Harold Frank is not a D-Day veteran
This is the saddest story of embellishment that I hope will ever make it to these pages.
Harold Frank has been celebrated as the last survivor of Gulf Company, 357th Infantry Regiment of the 90th Infantry Division’s invasion of France on D-Day, June 6th, 1944. From an interview with Mr Franks;
From the June 6 landing on D-Day until July 4, Frank said, he and his fellow soldiers fought without relief.
From an article just late last year;
Frank is the last living survivor from Company G 2nd Battalion 357th Infantry that landed at Utah Beach, 90th Division historians indicate.
The problem is that Mr Franks wasn’t with G/357th on D-Day, he was afloat with a replacement unit, the 350th Replacement Company. In fact, according to morning reports, G/357th was still afloat in the English Channel on D-Day and they didn’t land until June 8th – Franks joined them on June 16th;
The rest of his story is true – he was wounded and captured by Germans on July 8th at the Battle for Hill 122 – Foret de Mont Castre and held in a POW camp for the remaining ten months of the war until his release in May 1945;
Frank’s story has become part of the history of D-Day, thanks to his collaboration with an historian, Mark Hagan, who recently learned the truth about Franks and had to pull a documentary about him because of his D-Day lie. I’m at a loss to explain why he felt the need to embellish his time in the military to include the D-Day invasion. He earned a Combat Infantryman Badge, a Purple Heart and Bronze Star, for Pete’s sake.
Category: Historical
…..and the POW medal
most phoneys claim that one.
the prisoner stories would be great
Why, why, damned WHY? SONOFABITCH!!!
Yeah.
I got nothing.
I’m just shaking my head over this one.
Unfortunately, landing on D-Day has become THE seminal event in the public’s conscious memory and awareness of the WWII European War. Joe Q. Citizen has basically zilch knowledge or awareness of St. Lo, Mortain, Metz, Schmidt, or the Huertgen Forest. The same applies to public awareness of the landing on Iwo Jima in the Pacific, but virtual complete historical ignorance of Bougainville, Tarawa, Kwajalein, or Saipan. Sadly, some veterans have decided to embellish their roles in the battles the public DOES know to receive the fame they feel they deserve, than to receive honors for the battles they ACTUALLY fought in, but which the public has completely forgotten about or has no knowledge to begin with. It is a sad situation…
Have a deceased great uncle that was at Tarawa and Saipan. Don’t remember him but the family stories of how his life was “after” the war slay me but I love to hear them.
Good lord, why would he feel the need to lie about that record of service?
Those morning reports are fascinating to me, being a history buff. Anyone else find it horrific that G company lost 30 men in a week after landing?
Not really when you consider It wasn’t until the success of Operation Cobra almost two months after D Day that US Forces managed to break out of the beachhead. That meant a lot of tough fighting in the hedgerows of Normandy. The initial landing at Omaha was perhaps the most horrific event of Overlord. I cringe every time I watch films of the 1st and 29th going ashore that day.
Bingo. The fighting in Normandy was nasty, deadly, and made little progress until the breakout.
I know all that cognitively. It’s just so much more shocking when you see it in hard numbers. And that’s just one of how many hundreds of companies landed in that first 90 days.
Being an AF guy, I often wonder what the bombers and escorts (numbering in thousands) must have looked and sounded like going over the channel.
Just think of all these troops sitting in boats just waiting days for their chance to land and move in.
Goes to show how unfathomably large these operations, and indeed the whole war, were!
I’m reading this book now. Jocko’s read here is worth a listen.
^^^^it relates directly to your comment, cc senior
30 men in a week? SHYT man, some companies lost more than that in 30 minutes!!!
He didn’t need to embellish a damn thing; it just makes no sense….the man was already a hero.
UFB… the man didn’t need to lie.
Just UFB…
FFS
I’m at a total loss of words.
Not going to rag on him, but he earned a CIB, Bronze Star, Purple Heart and a POW medal and he had to embellish?
Just sad, truly sad.
I truly don’t understand.
So sad to see this.
He could just say that he joined that unit right after D-Day and nobody would have thought the lesser of him…
Just a sad commentary on the way things are…
Here’s a bit of information on Stalag 12-A.
Was he possibly captured during the Battle of The Bulge?
http://www.pegasusarchive.org/pow/cSt_12A_History1.htm
It was part of the post invasion offensive.
https://standwheretheyfought.jimdo.com/normandy-2007-the-us-landing-sectors-then-and-now/
No. Bulge was in Dec 44-Jan 45. Docs above indicate he was wounded and captured on 8 Jul 44.
Looks like my reading & comprehension skill set went flying out the window this morning, Hondo.
I appreciate the correction.
How long has he been embellishing? If it has not been long, his age may legitimately be a factor in driving his memory. Or loss of accurate memory. Or in the surfacing of old demons.
Sad. Extremely sad.
Concur. If this embellishment is recent, it may well be the “Once a man, twice a child” principle at work.
