Frank Hartzell was born in January 1925 in Buffalo, New York. After six months, his family moved to the Philadelphia area. He has a younger brother and sister. His father was a small business man. He made loose leaf equipment. The family was upper middle class. The Depression was tough, forcing the family to move to a smaller house in another town. Both parents were college educated as have been Hartzell's children. Hartzell was not impacted much by the Depression. His family was never hungry. Hartzell went to summer camp. His grandfather was one of the primary initiators of the automotive industry. Financial assistance for Hartzell's family likely came from his grandfather. Hartzell and his siblings spent the summers in Ocean City. He has been fortunate in his life. He remembers the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor in 1941 when he was a sophomore in high school. He was home when he heard about the attack on that Sunday. The country went all out for the war. Most families had relatives in the military. War production became a focus because of those connections of individuals to relatives in the service. Hartzell's grandfather was upset when the war started. Two of his sons had fought in World War 1. One of those boys had been gassed. He worried about the impact on his sons and grandchildren when they were called into service. Everyone was supportive of the war effort. There were sacrifices made by civilians through rationing.

Frank Hartzell was a good student and maintained his high school deferment. After graduation, he entered the ASTP [Annotator's Note: Army Specialized Training Program] with a friend. Hartzell had the choice of entering the Navy program for officer training but selected the Army because that was the option taken by his buddy. The friend never went overseas while Hartzell did and almost got killed. After induction in July 1943, Hartzell was sent to Camp Roberts in California. The basic training there made a man out of him. His military service was wonderful except for the danger involved. He is a proponent of mandatory military service. Basic was about what Hartzell anticipated and he was good at it. He trained for 13 weeks as a rifleman. There was a lot of marching, physical exercise, and close order drills. He learned about the rifle and the operation of machine guns. There were training films that aided his education. His whole company, if not battalion, was all ASTP so they were exceptionally good soldiers. Their drill sergeant got drunk one night and came in and woke up the barracks and told all the men that they were really good soldiers. Most of the men were college students if not graduates. During basic, Hartzell encountered only high school graduates. Later during deployment, he would meet up with troops who had not experienced higher education. Theoretically, the ASTP was established to help keep colleges going while many men were off in the military. Alternatively, it was set up to train officers for the long war and occupation ahead. Hartzell attended the program in Puget Sound at Tacoma, Washington for three months. The courses seemed easy to him. The timing of his completion was prior to the D-Day invasion [Annotator's Note: 6 June 1944]. There had been many infantrymen lost so the graduates were needed to bolster the ground forces. Some went to the artillery or armor but most went to the infantry because of the need for "cannon fodder." That resulted in a high casualty rate. Hartzell took the situation as it came and went with the flow. He did not feel rebellious. In ASTP, he took basic classes in math, geography, chemistry, and physics. He received an award for his academic excellence. He went to the 11th Armored Division in March 1944. He was assigned to Company B, 21st Armored Infantry Battalion. He joined the outfit in Camp Cooke, California after it had completed desert maneuvers. Hartzell had not benefited from their previous one year of extensive training. He picked up on the remaining stateside training with the company. He was assigned to a machine gun squad and received training on the light air-cooled machine gun [Annotator's Note: Browning M1919A4 .30 caliber machine gun]. He received his first leave to get home. Travel was difficult. It took five days to get home. He arrived home on 5 June and slept late. His mother told him that the Allies had landed [Annotator's Note: Normandy was invaded on 6 June 1944]. He felt some disappointment about not being there. He returned to his company after his ten day leave.

