French bestow Legion of Honor on 5 La. veterans
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NEW ORLEANS (AP) — French officials took part in Veterans Day celebrations at the National World War II museum on Wednesday by awarding the Legion of Honor to five Louisiana veterans and presenting a replica of the Liberty Bell to the museum.
The Legion of Honor is France’s highest award, although not exclusively awarded for military service. It was begun by Napoleon Bonaparte in 1820.
“I feel very honored,” said Raymond Gilbert, 87, a retired professor from Northwestern State in Natchitoches, La. “I don’t feel like the hero he said I was though.”
Gilbert served in the 87th Army Infantry Division and fought in four battles in France including the Battle of the Bulge.
James Egan, who was a bomber pilot, and bombed railroad yards during the Normandy invasion, wore an old uniform with several rows of medals on his chest. His medals included the Distinguished Flying Cross and the Air Medal with 13 Oak Leaves, indicative of the 71 missions he flew.
“When we were doing it, none of us felt like heroes,” said Egan, 90, of Shreveport, La.
The medal also was presented to Daniel Farley, who landed on Omaha Beach, and posthumously to Jean Broussard, who served under Gen. George Patton, and Dr. Ralph Bourgeois, who was a surgeon on the front lines of Normandy.
“We also recognize the sacrifice of so many of your comrades, who lie at peace in our soil,” said the Defense Attache at the French Embassy in Washington, D.C. Maj. Gen. Gratien Marie, who made the awards.
The French people still feel a strong bond with the United States and the men and woman who liberated their country from the Germans, said Oliver Brochenin, Consul General of France in New Orleans.
“If my generation lived 65 years without a war in France, we owe it to you,” Brochenin told the veterans.
What is called the Normandy Liberty Bell is an exact replica of the Liberty Bell in Philadelphia and was made in a Normandy foundry. The replica is even tuned to the same E-flat note the original Liberty Bell once sounded before it cracked in 1846.
The un-cracked version was commissioned to coincide with the 60th anniversary of the D-Day invasion. It first rang on June 6, 2004 on the beach at Normandy. It was first rung in the United States on July 4, 2005 in Philadelphia, and has toured the country since then.
Now on permanent display at the World War II museum, it tolled Wednesday after the presentation.
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