World War II Veteran From Creve Coeur Awaits Word On French Honor

When remembering D-Day, June 6, 1944, a dwindling number of people can say they can share first-hand experience.

Harold Roth, an 87-year-old Creve Coeur resident, remembers.

Roth, known as “Hal,” was one of 160,000 Allied troops who landed on the beaches of Normandy, France, for the D-Day invasion. A few months later, Roth was one of seven captured by German soldiers in Laval, France, and taken as a prisoner of war.

For Roth, a radioman in the Army’s 1st Division, D-Day was the beginning of a “real hell.”

One of Roth’s first instincts before he was captured was to abandon his dog tags. “I had learned my lesson when I was a boy in south St. Louis,” he said. “I was in a fight everyday because I was Jewish.”

Closing his eyes to recall details, Roth describes a “city street fight” between his division and a German regiment. He was able to take cover in a gulley for a period of time, entangled in communication wiring. He took off his dog tags, the tangible mark of his Jewish faith, and wrapped them in a kerchief he then tossed into the grass.

“I couldn’t even tell a fellow GI [I was Jewish],” Roth said. He was well aware of the dangers Jews were facing in Europe.

Roth was held as a POW for nine months in mountains outside of Austria, living off little food and filling in bomb craters, often while bombing was still in progress.

“Every day was not a good day,” he said. “Many days were bad news.”

He says he still suffers from back, neck and leg injuries.

Roth was 19 years old when he joined the service in 1943. After completing training in Texas, Roth’s path took him to New York where he and his fellow troops waited for a ship to travel overseas.

During the waiting period in New York, Roth said he made a ring. “I’ve had it all my life, from that point on,” he said, twisting the silver band on his left ring finger. “The people who captured me and those afterwards never took the ring.”

The ring was one of a few things Roth was able to hold on to throughout the war. Roth’s journal, which he hid in the sleeves of his jacket as a POW, is now featured in the National Prisoner of War Museum in Andersonville, Ga.

Roth has received several awards for his service in World War II, including the Purple Heart, Bronze Star, European-African-Middle Eastern Theater Ribbon with three bronze battle stars, Good Conduct Medal, Victory Medal, Jubilee Medal of Honor and Combat Infantryman Badge. He’s in the process of being recognized by the French government with its highest honor for service, the French Legion of Honor.

“We’re hoping to present the [French Legion of Honor] medal to Hal at the POW-MIA Recognition Day ceremony,” said Paul Dillon, Department of Missouri commander of the American Ex-Prisoners of War. The ceremony will take place at the St. Louis Soldiers Memorial Sept. 16.

Dillon and Roth’s family have been leading the push for Roth to receive the French Legion of Honor award.

“Hal is a very honorable man and a true hero to us and to his country,” said Larry Comensky, Roth’s stepson.

Roth now resides with his wife, Shirley, in an apartment in Creve Coeur. His paintings adorn the walls – but not all of them. One, called “The Silent Table,” is on display at the St. Louis Soldiers Memorial downtown at 1315 Chestnut.

“It has a lot of significance,” Roth said of the painting. Instead of remembering the war once a year or on occasion, he said he wanted to make something “that could be used and noted all the time.”

“Maybe we won’t have any more wars,” Roth said. “This helps make me happy.”