#VeteranOfTheDay Army Veteran Hank Welzel

September 29, 2022: Hank Welzel

Hank Welzel was born in 1926 in Elyria, Ohio, to German immigrant parents. When he was two years old, he and his family returned to Germany. Welzel was proud of his American heritage but suppressed his patriotism as Hitler rose to power.

In the late 1930s, Welzel joined the Hitler Youth, a state organization that educated adolescent German boys on Nazi principles. While he did not condone Nazi ideology, Welzel explained that, “As a teenage male, you didn’t really have a choice.” He was drafted by the German Army at the age of 16.

In 1943, Welzel deployed to the Italian front as the only medic to a 300-man company. His entire unit was captured by U.S. soldiers on Oct. 10, 1944. Welzel became a prisoner of war (POW) and was subsequently brought back to America, the country of his birth.

Welzel kept his American citizenship a secret while at Fort Rucker in Alabama because he feared the retaliation of his fellow German soldiers. After spending the remainder of the war in the United States, he was sent to France, still as a POW, in 1948.

While in France, Welzel left without authorization and traveled back to Germany to see his parents. At the German border, Russian soldiers took him captive. According to Welzel, the Russian soldiers attempted to indoctrinate him against the United States. Six months later, he fled East Germany and found refuge at the American embassy, where he finally claimed his American citizenship.

In 1949, Welzel returned to the United States as a free citizen. He planned to enlist in the Marines to prove his American loyalty, but since his last address was in East Germany, he was rejected. Welzel then moved to Connecticut and married his wife, Gloria. One year later, the Army drafted him for the Korean War.

In 1951, the U.S. Army sent Welzel to Seoul, Korea, where he served as a medic and went on to earn a Bronze Star and a Purple Heart. He returned to the United States and retired in 1953.

After the Army, Welzel became a product manager for several corporations, primarily working with fiberglass and plastics. Later, he and his family moved to a small farm in Maine, where they raised sheep, goats and other animals. Welzel sponsored his parents and siblings to bring them back to the United States from East Germany.

Welzel died in 2019 at the age of 92. We honor his service.

Writer: Rachel Hoak

Editors: Jacob Reis, Christine Myers

Researchers: Kinsley Ballas, Ormina Naveed

Graphic Designer: Katie Rahill