Saul Amtzis

U.S. NAVY
1942-1946
WWII

Three weeks after his 17th birthday, on December 28, 1942, Saul Amtzis dropped out of McKee High School, enlisted in the U.S. Navy and followed his two brothers off to fight WWII—and his mother cried the entire time she was signing the papers to let him go.

After 10 weeks of basic training in Great Lakes, IL, Saul was assigned to a U.S. Naval Training Course at Hadley Technical High School in St. Louis, MO, and became an Electrician’s Mate 3rd Class on September 4,
1943. Following firefighting school in Newport, RI, and 12 weeks of landing craft training in Norfolk, VA, he was sent overseas, stationed at U.S. Naval Air Amphibious Bases in Falmouth and Weymouth, England.

On D-Day, June 6, 1944, he was part of the landing craft group that invaded Normandy Beach, France—a critical battle that ultimately cracked the Nazi grip on Western Europe. Saul's service to his country
earned him the European Theater Medal, the American Theater Medal, the Victory Medal and the Good Conduct Medal.

Back in the states, he was stationed at the U.S. Naval Berth Facility in Tompkinsville, before being honorably discharged as an Electrician’s Mate 2nd Class, U.S. Navy, on April 18, 1946.

Initially employed at his father’s business, Frankel & Amtzis Wholesale Produce on Broadway, Saul went on to a long career as a delivery driver for Weissglass Dairy. He married Selma Smith on March 30, 1947.

They raised their three children in Westerleigh before retiring to West Palm Beach, FL, in the 1980s.

In 2000, after being issued a special diploma for wartime veterans who never graduated, Saul’s children surprised him with a McKee Vocational High School class ring on his 75th birthday.

Saul and Selma were married for 71 years when he passed away in 2018.

Sponsored by the Grandchildren and Great-Grandchildren of Saul Amtzis