Historical group to learn about WWII hero
Published 10:04 am Thursday, November 14, 2019
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Davie County World War II veteran Harold Frank, honored last week with his name on a highway adding to his Purple Heart and many other medals, will be part of a program sponsored by the Davie County Historical and Genealogical Society on Thursday, Nov. 21 at 7 p.m. in the community room of the Davie County Public Library.
All are invited to attend and be introduced not only to Frank’s most recent adventure but also a new documentary covering his return to France last summer to commemorate the 75th anniversary of the DDay invasion. Lenoir-Rhyne University professor Mark Hager, who accompanied him on that trip, will speak and give a sneak peek of the documentary he is preparing.
Frank left Davie County as a teenager when drafted during the last two years of a war that had swept across the world to small rural North Carolina. His hunting skills prepared him to be part of a select group to master the M1 rifle. Shot, captured and held as a prisoner of war for months, he survived to return home to his family and the love of his life, a Davie County girl he quickly married. Adopting here as his home, he worked, raised a family and survives now to tell the story not many living can any more.
Frank’s remarks that this summer’s trip to the beach where he first visited amid a volley of gunfire was a lot more peaceful this time reminds us how much our world has changed but also the brave men to whom we owe so much. All are welcome.