Sooner or later, the advance of age will claim most of us, those who do not die early and young. While many are blessed to retain full faculties until the final hour, many, sadly, do not.
Dementia and Alzheimer’s are just two of the things lurking in the shadows of time. The more I see of these horrors, the less I am tempted to throw stones at elderly embellishers. Correct the record? Sure. Ask Gramps to maybe rethink exactly what happened? Sure. Say “knock off the tall tales”? Probably so. But I am less and less willing to curse or hate what may simply be a sad old befuddled man, especially one that certainly earned respect as a veteran on behalf of the United States, whatever the actual role.
We -must- point out the wrongs, lest they become accepted. But let us always temper Justice with Mercy, as neither is sufficient by itself.
I concur too. He has no reasson to do any embellishment and what he did speaks for itself.
Good point. I am only 56 and served two tours in Beirut. But there are large parts or time periods that I can’t accurately recall. My best friend from the Corps who I keep in touch with on a regular basis, will discuss Beirut every now and then, and there are certain times or things that happened that he recalls differently than I do. You never really know how the mind works.
Add one or more concussions to the mix, and memory gets -real- strange.
Amen to that! I am 54 and the same things are happening to me. When I break out the photos, I know the general time period but I can’t remember the details like I used to.
This is sad.
And thus, I remain highly skeptical of any film documentary.
Well researched books for me.
Hitler was an artillery corporal, wounded and received the iron cross. A little creative writing while jailed for hooliganism.. The rest is history, they say.
Not to excuse the lie, but I’ve got an idea why:
Because in modern, historically dumb 15 min of fame is all that matters America, if you didn’t land on D-Day you didn’t fight Ze Germans, because ‘Saving Private Ryan’ combined with a lack of Americans having a living WW2 combat veteran as a relative.
Never mind ‘the Battle of the Bulge’. Never mind the Hurtgen Forest – the possibly the Army’s toughest, bloodiest battle ever (still waiting for a real movie about this…too bad HBOs ‘When Trumpets Fade’ adaptation was never in the theaters – you should watch it, great cast, pulls no punches).
Can you imagine an old Soldier, wounded and captured by the Germans…
‘Did you land on D-Day? No? Oh.’
…conversation ends.
This may not be the case, I don’t know. Just a hunch on my part.
But when WW2 is basically blown off in most schools these days, it’s guys like this who pay the steepest price – they are robbed of the memory and knowledge of their sacrifices in the name of duty.
I concur, please see my comment above..
“Can you imagine an old Soldier, wounded and captured by the Germans…
‘Did you land on D-Day? No? Oh.’
…conversation ends.”
sharkman, that reminds me of this item I saw on the Internet a while back. I’m guessing it’s not true, but still made me laugh……….
An 83 year old Army veteran arrived in Paris by plane. As he was fumbling in his bag for his passport, a stern French customs agent asked if he had been to France before. He admitted that he had indeed been previously. The lady sarcastically said “Then you should know to have your passport out and ready, Sir.”
The gentleman said “I didn’t have to show it last time.”
“IMPOSSIBLE!” the customs agent said. “ALL foreigners have always had to show a passport to enter the country.” The man responded by whispering, “Well, when I came ashore on the beach on D-Day in 1944, I couldn’t find any fucking Frenchmen to show it to!”
I can say it is 180 degrees off true in my experience, having been to several D-Day ceremonies over the years, and even having had the honor of jumping at a couple. Once, I even jumped the same rig that those old-school airborne badasses did. That’s a story for another time. Some examples: At the 50th anniversary ceremony, the day prior there were some scumbags scooping up bags full of sand from Utah, Omaha, etc. and bottling it as ‘souveniers’. They were literally chased off the beaches by Frenchmen, usually the sons of those who were living in the region at the time of D-Day. They repeatedly said words to the effect of ‘You cannot sell this because you do not own it. This sand is the American’s sand, and it was paid for in blood’. A D-Day veteran of the 82d wound up 15km or so from the DZ, and his younger, AD airborne ‘minders’ lost him in the chaos that caused the big DZ miss in the first place. There was a big reunion ceremony planned, with all the surviving veterans supposed to get together for a big presentation and Q&A. The missing WW2 82d BAMF was a no-show/no-call, and there was no shortage of panic based on bad mental images of him drowned in 2′ of water, with busted femurs. I joked that maybe he was just reenacting the Normandy jumps (many were way off target) ‘in detail’. Because I’m an asshole. He liked the joke when he heard it later, though. It turns out he walked into a small village where some 101st airborne badasses bought it in a 10:1 fight against Ze Germans. The locals didn’t care, the town worshipped American airborne Soldiers, period. So when he finally gets located and everyone breaths 3 sighs of relief, a reporter asks him why he didn’t call for pickup, because he ‘missed the reunion’. His reply was airborne all the way (paraphrased below); ‘Are you kidding me? I see those guys twice a year for the past 40 years or more. We’re sick of each other. I’m… Read more »
Even a cursory read of Cornelius Ryan’s The Longest Day shows that not to be true.
