Timeless Photo of Kalamazoo World War II Vet Will Melt Your Heart
What's the old saying? "A picture is worth a thousand words?"
Scanning Facebook through various groups, once in a while you stumble upon something extra special. Here's a Valentine's Day 1945 photo taken in the waning days of World War II. France had been liberated from German control in late 1944; The final push on Germany was taking place, and V-E Day was a few months away on May 8th, 1945.
The picture above can be found on several sites like Pinterest, but on this Facebook post, the caption starts with "THANK YOU !!!!! 🇺🇸🙏🇺🇸 and reads "This photo, taken on February 14, 1945, near Aboncourt, France, shows Sergeant Elvin Harley (Kalamazoo, Michigan) being kissed by a little French girl. This proud member of the 3rd Armored Division survived the rest of the war and returned to Michigan."
Having been involved with Talons Out Honor Flight(an organization that flies World War II veterans to see the memorials built in their honor in Washington D.C.), you have to wonder whatever happened to both Sgt. Harley, and to the little girl. The girl would be somewhere around 80 years ago, if she's still with us. And Sgt. Harley? This was 76 years ago. One of the sobering reminds from Talons Out is, even the youngest of World War II veterans (the Greatest Generation) are now in their mid-90's, and sadly, there's less of them every day.
But you have to wonder what became of Sergeant Harley and of the little girl.
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