From: Baltimore Sun
Baltimore veteran to receive France’s highest honor for WWII service
Harold Shapiro fought in Battle of the Bulge, will receive French medal on 67th anniversary of D-Day
June 05, 2011|By Childs Walker, The Baltimore Sun
The American troops had been stalled for a month, waiting for fuel outside Montcourt in northern France. When Harold Shapiro and his division mates finally advanced on the tree line, they had to cross foxholes booby-trapped with German explosives. Artillery rained down on their position.
The morning after the ferocious assault, Shapiro walked to the center of the American line, where his former platoon had been stationed. He saw a private named Clarence sitting all by himself.
“Where are the rest of the guys?” Shapiro asked.
“I’m it,” said Clarence, who had ascended from private to sergeant simply by surviving the night intact. Everyone else had been killed or wounded