Alabama WWII Veterans Receive French Legion of Honor Medal
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It’s not every day a foreign country honors you for helping defend their nation, but nine WWII vets were honored with just such an award.
They received the French Legion of Honor medal in a ceremony in Montgomery.
Most of these men were from Alabama, with a few from Tennessee and Mississippi as well.
For them it was truly a special day.
The award dates back over 200 years to the time of Napoleon.
It’s the highest honor the country can bestow.
Denis Barbet is the consul general in Atlanta, and giving out these awards is always moving for him.
“They’re still here, so it’s a lesson of history of today, of courage. It’s like freedom is never granted. We have to fight for it,” said Barbet.
In order to be eligible for the legion of honor, veterans must have served in one of the four major campaigns to liberate france in World War II.
Some of these men fought on the ground, even getting trapped behind enemy lines.
Don Echols flew bombers against the Nazis over 70 years ago.
“We’re excited about it. This is a significant award coming from France, another government. We have of course medals that we earned during the war but this is special,” said Echols.
While it’s a special award, every day the US is losing more and more of these men and women.
The national world war two museum estimates we’re losing about 430 veterans every day.
Men like Echols want to make sure their fellow soldiers who passed away are still remembered.
“I accept this medal in memory of my crew, 10 crew members in our bomber and I’m the only survivor of the 10. In addition, during my tour of duty, my twin brother was on my crew and flew in the same plane. He’s not around now,” said Echols.
