Harold Lightell was born in New Orleans, Louisiana in 1923. Growing up was wonderful in New Orleans. He loved the parades and had a nice family. He attended schools in New Orleans. As a young boy during the Depression, he went to dances and school. Lightell was drafted in 1943. He was at Camp Beauregard, Louisiana when Pearl Harbor was attacked. [Annotator's Note: Pearl Harbor was attacked on 7 December 1941.] At Camp Beauregard, Lightell was given training in how to kill. His life began to be frustrated and unhappy. He trained in the use of the bayonet on dummies. He learned how to live in the field of combat with hand to hand combat. His Catholic background made him reluctant to kill, but his drill sergeant told him to kill or be killed. Much of the time in camp was spent in lines. The recruits got in line to eat, to get paid, to get shoes, helmets or clothes. He spent six weeks of miserable time at Camp Beauregard then he went to Camp Robinson in Arkansas. He trained in the same military skills and disciplines while at Camp Robinson. He did not have a happy life until he left the camp for dances on the weekend. He stayed in the second camp for six weeks. After Camp Robinson, Lightell traveled by train to New York then went by ship to England. There were 600 soldiers on board that ship. It was a miserable trip since it was difficult to get something to eat. The soldiers got off the American Victory ship and boarded an English ship. They were given biscuits and coffee while en route to Normandy where they would land.

When Harold Lightell arrived off the beaches of Normandy, alarms sounded on his ship. The 600 troops on the ship were told to go topside. The men saw an American torpedo boat on each side of their ship. An alarm had been given about an enemy submarine being in the vicinity. This was the first life threatening situation for Lightell in the war. The ship went about five miles offshore and waited for notification of the situation being clear for them to dock. After getting that notification, the ship was docked. It was about a week after the Normandy invasion. [Annotator's Note: the Normandy D-Day invasion started on 6 June 1944.] Lightell went ashore with the 79th Infantry Division and relieved the 34th and 1st Infantry Divisions. Those divisions had been fighting the enemy in France and needed to rest and recuperate. As Lightell was moving forward, the Germans fired mortars at his position. While doing so, a piece of shrapnel came so close to his face that he heard it swishing by him. [Annotator's Note: Lightell makes a distinct sound effect of the shrapnel coming within earshot of him.] Lightell kept on running until he came upon a town. He was told to dig in and stay in his position. The town was named Nancy, France. The town was taken by the Americans. As the Americans progressed through the town, a sniper killed a soldier in front of Lightell. Lightell would have been next, but his sergeant told him to dash across the street. He was not hit as a result. After leaving that town, the troops approached another town. They were held up by another sniper in that town. An American anti-tank gun came and blew up the position occupied by the sniper. The men went forward to see who the sniper was. It turned out to be a 12 year old boy that had held up Lightell and his platoon. There was some remorse over the death of the young boy. Some Americans even cried because of the age of the boy. The troops moved up again. When they approached a field, the platoon heard a German machine gun that they called a burp gun. The reason for the nickname for the gun was its characteristic way of firing steady until the last round. At that point, there was a hesitation in the steady fire. [Annotator's Note: Lightell makes a distinctive sound effect for the way the machine gun fired its last round.] Hearing the firing, Lightell took cover behind a tree in the field. There were multistory buildings nearby. As he peaked around the edge of the tree, he could hear the leaves near him popping up. It was obvious to Lightell that the machine gun was firing directly at him as well as others. He could have been hit if he had been careless in observing the gun. Lightell's platoon dug in and stayed in their position while food was brought up to them. The next morning, the platoon moved up. They were told to slow down because they were moving too fast. There was a concern that, in getting ahead, the troops could be captured by the Germans. The Fighting 79th got their nickname because of their rapid advances. The division captured another town or village. This was before the Battle of the Bulge and the Rhine River crossing. [Annotator's Note: the Battle of the Bulge started on 16 December 1944.] After the crossing of the Rhine, the Germans began dropping shells on them. Lightell and his buddy sought shelter in a cellar. While in the cellar, they heard a thump on the ground just outside their shelter. After the situation quieted down, the men went outside the cellar and saw the shell that had landed just outside their shelter. The shell did not explode. It was a dud. Had the shell exploded, Lightell and his buddy would have been buried in the cellar. As the men walked further, Lightell observed a wounded friend who was holding his stomach. They spoke briefly. Shortly afterward, Lightell learned that his wounded friend had died of his wounds. Remembering the close proximity of the unexploded shell near the cellar, Lightell realized he was very lucky that he was not hurt.

