Back on Christmas Day 2025, my family visited Fairview Cemetery in Williams Township, Dauphin County, Pennsylvania, a burial ground just a short distance from my childhood home and the final resting place of many relatives and ancestors.
But on this holiday, we also stopped by the grave of Harold E. Malick.
A veteran of the Second World War, Malick served with Company B, 506th Parachute Infantry Regiment, 101st Airborne Division.
Eighty-one years ago, Malick was evacuated from Bastogne, in Belgium’s Ardennes Forest, due to trench foot while fighting in the Battle of the Bulge.
He survived the war and went on to raise a family in Williamstown.
Tragically, Malick lost his life in an accident near DeHart Dam in neighboring Clarks Valley in June 1961. While on a fishing trip, Malick’s son fell into a pool below the reservoir, according to contemporary news accounts of the incident.
The 35-year-old World War II veteran plunged into the water to rescue his son. He succeeded – rescuers pulled the boy from the water and resuscitated him. But his father disappeared from sight. He had drowned.
When I visit the cemetery, I always make an effort to stop by some of the veterans’ graves. I always try to stop at Harold Malick’s as well.
Read more World War II stories from Jake Wynn – Public Historian
Podcast – A Pennsylvania soldier in the Battle of the Bulge
A somber memorial to one of World War II’s deadliest air raids | Hamburg, Germany
Lackawanna County airman recounts bombing his native Sicily during World War 2 | July 1943
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