Harold Terens was just 18 years old and playing basketball with his friends when he heard the news of the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor. Like many Americans, he had no idea where Pearl Harbor was but he definitely wanted to serve. He joined the U.S. Army Air Corps in 1942 with dreams of becoming a pilot. A vision test dashed those dreams but he quickly proved proficient at receiving and sending Morse Code.
Terens left for Europe on his 20th birthday in 1943. He was assigned to the 350th Fighter Squadron in the Eighth Air Force. His job was to make sure radios on P-47 Thunderbolts were in good working order. He was also stationed there on June 6, 1944, when many of the planes in his squadron were part of the D-Day invasion. Many did not return to base.
In this edition of Veterans Chronicles, Terens describes D-Day in vivid, painful detail and why he went to Normandy a short time later. We'll also hear about Terens narrowly escaping with his life after a German V-1 rocket, or "buzz bomb" landed next to his building in London.
A few weeks after D-Day, Terens was transferred out of England. He tells us about serving in North Africa, the Middle East, and Russia. And he shares two more instances in which he was forunate to emerge alive.
Finally, Terens tells us all about his wedding in Normandy on the 80th anniversary of D-Day and how he and his new bride were treated like royalty in France.