Harshbarger line: Edward Harshbarger, 1917-1976, Cousin

For my last Harshbarger post, I wrote about Robert D. Harshbarger, son of Logan and Chestia Kemery Harshbarger, and World War II veteran.  Today I'm writing about Edward Leroy Harshbarger, also the son of Logan and Chestia Kemery Harshbarger, and also a World War II veteran.  . 

Ed, as he is referred to in various newspaper articles, was born October 12, 1917.  He was the second and last of the Harshbarger children, as far as I know.  (It's possible one or more were born and died between the censuses and I haven't researched that possibility, so I want to leave that open for now).

No two children are alike, and Ed was born late enough that the Great Depression may have affected him more.  In 1930, he was living with his parents but in the 1940 census, when he was about 22, he was a boarder in the home of Stella M. Grunfeld, who was just three years older than she was. This was in Richland Township, Whitley County, Indiana. She was a factory worker and her was a truck driver, although in 1939 neither had received much income, she $70 and he nothing.  Ed had completed just the seventh grade in school, so he dropped out sometime after the 1930 census.  We don't know whether school was difficult for him or whether he was needed on the family farm. 

The next notice we have of Ed is that he has enlisted in the Army, on March  3, 1943.  Interestingly, his enlistment city is listed as Camp Perry Lacarne, Ohio.  I'm not sure of the chronology here but Camp Perry was a prisoner of war camp for German POWs.  He is listed as having a grammar school education, and in civilian life had an unskilled occupation in manufacture of furniture, so I'm not sure whether there's any connection between the job and the location or not.  By this time, he was married.  His height is listed as 86, which if this is correct and the measurement was in inches, would have made himm over 7 foot tall.  I rather think I' m not interpreting this correctly, because his weight is given as 103, presumably pounds.  I'm thinking he would have been as small man. 

There is much about his military life that I don't know.  He served in the European theater as an auto mechanic, initially in England and then seems, based on his battles, to have been in Northern France, the Ardennes, and Rhineland.  He has the Good Conduct Medal and others as well.  He was discharged, as a corporal, on October 22, 1945. 

I don't know much about Ed's life after he returned to the civilian world.  There is an April 1963 notice in the Columbia City, Indiana Commercial Mail that "Mr. and Mrs. Orris Stump and Mrs. Donald Heck were Sunday guests of Mr. and Mrs. Edward Harshbarger and son.  In the afternoon, they went to Columbia City to the Hillcrest Nursing home and visited with Mrs. Chauncey Kemery, mother of Mrs. Harshbarger.  I know the name of the son, but I don't know if he is still living so I am not giving it here. I haven't yet figured out how or if Stella Grunfeld was the Stella who married Ed, and if she was, how she connected to Mrs. Chauncey Kemery. Mrs. Chauncey Kemery in 1963 was the former Susan Reed James.  So where did the Grunfeld or Greenfield name come from?  Mysteries still remain, of course.  . 

The last information I have is about Ed's death.  Sadly, he died less than six months after his brother Robert was hit and killed by a vehicle.  Ed died of lung cancer on July 5, 1976.  His wife's maiden name here is given as Stella Greenfield, which may be the same as the Stella Grunfeld he was lodging with in 1940.  He had been employed as a factory employee in auto parts production, and his illness had lasted about 10 months. Logan and Chestia were left without children in their old age. 

I sometimes wonder about these cousins  I've found reference in the Huntington, Indiana Herald-Press that Mr. and Mrs. Cleveland Harshbarger had visited with Mr and Mrs Robert Harshbarger, either in Whitley County or at the home of Mr. and Mrs. Grover Harshbarger. I've not yet found anything indicating a social relationship with Ed and Stella, which could be for any number of reasons.  But I sure would have liked to have heard these three men, Cleve, Bob, and Ed, discussing their World War II experiences.  Hearing about the different ways they served their country, and the things and places they had seen, would have been a great addition to our family history.