Letters From War Wednesday: World War II – Harold Hastings.

Hump Day, and time for Letters From War Wednesday.  Today we feature a truly amazing postcard from World War II.

Harold Hastings - 168th Infantry

American soldier, Harold Hastings served with the 168th Infantry, 34th Infantry Division.  He was lost on February 17, 1943, when his unit was surrounded and attacked by the Germans at the Battle of Kasserine Pass in Tunisia, North Africa.  His official status was reported as “Missing In Action.”  His family and fiancee, Betty, all feared the worst.

With no recovered remains, the family was left to wait and wonder.  Could he be alive?  On July 17, 1943, exactly five months after the date of his disappearance, the answer was heard around the world.  Shortwave radio operators, dialed in to a direct broadcast from Berlin, picked up brief messages from American POWs to their families back home.  Hastings was alive.

Mary Hazelbaker of Pennsboro, West Virginia sent a short note to the family.  “I heard over the shortwave radio from Berlin, Germany on July 17th messages from American prisoners of war there.  Among them was one addressed to you from Harold Hastings.  He said he was a prisoner of war and was treated good and for you to take care of Betty.”

Hasting would spend the remainder of the war as a POW, held at Stalag II-B.  He would be liberated in April 1945 to return home to his family, and to wed Betty.