At least one mayor -in full regalia- went down to the beaches to greet the GIs.
You got that right! damned NEA only told these dumb ass kids about D Day…they think that was the whole war and nothing else mattered…DISGUSTING freaking communist school system!
I interviewed two WWII vets for stories in May. both them had a hard time remembering where they were, what units and exactly when things took place. They remembered incidents but the times and the locations, in some places, were off. I don’t think they were lying but both were in their mid-90s. As someone pointed out, time is the ultimate enemy.
Andy Kravetz, reporter
Peoria (Ill.) Journal Star
I have the documentary that was produced about Harold here. YouTube wouldn’t let me post it because of copyrights, but Harold recounts his actions on the Normandy beachhead, you know, things that he saw in movies, not things that actually happened to him. I find it difficult to believe that he’s remembering things that didn’t happen to him.
Makes me question the Vimy, Somme and Passchendaele vets that I encountered as a kid… Sad
I don’t think it was the same with WW1. There was zero ‘glory’, even in the public eye.
Mi dos centavos.
I view this as a rather sad case of age creeping in on him, not keeping dates straight any more, but not really embellishing. We tend to forget that not all of us can keep things straight in our minds as we get older.
My maternal grandmother could remember what I did when I was seven, but couldn’t remember what I said five minutes ago. My other grandmother could play symphonies she taught her piano students, recall family recipes right down to the ingredient amounts, but would forget to take her keys with her if she left the house.
Faulty memory is common in old folks.
These things happen as we get older. For some it’s really bad, for others, they just keep going. I’m just going to give this a pass. He may not remember that he was in a German Stalag or who was there, or he may not want to remember it. But he was in Normandy when he was needed. That’s enough for me.
I also choose to see it that way.
I’m still not worthy of shining that man’s boots.
My guess, too, is old age, and I still ain’t got hair compared to him. I’d still buy him a beer.
After the Great Escape, the Nazis put out notices that ‘escape was no longer a sport’.
In my view, simply surviving a German POW camp and living to tell the tale eliminates the other issues.
I respectfully disagree.
The German armed forces were exceptional in their treatment of Western allied POWS. Especially aircrew.
The murders/war crimes associated with ‘The Great Escape’ were perpetrated by the SS/Gestapo, and were stridently criticized by the Luftwaffe (who had custody and control of all allied aircrew POWs).
I had an uncle who was shot down and a POW of ze Germans. He became ill and when the local German military MDs could not treat him, they actually transported him to the #1 relevant hospital in German for treatment. It saved his life. He came home because of honorable German conduct.
I’ll add that with the # of Germans surrendering, and ‘inability to take POWs’ by units advancing rapidly, the Western allied shot a hell of a lot more legit POWs than the Germans did.
Unvarnished accounts by combat veterans back this up.
War is hell, and the victors always fall back on hypocrisy.
Is there anything posted on this thread you don’t disagree with?
Is dissension not allowed? Careful. Your inner fascist is showing.
John I support everything you do in your quest to uncover and stop the stolen valor clowns, This one however did not need to be told. I totally disagree with dragging this Warriors name through the grinder. June 6, June 8, June 16 how can you know what his elderly mind remembers at this point in time. You need to make this one disappear.
I must respectfully disagree. We -must- correct the record. Or we become part of the falsehood.
Jonn made it clear thias was not just some ordinary zero-time fraudster. But if he starts picking and choosing which lies get outed, his moral authority to call out -any- of them goes down the shitter.
I might reword the title: “Harold Frank is a D+10 vet”
Perhaps posts of this sort could be under a new category ” Correcting The Record”
I think there may be legal issues, but I don’t know.
Could one of the phonies who has lawyer’d up claim ‘he doesn’t go after everyone!’ and have some legal recourse?
That is another good reason Jonn should not sweep the unpleasant ones under a rug.
He also moderates the hammer based on the subject’s actions.
Most of what happens to the heavy-duty shitbags seems to me like self-inflicted wounds. Some of those folks would pee on an electric fence a third time to express their displeasure at getting zapped.
There ya go, giving them ideas they never wooda thunk up by themselves. ‘Cause, ya know, they would never make false claims under oath or anything…
(Yeah, dripping with sarc, that was.)
PS All that some of us expect from Jonn is that he post the truth and otherwise act honorably. So far, it appears from this part of the peanut gallery that he is doing exactly that.
Fuggin’ shame.
Hopefully it’s a lapse in memory… maybe it’s easier just to say D-Day instead of D+2 or the second or third wave…
It would be a shame if he’s been embellishing for a while…
His actual story would have been worthy of publication.
I guess the question becomes, how long has he been telling this story? (That still isn’t clear to me.) If only recently, then chalk it up to failing memory. If many years, then yeah, he deserves the hammer.
I have a video which YouTube blocked when I posted it because of copyright issues in which Frank goes into detail about his D-Day exploits – most of them come straight from Private Ryan. The video is actually a documentary done about Frank’s life that the producer yanked when he learned of Frank’s lies.