World War II veteran saluted for service
UPPER GWYNEDD » As bagpipes blared, a U.S. Army color guard held an American flag, police officers from four local departments stood at attention, friends and family aimed their cameras and cellphones, and Harry Snyder walked out his front door to the biggest surprise of his nearly 97 years.
“I don’t believe this. This is wonderful,” he exclaimed, as friends and family gathered to salute the service of the World War II veteran.
Snyder was born in Philadelphia in 1921, and when his country called, he joined the U.S. Army — and found himself deployed just behind the first waves of the Allied invasion of Normandy in June 1944.
“I was in, not the very first wave, but the Army considered the first five days as essential for the invasion to succeed,” he said.
“If the Germans had pushed us back into the ocean, then it would’ve been a different story. So I landed on D + 5, which was considered part of the initial invasion, and fortunately for me, I wasn’t the first wave,” he said.
Snyder stayed with the 2nd Armored Division of the U.S. Army as it advanced into Germany, surviving several close calls and encountering unspeakable horrors of war — which he rarely talked about, said his daughter, Karen Potter.
“He used to go out and speak to schools, talking about things like the Holocaust to kids, saying ‘You never, ever want this to ever happen again,” said Potter.
“We knew he was in the war, but he never really talked much about it ... until he went back,” she said.
Snyder’s return trip happened in 2014, when his recollections of combat served as the main subject of the documentary “Normandy: A World Apart,” and Snyder said that visit left an indelible impression of just how much time had passed.
“When I went back to make this documentary, everything was different. I didn’t recognize anything there: the trees were all 70 years older, everything was older,” he said.
The salute Thursday was organized by family and friends, who had heard Snyder talk about recent health problems including a battle with cancer, and mention that he would like to hear bagpipes playing at his funeral.
“I said, ‘I’d really like to do it now, while he’s still alive’ — not that I don’t think he’ll be able to hear it from where he’s going,” said Potter.
As dozens of friends and family looked on from across the street, a bagpiper played traditional military songs, mixed in with songs Harry had mentioned wanting to hear one final time. As he stood in his driveway and took in the salute, grinning through tears, the color guard presented him with a folded American flag, and officers from the Upper Gwynedd, Lansdale, Hatfield and Montgomery Township police departments shook hands with Snyder and thanked him for his service.
“I didn’t talk about it, because I think the ones that you should’ve talked about are the guys that got killed on the first day. That was murderous, and I was lucky,” said Snyder.
“I was lucky. I never got wounded, but I came close many, many times,” he said.
When asked if he would ever forget Thursday’s ceremony, his response was simple.
“I never will. I can’t believe it — I hope I deserve it.”