Frank Hartzell and his outfit [Annotator's Note: Company B, 21st Armored Infantry Battalion, 11th Armored Division] took a train trip across the country in September [Annotator's Note: September 1944]. The Red Cross was at every stop to offer coffee and donuts. That was memorable. It made him feel the country was behind the troops. Other than that, it was a miserable trip during the summer. The coal burning engine covered all the passengers in soot. Hartzell and a friend managed to find a couple of seats in an air conditioned car. They slept in their seats. When they reached Camp Kilmer [Annotator's Note: Camp Kilmer, New Jersey], leave was granted and he returned home which was close by. Men who did not live close to Camp Kilmer went into New York on their leave. There was minor training and some medical treatment with shots. The battalion boarded the ship after a week. The ship departed out of Hoboken [Annotator's Note: Hoboken, New Jersey]. The ship had five deep bunks. It was not very comfortable. Hartzell's company was assigned KP [Annotator's Note: kitchen patrol or kitchen police] duty. That was beneficial since they were working higher in the ship and, consequently, had more fresh air. The troops had only poker and eating to look forward to. They traveled in a large convoy. There were drills in case of u-boat [Annotator's Note: German submarine] attack. Some activity occurred on the periphery of the convoy, but there were few scares. In 1941, the Germans had been right off the coast of New Jersey. That activity had diminished by late 1944. The troops went ashore in Southampton and spread out across England. They lived in Quonset huts and had some training. Hartzell had leave in London. It was muddy in England. Hartzell left for France on the day before the Battle of the Bulge started [Annotator's Note: 15 December 1944]. Their original objective was St. Nazaire where a pocket of Germans were holding out. Hartzell's unit started across southern France to reach that objective. They were diverted north after the Germans advanced in the Ardennes. He remembers that it was cold as he crossed France. The troops slept in tents along the way. The whole armored division raced across France held back only by the lumbering speed of the tanks. They arrived a few days before Christmas at an old French Army camp, Camp Soissons. The men slept inside and had some comforts such as showers and church services.

Frank Hartzell and his battalion [Annotator's Note: Hartzell served on a machine gun crew in Company B, 21st Armored Infantry Battalion, 11th Armored Division] had Christmas [Annotator's Note: Christmas 1944] dinner in the field in a combat role. The battalion was attached to the 3rd Army which had turned north and was preparing to attack around Bastogne. Hartzell's first combat was about 29 December. Visibility was poor and communication lacking as the troops traveled north toward Bastogne in their vehicles. They knew they were headed toward the front. The first serious encounter with the enemy resulted in many American tanks being lost. On New Year's Eve, Hartzell's company was engaged with the enemy and suffered many casualties. A machine gun nest had the platoon pinned down until it was cleaned out. They advanced into the town [Annotator's Note: unsure of spelling] in a confused manner. People were killed. Hartzell does not remember too many of the details. He does recall trying to dig a foxhole in the frozen ground on New Year's Day. They were under artillery or tank fire. He shared digging with a buddy, Bob Fordice [Annotator's Note: unsure of spelling]. The two had gone through ASTP [Annotator's Note: Army Specialized Training Program] together. The digging took forever so the men alternated using the entrenching tool. His friend was a hard worker. A barrage came in and Hartzell felt something hit his helmet. Looking over at his buddy to note that it was a close call, he discovered the top of his friend's head had been taken off. That was the first close friend Hartzell lost in action. Hartzell might very well have been the one that was killed. A number of men were lost in taking the town. Hartzell was not yet 20 years of age and was assistant squad leader. He handled the situation well. Some men had combat fatigue. The squad leader was one of the first cases of breaking down. The squad leader was busted in rank and assigned as a clerk in the company headquarters for the duration of the war. Hartzell was scared, but the peer pressure helped him handle what he had to do. The next day, another friend, Paul Gentilly [Annotator’s Note: unsure of surname spelling], was killed. Hartzell and John Fay [Annotator's Note: unsure of surname spelling] were the only original members of the first platoon who would remain uninjured throughout the war. That is exclusive of the half-track drivers. The battalion advanced on another town and laid siege. They dug foxholes that collected water in them. It was cold. Hartzell had lost his glove, and his hand was freezing. He was sent to the rear for treatment. A barrage started and Hartzell found cover in the battalion headquarters which was only 50 feet behind the frontline. He was there for two hours while the platoon attacked the town. Paul Gentilly was killed then. Hartzell felt guilty about that. In the first two days of action for his platoon, Hartzell lost his two best friends.

