Colonel Harry P. Meinhardt was commissioned from the Infantry Officer Candidate Program, Class Numbr 17, 3 July 1952. Upon graduation he saw duty in Korea as Platoon Leader and Company Commander. He was also a Platoon Leader in the 501st Airborne Battle Group at Fort Campbell, Kentucky prior to attending the Army Language School for German in 1957. He spent two years at Fort Bragg, North Carolina as Battery Commander, for Battery B, 319th Field Artillery. From 1961 until 1964 he held various Battery and Battalion level assignments in Germany. Returning to attend the Command and General Staff College at Fort Leavenworth in 1967 he later served as Deputy G3 Advisor in II Corps near Pleiku, Vietnam. The next two years he was Battalion Commander of the 1st Battalion 29th Artillery at Fort Carson, Colorado. From 1970 to 1971 he served with the Joint U.S. Military Aid Group in Greece and then as Deputy Commander of the Corps Artillery, 18th Airborne Corps, Fort Bragg, North Carolina. | His awards and decorations include the Bronze Star, Meritorious Service Medal and Army Commendation Medal with Oak Leaf Cluster.