Buena Park resident Walter D. Ehlers, who was the last living WWII Congressional Medal of Honor Recipient, for the Normandy D-day invasion has passed away at the age of 93, Thursday, Feb. 20.
His was one of those being honored with the new “Medal of Honor” U.S. postage stamp.
Mr. Ehlers, born in 1921.
The United States Postal Service announced that on Veteran’s Day 2013, it would issue stamps depicting the highest Medals the United States awards its soldiers – the Medal of Honor.
Buena Park resident Walter D. Ehlers, who was the last living WWII Congressional Medal of Honor Recipient, for the Normandy D-day invasion has passed away at the age of 93, Thursday, Feb. 20.
His was one of those being honored with the new “Medal of Honor” U.S. postage stamp.
Mr. Ehlers, born in 1921.
The United States Postal Service announced that on Veteran’s Day 2013, it would issue stamps depicting the highest Medals the United States awards its soldiers – the Medal of Honor.
The stamp sheet includes photographs of the living recipients on the stamp sheet as a way to recognize and honor them, while paying respect to the 464 recipients whose names are included in the Medal of Honor World War II Forever Stamp prestige folio.
Mr. Ehlers represents the best of this country’s strength.
He was honored with the Congressional Medal of Honor in 1944 following his action during the D-Day offensive.
By the end of WWII, Ehlers had served in eight campaigns and received the Congressional Medal of Honor, the Presidential Unit Citation with two clusters; the Silver Star, two Bronze Stars, three Purple Hearts, the Combat Infantry Badge, the British Military Medal, the Belgian Order of Leopold and was knighted by Belgian King Albert II.
President Roosevelt would normally have presented the Medal of Honor, which is approved by Congress and issued and awarded on behalf of Congress, by the President, but Mr. Ehlers had been wounded in April 1945, and wasn’t in America, so Lt. Gen. Commander John C.H. Lee presented the Medal of Honor to Mr. Ehlers in Paris, just before the Battle of the Bulge.
In 1998, the City of Buena Park renamed its Community Center, 8150 Knott Ave., in honor of Congressional Medal of Honor recipient Walter D. Ehlers.
In an earlier interview for the Buena Park Independent Newspaper, with Mr. Ehlers at his home in Buena Park, he related the following:
“I read about the Medal of Honor in the ‘Stars and Stripes’ while riding on a train in Europe and returning to duty,” he said, “but I hadn’t received the Medal yet.
Reporting back to duty he was told, “Sergeant, you’re supposed to be back in the States receiving the Medal of Honor,” to which Mr. Ehlers said, “I read about it in the Stars and Stripes.”
“A lot happened in my five years of military service,” he said, detailing his military history chronologically:
“I was 19 when I entered the military right after high school, and my mother had to sign for me to join the Army, saying she would sign for me only if I would be a ‘Christian Soldier;’ I was 20 when war was declared; 21 when I first landed in Africa; 22 on my second landing in Sicily; 23 when I landed in Normandy, and the War ended on May 7, 1945, my birthday,” he said, noting that May 7, was the cease fire date and that the Armistice was signed on May 8.
Ehlers, as a First Infantry Staff Sergeant led his men against heavily-defended enemy strong-points in occupied France.
Wounded in the succeeding battles, Ehlers rescued fellow soldiers and continued to lead “spearhead” attacks against great numbers of the enemy; his wounds were taken care of but he refused to be evacuated without his men.
He received a promotion to Second Lieutenant and since that time, received numerous honors and awards including several more service medals and citations.
In his retirement years, Mr. Ehlers, being a self-describe family man, was able to devote more time to his wife, three children and eleven grandchildren.
A patriot, war hero and decorated veteran, as well as a devoted family and community activist, he well-earned his recognition from a grateful country.
Ehlers was born in the farm belt of Kansas and joined the U.S. Army in 1940 with his brother Roland.
After training at California’s Camp Ord, both brothers saw their first action in the North African landings.
President Roosevelt praised the two brothers as part of the Casablanca conference honor guard; the brothers were then transferred to the First Infantry Division, dubbed the “Big Red One” just in time for the Sicily invasion.
Following the French Morocco, Tunisia Sicily and Normandy invasions, Ehlers was separated from his brother and in the days immediately following the D-Day invasion, Ehlers, distinguished himself while engaging enemy forces, saving others in his division and being wounded in the battle field.
“A bullet hit my rib; it went into my pack, hit a bar of soap, which turned it straight through the back of the shovel, and then it went through the edge of my Mother’s picture that I was carrying,” he said.
Only later would he discover that his older brother, Roland, was killed while landing on the beaches at Normandy.
Ehlers went onto campaigns throughout Belgium and Germany, earning a 2nd lieutenant’s commission.
After the war, Ehlers moved to Southern California and was employed by the Veterans Administration.
He retired from the Veterans Administration after 34 years of government service.
While ice-skating at the Paramount Ice Skating Rink, he met his wife-to-be, Dorothy, and they married in 1955, settling in Buena Park in the shadow of Knott’s Berry Farm where they raised their family; two daughters and a son, Catherine, Tracy and Walter, Jr.
Following in his father’s footsteps, Ehlers’ son joined the Army and served in the 1st Infantry for four years.
Ehlers served the community of Buena Park as a Park and Recreation Commissioner for seven years.
Attending the 50th anniversary of D-Day at Omaha Beach in 1994, Ehlers spoke before an array of international heads of state, including Queen Elizabeth of England and the then President and Mrs. Clinton.
Ehlers continued to promote the concepts of liberty and freedom. In his life time, he spoke to community groups, schools and youth organizations about America and for what it stands.
In 1994 he was the keynote speaker during the Annual Buena Park Mayor’s Prayer Breakfast.
In 1998, Mr. Ehlers had just returned from a trip to France, where he joined his grandson, Brett, at the beach of Normandy, for a special American educational television program revisiting the war site, recalling memories forever etched in his memory.
Tempering those recollections are lessons that great conflicts bring; that life is precious and for Ehlers, a decorated war hero, peace is the well-won prize and right of everyone.
For America’s Independence Day, people attend parades, hold picnics, visit with family and friends, and see fireworks, but for those who pursued the birth of this nation – in particular the 56 men who signed the Declaration of Independence – they frequently paid a high price, some losing their lives at the hands of the British.
In the Revolutionary War, the colonists didn’t fight just the British. They were British subjects at that time and they fought their own government.
And so it is – Freedom is not free – many people have, and continue to win hard-won battles for all of us to live in freedom.
So, at this time, we say, “Thank you” to those who have, and continue to serve in all branches of the U.S. Military.
“What so proudly we hailed at the twilight’s last gleaming… Gave proof through the night that our flag was still there… O’er the land of the free and the home of the brave.” (Words by Francis Scott Key – National Anthem).
Each year on July 3, Mr. Ehlers started the 4th of July celebration by attending the Annual City of Orange’s early 4th of July event that culminates with The Orange Community Master Chorale and Collegiate Choir of Santiago Canyon College under the direction of Michael Short performing patriotic songs, and then a magnificent display of fireworks rivaled only by Disneyland, along with honoring all attending military personnel, past and present.
And there, in the soft evening light, stood our very own dignified and unassuming Mr. Ehlers, from Buena Park, to be recognized for his heroic efforts at Normandy and other battles during WWII.
The crowd would gather itself to its feet and generously applaud, to show appreciation to Mr. Ehlers, and as the crowd returned to its seat, tears could be seen being wiped from eyes.
It was a nice, and a well-deserved tribute.
“Thank you,” Mr. Ehlers.
