T/Sgt Hartmann was born in 1917 and enlisted alongside his brother in January of 1941. He spent his early years in the Army as a coastal artilleryman in Alaska (Hence the PTO ribbon) and then tried to join the Air Corps. With the ground-pounders taking heavy casualties, it was deemed that every able-bodied man with leadership under his belt would be sent to the infantry. Hartmann joined the 76th Division as a Corporal and was assigned to I-Company, 417th Infantry Regiment. He quickly rose through the ranks in the company and by the end of the war, was a Technical Sergeant. His citation reads like a Silver Star Medal and I believe he was unjustly awarded the BSM. This man was a hero. He was wounded in action yet his discharge does not reflect it. The newspaper article was submitted to the National Personnel Record Center by him in 1989 to show that he was in fact wounded. No doubt he was looking to finally get his records corrected.
This incredible trunk grouping not only came with all of S. Hartmann's items, but also his brother's. His brother Leo was killed in action while serving as a B-24 tail gunner in the MTO. I feel truly honored to own the items from these two brave brothers. I am glad they have survived all of these years together.
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