Frank Hartzell advanced through the ranks as squad and then platoon leader as casualties mounted during the Battle of the Bulge. Entering later in the campaign, his battalion never had to retreat from the Germans. Units earlier in the fight were overwhelmed in many cases by the Germans. The fighting was as bitter as it was the cold. His unit had minimal winter gear to withstand the elements. He did manage to keep an extra pair of socks close to his body. That likely saved him from having frostbitten feet. A wounded friend gave Hartzell a sleeping bag before he withdrew to the rear. That further protected Hartzell. The division [Annotator’s Note: 11th Armored Division] was green when it entered the battle. Its commander was sacked, likely by Patton [Annotator’s Note: the 11th Armor was attached to General George S. Patton’s 3rd Army during the battle]. After the initial two or three days of combat, the division was withdrawn and replaced in the line by the 17th Airborne Division. The men were tired and happy to get the rest. During the Bulge, Hartzell witnessed the results of Americans executing German prisoners of war at Chenogne, Belgium. It likely was random acts but 20 to 30 dead Germans were seen by Hartzell. His captain was a God fearing man so he probably did not issue any orders. The issue was kept quite. If the Germans had won the war, Hartzell posits that he could have been executed as a war criminal. Although the battalion was not involved in extremely serious combat, Hartzell remembers vividly one event. While he was in the woods overlooking Houffalize, he heard the screaming Mimi’s going overhead. He jumped in a foxhole over the top of another man. The individual below Hartzell did not mind as it provided him more cover. Another sergeant was killed during that barrage. The battalion was pulled back to Massul in Belgium for rest and refit. The men found the local population welcoming as they slept in their homes. The G.I.s provided food to the homeowners. The rest provided the troops with a much needed shower and new uniforms. When they entered Massul, the soldiers were dirty and unshaven. It had been a month since they bathed in England.

Frank Hartzell and his battalion [Annotator's Note: Hartzell was a member of Company B, 21st Armored Infantry Battalion, 11th Armored Division] entered Germany at night through a minefield. The mines had trip wires that made them scary. The enemy did not oppose their advance. In fact, they captured Polish troops fighting for the Germans who did not hear the Americans until it was too late. Hartzell had carefully followed the man ahead of him through the minefield. He did not fire his weapon prior to being assigned to a pillbox. As a runner for his captain, he made contact with the adjacent company. He took so long reporting back to Captain Fabrick [Annotator's Note: Captain Elmore K. Fabrick], that he was thought to be gone. The men of the outfit were happy to see him return. During the combat for the Siegfried Line, Hartzell saw Germans surrendering. He remembers one enemy soldier who had his arm shot off. He saw bodies of dead Germans crushed on the roadway by multiple tanks and vehicles riding over them. Battalion casualties were about 48 out of 250 men. Hartzell knew about half of them. He had thought the numbers would have been less until he saw the roster of the dead. Being on German soil made no difference in the degree of enemy opposition. He remembers being pinned down by a river. Another incident involved a dud artillery shell penetrating a building where he was located. Although there was no explosion, multiple men were killed by the impact of the shell. His first night patrol was with veterans from another division. That scary incident impressed Hartzell. He wrote a story about the experience. Once the Americans broke out into the open, they rapidly made tremendous progress across the German countryside.

Frank Hartzell felt animosity toward the enemy when he encountered a column of concentration camp survivors. He had previously spotted dead people in striped uniforms. They had been shot through the head. When the Americans came over a hill, they observed the group of people in a distance that looked like a column of ants. The Germans were trying to move the forced laborers so that the Americans could not catch up with them. Hartzell gained an idea of the brutality of the Germans. Some of guards were captured. A half-track driver from Louisiana named Claude Hebert was a mild mannered fellow. He tried to run over the guilty Germans. The anger in Hartzell was pronounced. The troops had not really known prior to that encounter what the Nazis were capable of perpetrating on their victims. The battalion [Annotator's Note: Hartzell was a member of Company B, 21st Armored Infantry Battalion, 11th Armored Division] would go on to liberate a concentration camp. The liberated individuals in Mauthausen were in even worse condition that those in the column.

