- October 31, 2024
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Article by Norma Ellen Gerwig, Harold Albrecht’s daughter
Palm Coast resident Harold Albrecht, known as “Hap,” recently celebrated his 100th birthday. Hap was drafted into the U.S. Army on June 10, 1944. He served in the Army 30th Division overseas during World War II and was wounded Feb. 23, 1945, while crossing the Ruhr River in Germany. He was awarded a Purple Heart and was discharged in 1946.
Hap was born June 13, 1919, in Stratford, Connecticut. He is the youngest of six children.
His after-school job during high school was working in a local garage as an auto mechanic; that knowledge and skill always came in handy in later years.
After graduation, Hap took a job at a factory in Bridgeport, Connecticut — where he met his future wife in 1939. He and Norma “Norm” Massey were married in St. Paul’s Lutheran Church on June 28, 1941, and began a 70-year marriage. They lived most of their married life in Stratford where they raised two daughters, Norma “Normi” Ellen and Lynn Ruth.
Hap went to work at Lacey’s Tool and Die shop in Bridgeport, Connecticut, in 1940 and functioned in that role for that rest of his working life, in between serving in the military. He also spent years bonding with his grandson, Chris.
In 1994, Hap, Norm and Lynn moved to Palm Coast. Hap is still here in Palm Coast, now celebrating a century of life.
