Jean Schlegel / Times-Record
Leonard Lucas, center, received the Knight of the Legion of Honor medal on Wednesday from Barnes County Veterans Service Office Jim Verwey, right, as Lucas’ wife, Margorie, looks on. The French government gave Lucas the medal, its highest honor. Below: Lucas served in World War II and later the Korean War.

By Jean Schlegel

Veteran Leonard Lucas still has vivid memories of World War II.
“I was in the artillery; I remember the foxholes, mud and rain,” says Lucas, 90, of Valley City. “I had a few close calls, but I got by.”
There is far more behind what he remembers about the war versus what he will say.
Lucas, who also served in the Korean War, recently received with the Knight of the Legion of Honor medal from the French government. This is the highest honor that France bestows upon those who have achieved remarkable deeds for France.
This is not like other stories of U.S. veterans receiving medals decades late. Rather, it is about how the former French President Jacques Chirac, who was in office from 1995-2007, paid tribute to U.S. soldiers who did so much for France and Western Europe.
On the 60th anniversary of D-Day, June 6, 1944, the French president presented medals to soldiers in the 127th Field Artillery Battalion of the 35th Infantry Division, which Lucas served in.
Eighty medals were given to veterans in 13 Midwest states last year, said Claire March, press assistant with the Consulat General of France in Chicago.
March said many soldiers were drafted from the Midwest and fought and died in France, and now they are being rewarded.
In a letter to Lucas, Jean-Baptiste Main De Boissiere, consul general of France in Chicago, wrote: “More than 65 years ago, he (Lucas) gave his youth to France and the French people. Many of his fellow soldiers did not return, but they remain in our hearts.
“Thanks to the courage of these soldiers, to our American friends and Allies, France has been living in peace for the past six decades. They saved us and we will never forget. I want you to know that for us, the French people, they are heroes. Gratitude and remembrance are forever in our souls. Mr. Lucas, you are among those heroes.”
Lucas enlisted in December 1941 as a private first class in the 127th Field Artillery Battalion of the 35th Infantry Division, according to the letter. From July 1944 to September 1945, Lucas participated in the Normandy, Northern France, Rhineland, Ardennes and Central Europe campaigns.

For full story, see the 11/19/2009 edition of the Valley City Times-Record.