Harry Nivens of St. Cloud never thought he would see his 100th birthday — or even his 23rd birthday, for that matter.
When the U.S. entered World War II, Harry signed up for the Army and then volunteered to become a paratrooper.
“I did it for the money, you got paid more,” said Nivens, only partially joking.
On Saturday, Harry celebrated his 100th birthday in Lake Nona, surrounded by his family and friends. A Zoom call on a large screen TV brought many more familiar faces to the surprise party at the assisted living facility where he now resides, after living in Kissimmee and St. Cloud for many years.
Nivens served with the 502nd Parachute Infantry Regiment of the 101st Airborne Division, the famed “Screaming Eagles”, immortalized for later generations in the Band of Brothers television series. Harry jumped into Normandy, France in the early morning darkness of D-Day on June 6, 1944.
“I don’t remember too much about my first parachute jump or that one. You remember a jump for a particular thing that happened,” said Nivens.
His unit was tasked with holding several bridges and destroying large artillery guns behind the Utah Beach invasion, where thousands of other American soldiers would be landing after dawn. For the lightly armed airborne soldiers, “it was a race against time,” Nivens said, for them to hold off Nazi reinforcements until the landing force could gain sufficient strength to move off the beach and reinforce the paratroopers.
On Saturday, Harry was toasted by his family with Calvados, a type of brandy made in Normandy from apple cider and a favorite of many D-Day veterans.
Nivens was severely wounded in later fighting in France, received the Purple Heart Medal, and was eventually returned to North Carolina. He later moved to South Florida and owned a gas and propane company with several partners.
Nivens has returned to Normandy, France several times, the last trip an Honor Flight in 2014, the year of the 70th anniversary of the D-Day landings.
Since the end of the war, as a combat soldier, Nivens received the Bronze Star Medal, and in 2004, all American combat soldiers and medics who fought for France’s liberation were decorated as Knights of the Legion of Hon or by the government of France.
