By David Fleet
Editor
Ortonville— In the early morning hours of D-Day, June 6, 1944, Fred Bahlau, a 21-year-old Jackson, Mich. native and paratrooper in the 101st Airborne Division, jumped into German occupied Normandy France, miles behind enemy lines.
“It’s dark, the fighting is bitter and the American troops are scattered all over the French countryside,” said Larry Martin, who interviewed Bahlau in 2006 and 2009 regarding his military service.
“Bahlau described it as chaos, German’s were everywhere, yet he fought on and along with other soldiers achieved their objective. Bahlau would continue to fight for the next 45-days through France.”
From 6-7 p.m., Oct. 18, the Brandon Township Public Library, 304 South St., will host, “An Interview with Fred Bahlau,” recorded by World War II Historian Larry Martin. Registration required.
Over the past 22 years Martin’s recorded 125 interviews with solders include four women, five German soldiers, and a Dutch underground fighter.
“I have three men who were at Pearl Harbor on Dec. 7, 1941, men who were POW’s of the Japanese as well as the Germans,” he said. “One woman lived under Japanese rule for nearly four years while her husband was being used as slave labor on the Burma/Thailand RR project.”
Martin’s interviews often includes the personal perspective of the soldier.
“Bahlau story is sometimes funny, interesting, and very truthful,” he said. “He was a tough man and the fight was bloody and hard.  Fred was the recipient of two Silver Stars during his time in combat.  He was in such vicious fighting that he was given two battlefield promotions because of the death and injury of the officers in front of him.”
There is a picture of the 1st. Lt. Fred Bahlau sitting in Nazi leader Herman Goring’s, 1941 Mercedes Benz 540K Cabriolet B, laughed Martin.
During the interview Bahlau will also describe the Wolf’s Lair, located deep in the Masurian woods formally East Prussia, which was Adolf Hitler’s home until its destruction in 1945.
“We owe this generation everything,” said Martin.