HELEN, Ga. \u2014 A profile of Andrew \u201cAndy\u201d Negra Jr., of Helen, Georgia, one of a dwindling number of veterans took part in the Allies\u2019 European war effort that led to the defeat of Nazi Germany.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Born: May 28, 1924, near Avella, Pennsylvania.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Service: Army\u2019s 128th Armored Field Artillery Battalion, 6th Armored Division. Landed on Utah Beach in Normandy on July 18, 1944. Fought in the battle of Brest among other battles. Later served in the occupation of Germany. He was honorably discharged on Dec. 17, 1945.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
It was 1943, and Andrew \u201cAndy\u201d Negra Jr. had just finished high school. He was thinking of attending the University of Pittsburgh. \u201cBut Uncle Sam had that finger pointed at me. \u2018I need you.\u2019 And, I was drafted.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The third of four children born to immigrants from Austria-Hungary, Negra expressed no qualms about entering the service. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThere was a war going on, so I went along with everybody else. I just went into the service with an open mind.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Now, he proudly lays claim to being part of \u201cThe Greatest Generation.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cBecause we saved the world,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
He has made the trip back to France before but says his return this year for the 80th anniversary of D-Day is special for the people of Europe, and for himself.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cI\u2019m talking about the United Kingdom, France, Germany, Luxembourg, Belgium. All of them are coming to this and there\u2019ll be 35 different countries,\u201d he told The Associated Press ahead of his trip. \u201cSo it\u2019s going to be a pretty big event. And at the same time, I\u2019m saying to myself, they\u2019re going to celebrate my birthday,\u201d said Negra, who turned 100 on May 28.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
He considers himself lucky to have survived uninjured. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cI saw a lot of bad things. A lot of death,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
But he also recounts meeting his wife at a dance while he was deployed there. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cSecond song they played was \u201cPeople Will Say We\u2019re in Love.\u201d And I told her, I said \u2014 at that time, I\u2019m 19 \u2014 I told her, I said, this is going to be our song for the rest of our lives. And I only knew her ten minutes.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
As the D-Day anniversary approached Negra was making plans to visit the scene of one of his life\u2019s most harrowing moments. He recalled being on the road with the 6th Armored Division, part of a push to retake the French port city of Brest, when his column was strafed by five German planes. He scrambled out of his half-track and hid behind a well.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThese five airplanes all dove for that well,\u201d Negra recalled. \u201cAnd I was behind that well. So, when they strafed, fortunately it was a brick one, and solid.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
His plans for his return to France include revisiting the scene. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThey say the well\u2019s not there, but the location is there. So, if possible, we\u2019re going to we\u2019re going to go see that.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
100-year-old WWII vet Andy Negra Jr. proudly lays claim to being among the last of what is known as \u201cThe Greatest Generation.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":108010,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_yoast_wpseo_meta-robots-noindex":"","_yoast_wpseo_meta-robots-nofollow":"","_yoast_wpseo_canonical":"","_acf":"","_yoast_wpseo_primary_category":19,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","_smg_distribution_targets":[]},"categories":[100,91,12,25,19,70],"tags":[],"coauthors":[1350],"class_list":["post-79066","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-daily-news-roundup","category-military-history","category-news","category-newsletters","category-veterans","category-your-army"],"acf":{"subheadline":"","legacy_arc_id":"5JKGPBL5WNEFPHDP536O5YQTJA","arc_canonical_url":"\/veterans\/2024\/05\/30\/wwii-vet-says-greatest-generation-fits-because-we-saved-the-world\/","remove_feature_photo":false,"is_sponsored":false,"subtype":"","redirect_url":"","disable_inline_ads":false,"native_logo_pretext":"Presented By:"},"yoast_head":"\n