The E-Sylum:  Volume 8, Number 19, May 8, 2005, Article 12

FRENCH LEGION OF HONOR AWARDED

The Philadelphia Inquirer published a story on May 5, 2005
about a local man who received the Legion of Honor medal
from France, in gratitude for his heroics in WWII:

"As a boy in France, Philippe Schaison heard his parents and
grandparents say that if it weren't for the American soldiers
who liberated their country from the Nazis in World War II,
they might not have been alive.

Schaison, now 43 and living in Princeton, recently received
a chance to express his family's gratitude to one former G.I.
who served in France: 96-year-old former Army sergeant
William Mohr of Hatboro.

The Frenchman, who had gotten to know Mohr as the father
of a business colleague, sent an e-mail to the French consulate
in New York recommending Mohr for the French Legion of
Honor (Légion d'Honneur) - the highest award that France
can confer on a civilian.

To Schaison's surprise - and Mohr's - the French government
awarded Mohr the medal. A consular officer went to Mohr's
house and, in the presence of Mohr's wife and children, pinned
the five-pointed gold cross with a red ribbon on his breast."

"Any American who participated in the liberation of France is
eligible to apply for the Legion of Honor medal, which was
inaugurated by the Emperor Napoléon in 1802.

Yet, the award is rare. Last year, only 125 medals were given
to U.S. veterans of World War II - and 100 of them were
given in one shot on the 60th anniversary of the D-Day invasion
in Normandy last June."

To read the full story at the Philadelphia Inquirer 
(registration required): Full Story

  Wayne Homren, Editor

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