris to the
Speaker 2: directed the Palace. And you have no idea what took
Speaker 2: place there. You can't imagine. It was so exciting. We
Speaker 2: were the guests Ubonna, Kings and queens and presidents and
Speaker 2: prime ministers all stood up and applaud me and Jeanie
Speaker 2: as we walked them. And we were in every newspaper
Speaker 2: in the world that next morning. And I remember to
Speaker 2: get your political affiliations. I remember sitting at the table
Speaker 2: with his cabinet, the Ministry of Culture. I was sitting
Speaker 2: with Genie in the former and ambassador to Washington. Some
Speaker 2: man put his arms around me. He says, Harold, you.
Speaker 3: And Genie, at this very moment are.
Speaker 2: The most popular people in the entire world. You're in
Speaker 2: every front page of every newspaper in the world. And
Speaker 2: I wasn't after newspaper's home as far away as Mongolia.
Speaker 2: And the man that put his arm around me was
Speaker 2: our Secretary of State, Anthony Blincoln, who was a friend
Speaker 2: of mine. I became friendly with the lady sitting next
Speaker 2: to me. We held hands the whole night. She's very
Speaker 2: prominent socialite in Paris. Her name is Michelle laminastral Ulrich
Speaker 2: and she is the founder of the French Historical Society,
Speaker 2: very very famous. And then my friendly ambassadors ask me
Speaker 2: anybody else you want to see? I says, yeah, would
Speaker 2: call a Bruni be here, call her Brunie. It was
Speaker 2: my favorite friend's singer. She's married to a former president
Speaker 2: of France, President Nicholas Sarkozy. She's the former girlfriend of
Speaker 2: Mick Jagger of the Rolling Stones.
Speaker 3: And she came running over to me and threw her
Speaker 3: arms around me.
Speaker 2: I got her picture of her hugging me at the
Speaker 2: at the dinner, at the stake dinner. Whoever thing thought
Speaker 2: I'd be at the palace at a steak dinner and
Speaker 2: have all. And then President Maccone toasted me and Jeanie
Speaker 2: in French and in English, and Nancy Pelosi came running
Speaker 2: over and threw around. She remembered me from five years prior,
Speaker 2: and she sent me a hundred birthday Greennie. There's all
Speaker 2: one day, my wedding in the State dinner, all in
Speaker 2: one day. People don't experience that in their lifetime.
Speaker 1: It's clear that spending just a few minutes thinking back
Speaker 1: to World War Two resurfaces some fascinating and painful memories.
Speaker 1: For Harold Terrence. He wishes students were taught a lot
Speaker 1: more about the war, and specifically about D Day, but
Speaker 1: his memories always come back to those he served with,
Speaker 1: many of whom were killed in service to their nation.
Speaker 2: First of all, it's unfortunate that most high school students
Speaker 2: today do not know anything about D Day. They never
Speaker 2: heard of normany. They don't even know much about World
Speaker 2: War Two. I don't think much of it is taught
Speaker 2: in history classes today, and it's unfortunate that they don't
Speaker 2: know the history of their country and the suffering that
Speaker 2: everybody went through. That fifty million people were killed because
Speaker 2: of of the war, that over forty million were wounded,
Speaker 2: that the suffering that went on in every country of
Speaker 2: the world at the time.
Speaker 3: It was a nightmare.
Speaker 2: And I have so many stories that I can tell
Speaker 2: that me and myself, I was in three different hospitals
Speaker 2: and three different countries. I'm lucky to be sitting here.
Speaker 2: You need luck to be one hundred and one years old.
Speaker 2: But two years I was in a war zone. Constantly
Speaker 2: in a war zone. There was a very unpleasant experience.
Speaker 2: Even though there was a lot of fun in games,
Speaker 2: there's a lot of tragedy and suffering.
Speaker 1: That's Harold Terance. He's a US Army Air Corps veteran
Speaker 1: of World War Two. He and his wife, Jeanie, made
Speaker 1: worldwide headlines by getting married in Normandy on the eighties
Speaker 1: anniversary of D Day in twenty twenty four. I'm Greg
Speaker 1: Corumbus and this is Veterans Chronicles. Hi, this is Greg
Speaker 1: Corumbus and thanks for listening to Veterans Chronicles, a presentation
Speaker 1: of the American Veterans Center. For more information, please visit
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Speaker 1: Thanks again for listening, and please join us next time
Speaker 1: for Veterans Chronicles