Frank Hartzell cannot remember his last battle of the war. He does not remember shooting at many people after leaving Belgium. There were only few skirmishes and most casualties were by shell fire. At Oberhof, the resistance was light. A motorcycle approached and the men opened fire and killed a single cyclist carrying a message for the German forces. Shortly afterward, a column of about 20 enemy soldiers marched toward the Americans. When told to surrender, some of the Germans attempted to escape. The Americans opened fire and the rest of the column was shot down by the Americans. It could have been unarmed cadets. It was tragic. At Coburg, Hartzell did a good job of encircling the enemy and capturing them. He fired the .50 caliber machine gun but not his personal weapon after entering Germany.

Frank Hartzell and his battalion [Annotator's Note: Hartzell was a member of Company B, 21st Armored Infantry Battalion, 11th Armored Division] entered the Mauthausen concentration camp on 6 May [Annotator's Note: 6 May 1945]. Hartzell spent about two or three weeks there. The smell was awful. The condition of the prisoners was deplorable. The engineers had to dig a trench to bury the bodies. The citizens from the local town were forced to bury the dead. Hartzell observed them doing so. He saw the showers and the furnaces. It was terrible and reinforced the need to end the regime that was responsible for that. It was unbelievable that men could treat other humans that way. The war ended while the battalion was there. The troops were happy prior to hearing that they might have to go to Japan to fight that war. There was a point system in place to determine who would be discharged first. Nevertheless, Hartzell did not know if his battalion would go as a unit to fight in the Pacific. The outfit was deactivated prior to that happening. Hartzell felt he was going to have to fight the Japanese before the bombs were dropped. Although shifted around a bit, he would spend Christmas in a German barracks in Dachau.

Frank Hartzell received leave and went to the French Rivera after the war. He saw Cologne and witnessed its total destruction. He did not understand the displaced persons situation until he saw Cologne. The children of Austria were hungry and would scavenge for leftover American chow. He got to know some of the Austrian citizens. He did not have negative feelings about the German civilians but felt bad about the Nazis and what they had done to the citizens. Seeing the concentration camp situations, Hartzell felt Chenogne had been justified. [Annotator's Note: Hartzell had seen dead German prisoners who had apparently been executed by men in his 21st Armored Infantry Battalion, 11th Armored Division.] Hartzell was proud of his service. He signed up for the reserves after the war. He did not get called to serve in Korea. His responsibilities were very light after the end of the war in Europe. He returned to the United States through Bremerhaven in February 1946. He sailed on a Victory Ship. That ship and the trip were better than his voyage to Europe. His homecoming with his family was special. He was happy to be home. He was discharged shortly thereafter at Indiantown Gap [Annotator's Note: Forty Indiantown Gap, Pennsyvania] as a tech sergeant. He used the G.I. Bill to attend college and majored in physics. He attended Amherst College and graduated from there. He attended MIT [Annotator's Note: Massachusetts Institute of Technology] afterward for a graduate degree in business. Prior to graduating, he was called up as an M.P. [Annotator's Note: military police] and transferred to the Army Chemical Center as an instructor. After Korea, he returned to MIT for an engineering degree. His life would have been different had Korea not interrupted his education. Hartzell had no problems transitioning back to being a civilian. He had no issues with posttraumatic stress disorder.

Frank Hartzell fought in World War 2 because he was drafted. Otherwise, he probably would have volunteered. That was what men did then. His most memorable situations in the war were nearly being killed in action in Chenogne and the liberation of the Mauthausen concentration camp. The war changed his life by making a man out of him. Other decisions in his life might well have been different had he not served. His survival might have been affected if his decisions were otherwise. His military service gives him pride. World War 2 is fading from America's collective memory. It is becoming ancient history to the younger generation. A person would have had to live through it to know what it was like. It is important to teach the history of the war to young people. The National WWII Museum is a wonderful component in that effort. The museums scattered throughout Europe also do a good job of explaining what happened there. One of Hartzell's friends killed near Chenogne was named Bob Fordice [Annotator's Note: unsure of spelling]. His friend's grave is tended by an amateur historian in Belgium. Hartzell took 14 of his relatives to Bastogne to explain what went on there.