Joseph C. "Gabby" Hartmann

He proudly served his country in the U.S. Navy and was an avid outdoorsman who would bass fish using a fly rod!

Private Internment at Fort Indiantown Gap National Cemetery.

Joseph (Gabby) Hartmann, age 94 and one of Columbia’s local legends passed away on Saturday, October 5th, at the VA Hospital in Lebanon. He was born in Paterson, NJ, son of Joseph A. and Leona (Schlegelmilch) Hartmann.

Gabby joined the Navy at age 16, only to be sent home until he turned 17. His first tour of duty was 3rd Division Anti-Submarine patrol, followed by amphibian training in Long Island and advanced training in Firth of Clyde in Scotland. He was then assigned to a British Warship, H.M.S. Capetown, and was one of the first to arrive at Omaha Beach on D-Day under cover of darkness (they were known as the suicide squad). Gabby was in the middle of all action for six months, then assigned to U.S.S. L.S.T. 5067 as the first allies to go to Norway. After his discharge in 1946, he owned Hartmann’s Café for 20 years. Gabby was an avid outdoorsman, fishing the river for bass using a fly rod, duck hunting and all wild game.

He is survived by his daughter, Kristie Lou Crosby of Douglasville, Georgia, and two sisters, Leona (Robert Stover) and Dolores (Clyde Butz) of Lancaster, and his nephew, Dave Wise, who was like the son he never had. He was preceded in death by his wife of 66 years, Mary Lou (Kauffman) Hartmann.

At his request, there will be no service. He will be interred with his late wife at Fort Indiantown Gap National Cemetery.

Arrangements by the Clyde W. Kraft Funeral Home, Inc., Columbia/Landisville, www.clydekraft.com

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