HELEN, Ga. — A profile of Andrew “Andy” Negra Jr., of Helen, Georgia, one of a dwindling number of veterans took part in the Allies’ European war effort that led to the defeat of Nazi Germany.
BORN: May 28, 1924, near Avella, Pennsylvania.
SERVICE: Army’s 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.
“BECAUSE WE SAVED THE WORLD”
It was 1943, and Andrew “Andy” Negra Jr. had just finished high school. He was thinking of attending the University of Pittsburgh. “But Uncle Sam had that finger pointed at me. ‘I need you.’ And, I was drafted.”
The third of four children born to immigrants from Austria–Hungary, Negra expressed no qualms about entering the service. “There was a war going on, so I went along with everybody else. I just went into the service with an open mind.”
Now, he proudly lays claim to being part of “The Greatest Generation.”
“Because we saved the world,” he said.
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.
“I’m talking about the United Kingdom, France, Germany, Luxembourg, Belgium. All of them are coming to this and there’ll be 35 different countries,” he told…
