For more than 90 years, Harold Billow lived in Mount Joy. Although he passed away in May 2022 at the age of 99, Billow will not be forgotten in the community.

Rep. Lloyd Smucker introduced legislation to rename the Mount Joy post office in honor of Billow, and it was signed into law last December. On April 4, the Harold Billow Post Office Building, 1 E. Main St., was dedicated in a ceremony led by Smucker. He was joined by Mount Joy Borough Mayor Tim Bradley, Lancaster County Commissioner Josh Parsons, state Rep. Tom Jones, United States Postal Service manager for operations integrity Nathan Luttringer and postmaster of the Mount Joy post office Christina Willig.

Billow was drafted into the U.S. Army in 1943 and trained as a technician. During World War II, he was part of Battery B of the 285th Field Artillery Observation Battalion. He was deployed to France in 1944 at the age of 21. On Dec. 17, 1944, Billow and 120 others in his unit were captured by Nazi soldiers who killed 87 of the captured American soldiers in an attack that would later become known as the Malmedy Massacre. Although Billow was not hit by the bullets, he fell to the ground and pretended to be dead as the Nazis walked among the survivors and shot any living man in the head. After several hours, Billow escaped by running to a nearby house with other survivors before fleeing again from the Nazis and finding safety with the U.S. 30th Armored Division.

When he returned to the United States, Billow spent the rest of his life in Mount Joy, where he was a member of VFW Post 5752, the Mount Joy fire department, American Legion Post 466 in Marietta and the Veterans of the Battle of the Bulge. Each year, he honored his fellow soldiers lost during the Malmedy Massacre by planting 87 American flags in his front yard on Memorial Day, July Fourth and Veterans Day. When he died last spring, he was the last known living survivor of the massacre.

Over the years, Smucker met Billow several times, and upon learning of Billow's passing, he took the steps necessary to name a federal building after the American war hero. "Representative Smucker believes it's critical for us to remember the sacrifices and service of our nation's World War II veterans," shared Eric Reath, press secretary for Smucker. "Representative Smucker believes that it's appropriate for the federal government to pay tribute and to honor the memory of individuals who made a difference in their communities or in service to the nation. Mr. Billow is certainly one of those individuals; he is an exceptional member of America's Greatest Generation."