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Northwest Prime Time www.NorthwestPrimeTime.com
Active Aging
Remembering WWII
With Charles Robert (Bob) Harmon, Professor Emeritus Seattle University ...by Suzanne G. Beyer
heard, With “Harmon! tears in Cook up his eyes, dinner!” Seattle Bob was University motivated Professor throughout Emeritus, the war to Bob not only Harmon, stay alive, recalls but “to fight “There for the guy were 190 on your soldiers left and in my your right.” company. I He added, was one out “Infantry of 17 who fighting made it.” is done Bob through Harmon, a crawling.” Private First He Class (PFC) fought in Bob Harmon and his wife Virginia, photos by Don Beyer describes a day where the Battle of Normandy, the Battle of the Bulge he and one other soldier crawled on and served as one of the Monuments their bellies through the Siegfried Line to behind German bunkers. Men recovering artwork and The army taught the American treasures stolen by the Nazis. military just enough German so they During the Battle of the Bulge could communicate with the enemy. (Dec. 16, 1944 through Jan. 25, After a barrage of Allied fire hit the 1945), Bob lived in foxholes. “We bunker, Bob told the Germans left were constantly scared of artillery alive, “Der Krieg ist verloren” (The and mortar fire.” war is lost). “You have a life to save.” Sometimes he and his men After the war, soldiers returned took over a farmhouse. He recalls to civilian life. Tom Brokaw, in discovering smoked ham in a his book, The Greatest Generation, chimney of one of those houses. noted WWII soldiers came home, With potatoes and carrots he found persevered, went back to school and in a nearby field, he prepared a worked. Bob was no exception. nutritious meal. He also cooked for “Very few people talked about the family, who had been ordered to what they did in the war,” he said. move to the basement for safety. “We were sick of war and there was Harmon was known as a good so much else to do. I wanted to go cook among his unit and often
December 2019
to college on the GI Bill and meet through stories his uncle, Jeff Willis, girls.” told him. But when he returned home to “My uncle played polo on horses Olympia, it helped that he was from with Patton when they were on a military assignment family where in Hawaii. he, along Patton with his dad was a firstand uncle, class polo could openly player,” said share war Harmon. stories. He His uncle admitted also not knowing divulged, if he suffered “Patton was from PTSD, mouthy but felt and cursing General George S. Patton’s cross at Luxembourg American sharing all the Cemetery faces these crosses, his troops who fought n the stories time.” Bob Battle of the Bulge 75 years ago this month helped. He also knows feels he is still transitioning from General Patton’s granddaughter, wartime to the present. who “sang and entertained the Bob has returned to the troops,” he said. battlefields in Europe with Virginia, One of his favorite topics to his wife of 67 years, and their four discuss is the Monuments Men. children. He’s given presentations Towards the end of the war, in at both European venues and to February 1945, Bob was assigned to military academies in the United work with the Arts and Monuments States. The country of Luxembourg Commission. Altaussee, Austria, was and the state of Thuringia, Germany, loaded with salt mines, including have bestowed honorary citizenship Sternberg, Hitler’s special mine, on him in recognition of his efforts where Nazis hid stolen artwork and during the war. He’s visited the treasurers. Bob recalls discovering present-day Luxembourg American not only artwork, but also a Cemetery and Memorial, where on complete library and Australian December 29, 1944, a military burial coins. ground first appeared. When his unit came across Today, white crosses and Stars Michelangelo’s Bruges Madonna, of David on 50 acres bring lasting they were specifically ordered, peace to 5,076 American soldiers. “Don’t touch that!” Most of them died between “We all touched it.” December 1944 and January 1945 Bob said of his military service, while fighting the Germans during “I was a good rifleman in the the Battle of the Bulge in Belgium. infantry,” but admits, he didn’t On this hallowed ground, one small develop leadership skills until much white cross inscribed with “General later. Now a leader and military George S. Patton” faces the troops. history expert, he served on the Bob walked among the crosses in history faculty and in administration this cemetery and notes, “The first at Seattle University from 1953 to rays of the morning sun always hit 2013 and earned the distinction of Patton’s cross first.” Professor Emeritus. Bob served under General Professor Harmon, a vibrant Patton’s Third Army, 319th Infantry 93-year-old, still gives presentations Regiment, 80th Division. His and grants interviews – always the knowledge of a young Patton comes educator! v
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