Harlan Luster
US Army 1944-1946
WWII
Harlan Luster was only 18 when he was sent into WWII. He was a member of the 158th Infantry Regimental Combat Team. He found himself in the Jungles of Luzon Philippine Islands. 47 years later, Harlan was finally recognized for his service around his 19th birthday with the Army’s Bronze Star that read “For meritorious achievement in ground combat against the armed enemy during WWII in the Asiatic Pacific Theater of Operations.”
Harlan Luster was the oldest of 11 children. His dad passed away when he was 16 so Harlan became a father figure for the rest of the 10 kids and had to grow up quickly. He joined the service in 1944 and he came home to Harpers Ferry, IA in 1946. He met his wife from Milwaukee, WI. They married and had six children.
He loved to play jokes. He was an iron worker for years and during that time they would play little tricks like putting toads in other guy’s lunch boxes. The funniest thing was growing up in Harpers Ferry, at that time a lot of people still had outhouses and he would say that around Halloween they would go around and tip the outhouses. They decided to tip one outhouse over not realizing that one of his school teachers was inside. Harlan was a very easy going man, but a hard worker.
After a battle there was a Pilipino that had a mirror on him, Harland took the mirror and later on a bullet hit the mirror and it saved his life because the bullet ricochet off.
Locator