Harold Lightell moved into Germany after progressing through France with the 79th Infantry Division. Lightell could speak French so he did some duty as an interpreter when the local French population had some complaint that needed resolution. He would be briefly pulled off the front line and serve as an interpreter. This saved his life on occasion, but, each time, he was soon sent back to the front after he had completed his interpreter work. He was told that he and a buddy from Alexandria, Louisiana would be put in a special unit between the German and American lines. It would be an OP, or observation post. They would be required to spot targets and direct American artillery. He was made corporal as a result. Lightell used his binoculars to spot the enemy and then look to his map coordinates to locate the artillery fire. In looking through his binoculars, Lightell recognized enemy soldiers running toward a building. He called in the coordinates for his lieutenant. The lieutenant then called in the information to the artillery. Lightell called out on the radio for the artillery to fire one round 100 yards short to spot the specific location of the explosion. It was too distant compared to the building. Lightell called for another round 100 yards short of the last. It hit the building. At that point, Lightell called for the artillery to fire for effect. One shell went inside the building and exploded. Lightell did not know if all the Germans died, but he knew that no one came out. He cried with the loss of life. It was at that time that Lightell began to get PTSD [Annotator's Note: Post Traumatic Stress Disorder], frustration and anxiety from his wartime experiences. As an interpreter, Lightell would be picked up by a jeep and brought to the site where his service was needed. On one occasion, Lightell missed his jeep ride so another interpreter took his place. Afterward, Lightell was told that the jeep suffered a direct hit. The driver and the other interpreter, both of who were friends of Lightell, were both killed by a mortar shell that hit them. Later, Lightell was given guard duty over six German prisoners of war. At first, Lightell stood in front of the door of the building where he held the prisoners. Growing concerned that someone might push the door from the outside, and he would lose control over the prisoners, Lightell stepped away from the door. Soon, a shell hit the roof of the building. When the dust cleared, the prisoners pointed the door out to Lightell. It was perforated by shrapnel. Had Lightell stood in his original position, he would have been wounded or worse. Instead, neither he nor his prisoners were injured. The thought of that near miss bothered Lightell when he recollected the circumstances. Against enemy resistance, his platoon moved on through Germany. At one point, he shot a German who fell to the ground. Lightell would not pass close to the downed man to see if he was dead. As German fuel supplies ran out, the enemy used animals to pull their anti-tank guns. The Americans shot the mules pulling the enemy artillery. His platoon was told to dig in near some dead mules. The smell was very bad. As the platoon moved forward, enemy artillery rounds landed nearby. Lightell was hit by a piece of shrapnel. He just bandaged the hand wound and moved on. He did not report it, so he received no Purple Heart medal for the wound. That shrapnel wound was another close call. Lightell and his platoon were pulled off the line for a rest period several times. He participated in three battles but received only two stars for his service. His lieutenant was killed a few days before the war ended. Lightell met up with the Russians at the end of the war. He went to Hell and back more than any soldier other than Audie Murphy who single handedly wiped out 17 Germans while firing a machine gun.

Harold Lightell entered France right after the D-Day invasion with the 79th Infantry Division. The 79th was under General Patton [Annotator's Note: US Army Lieutenant General George S. Patton]. The 79th crossed into Germany after France and ultimately met the Russians. After the war, Lightell served in occupation duty in Belgium as a 19 year old soldier. He received a citation for his service in Belgium. He also received the Presidential Citation and the Bronze Star. He was told that he would also get the Congressional Medal of Honor for his duty as an artillery forward observer. As a forward observer, Lightell would always occupy the tallest building in a town, unless it was a church. Churches were always favorite targets for the Germans because they knew that artillery could be directed from those high positions. While directing artillery in an attic, Lightell had two shells fall near his position over two days. He did not know where the shells were coming from. He also heard a jet approaching. He thought it was an American jet, but it was German. The enemy had sent a jet to eliminate Lightell's position. The enemy bomb that was dropped on him by the jet was inaccurate and missed Lightell. The Germans had spotted Lightell's OP [Annotator's Note: observation post] from their own OP. They saw his binoculars looking out of the window and sent the jet to get him. Lightell has never told his whole story of his nine lives in combat. His wife only heard Lightell's story for the first time during the interview. He never knew if or how many kills he had against the enemy. He stayed in foxholes for extended periods. He had water and only chocolate bars for food.

Harold Lightell served in Belgium after the war as part of the occupation force. The people were wonderful to the American soldiers. Lightell had dental work done for free because they liked the Americans so much. There were celebrations for the soldiers. Lightell had learned to speak French in his youth. He spoke French before he spoke English. His mother and father spoke nothing but French in Louisiana. During his service in Europe, Lightell went off the front line as an interpreter once in awhile. That helped save his life since he was part of the rear echelon at those times. Otherwise, Lightell was not sure why his life was saved while he was at the front. After the war ended, Lightell reenlisted in order to get a month back home. When he was at home, he was told he had shell shock. The PTSD [Annotator's Note: Post Traumatic Stress Disorder] terminology did not come along until later. Lightell was frustrated and sleepless at night. He also had three incidents of frost bite that he reported while he was in Germany. After reenlistment, he stayed about a year and then returned home. He experienced bad dreams at that time. He could not go back to sleep with those bad dreams, but eventually he learned to fight it. He has medication that he takes as needed to help him. After the Army, Lightell worked in a sugar refinery. Then he worked as a seaman with the military transport service. Before he retired in 1984, he worked in refineries as a pipefitter.

Harold Lightell was changed by the war because of the onset of his PTSD [Annotator's Note: Post Traumatic Stress Disorder]. Lightell has flashbacks where he feels he has returned to combat. Lightell rode in tanks and jeeps during the war, but never in bombers. Nevertheless, when he hears a large plane overhead, it can bring back memories of his combat and the aircraft that flew over him. In order to help, he attends group meetings. Those meetings help with the frustration and anxiety he experiences today. His best medication is to share his time with friends and to be active. This gets his mind off the bad memories. He uses mind over matter by doing something that relieves his mind of the memories. He uses jokes to change the thoughts around. He knows he is not the person he should be until he gets his mind off the past experiences. He drank a lot in the past because he could not control his thoughts. He has never seriously considered suicide. At his advanced age, he continues to move around and do things. The National WWII Museum is doing a good thing to provide the knowledge to people who have not experienced the war. If a veteran has experienced combat, it can be a bad influence because it brings back memories. Lightell gets red in the face and his heart beats faster when he enters the Museum. It brings back memories. He feels that the Museum is for people who did not experience combat in World War 2, Korea or Vietnam. It is good for those who are inexperienced in war. Even at home today when Lightell sees something on television that reminds him of the war, he turns it off. Lightell knows he was in Hell. He knows what it is. He was there.