Harold Billow, the Mount Joy resident who was the last living survivor of an infamous World War II massacre of American POWs, was remembered Tuesday at a public event commemorating the renaming of his hometown post office in his honor.
Lancaster County’s congressman, GOP Rep. Lloyd Smucker, was joined by local elected officials, community leaders and Billow family members at St. Mark’s United Methodist Church for the ceremony.
It was legislation introduced last year by Smucker and backed by the entire Pennsylvania congressional delegation that renamed the post office at 1 E. Main St. to the Harold Billow Post Office Building. The bill became law in December when it was added to an omnibus federal spending package.
Other VIPs in attendance included state Rep. Tom Jones, R-Marietta, County Commissioner Josh Parsons, Mount Joy Mayor Tim Bradley, and two post office representatives — Christina Willig, the Mount Joy postmaster, and Nathan Luttringer, a regional manager.
Billow, born in Millersburg in 1922, moved to Mount Joy as a child and lived and worked the rest of his life there. He died last May at the age of 99.
During Tuesday’s ceremony, Smucker said, “Harold saw the worst of war and the worst of humanity.” Yet, he added, Billow’s “sense of humor, his positive attitude, and his love for the country was infectious. He brought a smile to everyone he passed.”
Grandson Joel Billow of Elizabethtown said he was especially close with his grandfather.
“People like him are why we have freedom,” Billow said, describing his hope that the post office will encourage people to learn about his grandfather’s story.
“Pap had that positive attitude. (The war) didn’t affect him negatively,” Billow said while reminiscing about his grandfather. He described a fireworks show his grandfather put on that drew the entire Mount Joy community.
Following the ceremony, Smucker said the renaming of the post office not only provides a permanent memory to Harold Billow but also displays the character of the Mount Joy community.
Drafted in 1943, he was one of 10 from Lancaster County assigned to the 285th Field Artillery Observation Battalion, which was part of the Allied invasion force that landed in Normandy, France.
During the Battle of the Bulge, Germany’s last-ditch attack against Allied forces in Belgium and Luxembourg, Billow was among 120 American soldiers who were captured near the Belgian village of Malmedy on Dec. 17, 1944. Instead of being transferred to a POW camp, Billow and the others were lined up and the Germans opened fire; over 80 died but Billow fell down and laid still.
As survivors were being shot by the German SS troops, Billow said he heard another soldier yell, “Let’s get the hell out of here.” Billow ran and ultimately escaped to American lines.
In addition to Billow, the ceremony acknowledged the five other Lancaster Countians who died during the massacre. Luke Swartz, Charles Haines, Carl Frey, George Steffy, and Sylvester Herchelroth were among the 87 soldiers killed.
Every Veterans Day, Fourth of July, and Memorial Day, Billow would adorn his front yard with 87 American flags to honor his fallen comrades. In 2019, Billow told LNP reporter Earle Cornelius that he always paused on Dec. 17 to remember his fallen comrades.
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