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| Europe |
| 'Forever indebted': France gives highest honor to 3 WWII vets from St. Louis County |
| 2019-01-24 |
| [St. Louis Post Dispatch] ST. LOUIS • As a French diplomat pinned his country’s most distinguished medal to Alfred C. Villagran’s chest, the World War II veteran thought of the five men in his B-17 bomber crew who were killed in combat. "I think they would be very proud of me," said Villagran, who was 19 when he served in the Army Air Forces as a B-17 radio operator and gunner. "But I like to think that I accepted this not only for myself but for all the guys that fought for France and Western Europe. There are a lot of deserving guys who didn’t make it back." At 95, Villagran, of Chesterfield, was the youngest of three men and World War II veterans France awarded the Legion of Honor on Wednesday at Soldiers Memorial. The French also gave Eugene J. Harmack, of Kirkwood, and Glenn A. Harrison, of O’Fallon, Mo., the honor, which was started in 1802 by Napoleon Bonaparte. Both men are 98. [St. Louis Post Dispatch] France has been giving the award to veterans in America’s "Greatest Generation" for their aid in liberating the country from Nazi occupation. Past recipients include President Dwight D. Eisenhower, Gen. Douglas MacArthur and hometown aviator Charles Lindbergh. "Without these three gentleman here today, the French flag ‐ that was flying in St. Louis in the early 19th century ‐ would not be flying here today," Guillaume Lacroix, consul general of France for the Midwest, told an audience of more than 200 people, including dozens of the veterans’ family and friends. |
| Posted by:Besoeker |
| #2 I enjoyed your comment, Anguper. Thanks, Roger. |
| Posted by: Roger Smith 2019-01-24 13:01 |
| #1 I have a distant ancestor who migrated from Burgundy in 1737 to help start an iron works in Quebec. In 1944 one of his descendants parachuted over St. Mere-Eglise with the 82nd Airborne, returning to liberate the old country with steel from the new country. |
| Posted by: Anguper Hupomosing9418 2019-01-24 11:37 |