Harry V. Balsar enlisted in the Army on 17 July 1942 in Indianapolis.

T/5 Balsar's arrival in the 508th is not recorded but he is shown in the Service Company Morning Report returning to duty from a hospital on 31 March 1945.

He was transferred to HQ 3rd the following day, that presumably being the company he been in prior to hospitalization.

The HQ 3rd July 1945 Morning Report listed him as receiving the Purple Heart having been Wounded In Action on 22 December 1944 which accounts for the earlier hospitalization.

Harry was transferred to the 513th Parachute Infantry on 18 August 1945,  perhaps to facilitate his return to the U.S.  He was discharged on 30  September 1945.

However, on 1 October 1945, Harry re-enlisted and on 23 November he was listed in a newspaper article as one of ex-paratrooper volunteers in Frankfurt on standby for a rescue mission in the Alps.  The mission was never carried out, however.

He married Margot Juliane Marie Jagusch [1927-2003] in Frankfurt, Germany on 2 January 1948,

Margot, age 20, arrived unescorted in New York, NY from Bremerhaven, Germany aboard the USAT General Taylor on 19 March 1948. With her was a daughter Telse Geiger, age 3, a product of an earlier union. [see lines 11 and 12]

Margot became a naturalized citizen in the District Court, Columbus, GA on 25 September 1957.

The couple had two sons, born in 1948 and 1954, each born at Fort Benning, GA which implies that Harry remained in the Army for quite some time following the war. The date of his final discharge is unknown.

Margot's daughter, Telse, was shown as a Sophomore in the 1960 yearbook of Jordan Vocational High School, Columbus, GA.  Her name was shown as Telse Balsar implying that she had been officially adopted by Harry.  Harry may have been still in the Army and stationed at nearby Fort Benning.

His military decorations include the Purple Heart and the Bronze service Arrowhead device for the Southern France Campaign and Airborne Operations