Harold Stanford Cole was born in New York in 1924. He grew up in a poor family. He loved the 1920s and 1930s. They had plenty of activities to do. They played baseball and football. He was a Cub Scout [Annotator's Note: pre-program of the Boy Scouts of America, scouting and youth organization founded in 1910]. Later on, he went into the Boy Scouts. They had fruit trees and springs to fish in. He enjoyed his childhood. His mother was a housemaid. His father was an oil mechanic. They did a good job raising 11 children. Cole had a job in high school. He would deliver papers and shine shoes. He was the first black person to work in the postal telegram system in New York. He also did construction and worked in a garage for his brother. In the 1930s the Germans bombed ships in the Atlantic like crazy. Merchant Marines [Annotator's Note: US Merchant Marine] were top-quality people. In 1941 on 7 December they all heard the news over the radio about the bombing of Pearl Harbor [Annotator's Note: the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, Hawaii on 7 December 1941]. After that, the men were running to the recruiting stations to defend the country. When Cole was of age, he had his mother sign papers so he could join the service.

Harold Stanford Cole did not experience segregation while he was growing up. When he got into the service, he did not know there was segregation until he got to boot camp at Camp Upton [Annotator's Note: now Brookhaven National Laboratory in Upton, New York]. When they went to their barracks the Black boys were sent to one side of camp the white boys to the other side of camp. He had to condition himself to understand segregation. In the United States Army, the only place Black soldiers could go was to the Buffalo Soldiers [Annotator's Note: the 92nd Infantry Division]. As the government prepared for the war, they had to make more Black organizations within the Army. Cole loved being in the Buffalo Soldiers. He loved the training, exercise, and riding. He did not like taking orders. Cole was sent to North Africa [Annotator's Note: with the 9th Cavalry Regiment, 2nd Infantry Division]. He had never really traveled before. He thought the traveling was exciting. He got to see all kinds of new things. When he went overseas, he wished his brothers and sisters could see the things he was seeing in Africa and Europe. In North Africa, Cole was a platoon sergeant. They landed in Oran [Annotator's Note: Oran, Algeria]. They had to dig their foxholes. All they had were bayonets and helmets to dig wtih. No one was able to really dig good foxholes. He went to Sicily [Annotator's Note: Sicily, Italy] after North Africa. They went right up behind the front lines. The Germans were killing the allies. Then they went to Naples, Italy. They were formed into service battalions. Cole was fortunate to get hooked up with a captain [Annotator's Note: unable to identify which service battalion he was assigned to]. He was in a unit that would carry items up to the front. Later they were put on a ship in the Mediterranean [Annotator's Note: Mediterranean Sea] and sent to southern France for the invasion of France [Annotator's Note: Battle of France, or Fall of France, 10 May 1940 (includes invasions of Belgium, Luxembourg, and the Netherlands)]. During the invasion of Southern France [Annotator's Note: Operation Dragoon in Provence, Southern France, 15 August 1944], Patton [Annotator's Note: US Army Lieutenant General George S. Patton, Jr.] and his unit went through France quickly. Cole went to Normandy [Annotator's Note: Normandy, France] for garrison duty in 1945. They were there to get their numbers up [Annotator's Note: a point system was devised based on a number of factors that determined when American servicemen serving overseas could return home] so they could be shipped back to the United States. Cole shipped back in December [Annotator's Note: December 1945]. He got into Fort Dix [Annotator's Note: now Joint Base McGuire-Dix-Lakehurst in Trenton, New Jersey] on 1 January 1946. He was discharged on 9 January 1946.

Almost all military men drank [Annotator's Note: alcoholic beverages] as they were young. Harold Stanford Cole saw a lot of prostitution and rape. There was a time when he saw about six guys raping a girl. The people treated them well. They had historical places to see. They saw the Eiffel Tower [Annotator's Note: in Paris, France], and the Colosseum in Rome [Annotator's Note: Rome, Italy]. There were a lot of educational places over there. When he had R&R [Annotator's Note: rest and recuperation] he took a trip to England. They were in the war to keep other Americans from going to war. They wanted to preserve democracy. History should be studied at all times by all people. They should know as much as possible about what is happening and why it is happening. The children should know the history of the wars. America is ahead of England in the world. America is helping other countries. The museum [Annotator's Note: The National WWII Museum in New Orleans, Louisiana] will help the people to further their education on the war. People should do what they want to do, and they should not let anyone stop them. "God Bless America."