Local resident contributes his WWII story to the Veterans History Project

Harold Tor has nearly two dozen medals, including the Bronze Star and the Purple Heart, for his efforts with the Army’s 11th Airborne Division and its role in liberating the Philippines during World War II.

The paraglider was involved in the raid at Los Banos, helping to free more than 2,000 internees.

Before being honorably discharged, Tor was injured twice: once when shrapnel lodged in his body and again when he lost his left forearm in an ambush.

“Do you know why the United States won World War II? Because I was there and I kicked ...!” Tor, 88, said with a hearty laugh.

The longtime member of American Legion Post 133 in Huntington Beach and military grand marshal of the city’s Fourth of July parade last year was more than willing to share his stories about World War II for a project of the Library of Congress.

In 2000, the U.S. Congress created the Veterans History Project, which is primarily an oral history collection, as a way to preserve the personal accounts of thousands of American war veterans and share those stories with the future generations.

The Library of Congress is looking for those with firsthand accounts of conflicts from World War I to the Iraq war. Officials are also looking for people who supported the war effort, including industrial workers, instructors and medical volunteers, according to the Veterans History Project website.

Jim Seiler, service officer for American Legion Post 133 in Huntington Beach, heard about the project in December while reading a newsletter from the state American Legion. With interest in the project, Seiler brought the idea to the post’s board of directors to see if it had members’ support.

“I was a history major in college, so of course it interested me,” he said. “When I brought it up to them, they thought it was a good idea because there were a lot of interesting stories from our local American Legion members.”

Seiler, 69, who was in the Army during the Vietnam War, said hearing a person’s personal account of an event is more powerful than reading about it in a book.

“It’s a means of preserving their story,” he said. “When they’re gone, their story will be available for their grandchildren and greatgrandchildren. It’ll also be available for future historians, students and anybody that is writing a book about anything and wants some background. In some sense, it’s a form of immortality for the veteran.”

But Seiler, who served much of his time as a legal clerk at Fort Bragg in North Carolina and also was stationed for a year in Heidelberg, Germany, during the Vietnam war, said he was not interested in sharing his experiences.

On the other hand, Tor, has much to share.

He said his experiences in the Pacific Theater would not have been possible had he not falsified the information given to the recruiting officer. Tor was 16 and living in Brooklyn when the Army was looking for recruits to head to war.

Afraid that someone from the local recruiting office would recognize him and know he was too young, he tried convincing the recruiting officer that he was from Ozark, Mo. However, he found out it did not take much to get into the military.

“They only had two requirements to get into the military back then,” he said. “The first was you had to be able to walk through the recruiting office door, and the second was you had to be breathing.”

Tor said he was compelled to enlist after seeing many of his friends do so. At a vacant lot where he played stickball was a billboard with blue stars on it, each representing someone from the neighborhood who had joined the war effort.

However, the blue stars started turning into gold stars, which signified a death in combat. That knowledge compelled Tor to sign up.

Tor said he has seen many men die in front of him during his stint in the Army and knows that war is not glamorous. However, he said he is proud of what he has done for the United States and the Philippines.

“I don’t feel bad at all,” he said. “I feel proud that I helped save a country of nice people.”