Hal baumgarten biography

Harold Baumgarten served with the 116th Infantry Regiment, 29th Infantry Division during the first wave of attacks on D-Day.
Harold "Hal" Baumgarten (2 March 1925 in New York - 25 December 2016) was an American Private in the United States Army during World War II.
Dr.

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D-Day Survivor: An Autobiography

"There was no way to anticipate the horrors of the holocaust that awaited us on the Dog Green sector." --Dr. Harold Baumgarten

Just as it was portrayed in the major motion pictures The Longest Day and Saving Private Ryan, the Dog Green sector of Omaha Beach was the smallest but most heavily defended part of Normandy Beach, only nine hundred yards long by three hundred yards wide at low tide. Considered an impregnable Atlantic wall, Omaha Beach was fortified by concrete walls, landmines, a twenty-five-foot seawall topped with mines and barbed wire, and a one-hundred-foot bluff.

It was the bravery and heroism of the 116th Infantry that made subsequent landings of the Twenty-ninth Division possible. In the face of heavy fire and despite suffering the loss of eight hundred men and officers, the 116th Infantry overcame beach obstacles, took the enemy-defended positions along the beach and cliffs, pushed through the mined area under heavy fire, and continued inshore to successfully accomplish their objective.

Dr. Harold Baumgarten, a multide

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Oral History

Annotation

Harold Baumgarten served with the 116th Infantry Regiment, 29th Infantry Division during the first wave of attacks on D-Day. He recalls his childhood in New York City. He attended local public schools before attending the Universtiy Heights Branch of New York University at the age of 16. He was a member of the university's ROTC [Annotator's Note: Reserve Officer Training Corps] program, which was compulsory at the time. He tried to enlist in the Air Force when he was 17, but they rejected him, so he stayed in school. Baumgarten stayed in school for two years and completed two years of ROTC before being drafted on 26 June 1943, but he was technically in the Army for two years before. He completed 17 weeks of training at Camp Croft, South Carolina. While he was there, he was convinced to sign a release forgoing OTS [Annotator's note: he means OCS or officer candidate school] to go into the Army Specialized Training Program [Annotator's Note: also known by the acronym ASTP] at Clemson University in South Carolina with the star unit. He stayed at Camp Croft

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Harold "Hal" Baumgarten (2 March 1925 in New York - 25 December 2016) was an AmericanPrivate in the United States Army during World War II. In the Operation Overlord, he participated in the storming of the Omaha Beach on the D-Day.^[1]^[2]

Early life[]

He was born in New York, March 2, 1925 to Morris and Rose Baumgarten. He also had two sisters (Ethel and Beatrice). His family was of Jewish descent. His family lived in the Bronx.

Military service[]

Hal enlisted in the United States Army from New York City, New York on 26 June 1943 (ASN: 32975300). He served with Company B, 1st Battalion, 116th Infantry Regiment, 29th Infantry Division. He was wounded five times when his unit landed on Omaha Beach on D-Day. He was evacuated, transported to a hospital, and was sent home because of his wounds.

Later life[]

He became a permanent resident of Florida in 1947. He completed his education to become a teacher and then a physician. He taught biology at Palm Beach High School, in West Palm Beach, Florida. He received his Bachelor of Arts degree from New York Univ