Robert Harle of the 101st Airborne, Five-O-Deuce traveled by sea transport in early 1944 and shared England barracks with my father, David C. Tharp. They fought in D-Day and the Battle of the Bulge together. Here are Bob Harle’s comments from our meeting in June 2013.
“I fondly remember your Dad as a soft-spoken, handsome, and very tall man, unlike some other rough, “tough cookies” they had in the soldier mix. When you saw your fellow comrades killed, you didn’t hesitate, but there were some who went over the edge and continued after a soldier was already gone. I remember a young German soldier had already passed away when a few of our soldiers kept tearing at his uniform and ripped off a flower from his lapel, the country flower, Edelweiss. Many of the German soldiers wore the flower, representing strength and courage. I waited and went back to place the Edelweiss flower back on the soldier’s lapel. It just wasn’t right. That young man was like me.
The war changed me. But the changes surfaced a few years after the war. I developed a temper and would break out into a rage at the sound of a car backfiring or something as simple as a dog acting up. My wife would sometimes leave the house during those episodes. But I have mellowed over time. I’m 92 years old.
There aren’t many of us left now.”
~ Robert Harle
101st Airborne Division 502nd PIR, Reg. Hq.
Such a loving gesture amidst the horrors of war speaks accolades of human kindness and is a tribute to this very special man. It was through emotion and tear-filled eyes that Robert Harle recalled this memory. After all those years, the pain still remained. Like Bob, my gentle dad developed quite a temper from the war, which although mellowed with time, wreaked havoc with his otherwise gentle soul. My father passed away in 1999. Mr. Harle passed away on July 19, 2014.
~Jenny Tharp La Sala
Comes A Soldier’s Whisper remembering our soldiers and veterans one day at a time…
Comes A Soldier’s Whisper available @ www.amazon.com/Vietnam-Beyond-Reflections-Jenny-Sala/dp/1490746153/
