I was on the train, and another fellow says, 'I'm reading here where your brother got the Medal of Honor.' I said, 'Yes, I'm reading about that, too.… - Walter D. Ehlers
" "I was on the train, and another fellow says, 'I'm reading here where your brother got the Medal of Honor.' I said, 'Yes, I'm reading about that, too.' But I didn't tell him it was me he was reading about because I had not got the Medal yet. I got off the train, and I was headed for the CP, the Command Post, when a colonel called me by my last name. I was in fatigue uniform, and I didn't know any colonels. But this colonel knew me. He said, 'Sergeant Ehlers, what are you doing here?' I said, 'Well, sir, I'm reporting back to duty.' He says, 'Well, you're supposed to be back in the States getting the Medal of Honor from President Roosevelt.' And I said, 'Yes, sir, I read about it in Stars and Stripes.
A couple of days later they had me come to a press conference, and I'm just standing there. Then the general told the people that he wanted to introduce me to them and what I did in Normandy and so forth. Me? The Medal of Honor? It was quite a sensation to the press corps there to meet a Medal of Honor guy. I didn't look like anything, a young kid with a helmet, no stripes, never decorated before. Major General Clarence R. Huebner promoted me after he introduced me as having received the Medal of Honor- which I still hadn't received yet. He introduced me as Lieutenant Ehlers. After the press conference, we were coming out of there, he had his arm around my shoulder, and he said, 'Sergeant Ehlers, I'm going to promote you to second lieutenant.' I said, 'Well, sir, I don't think I qualify.' He said, 'You qualify.' I said, 'Yes, sir.'
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About Walter D. Ehlers
Walter David Ehlers (May 7, 1921 – February 20, 2014) was a United States Army soldier and a recipient of the US Armed Forces' highest decoration, the Medal of Honor, for his actions in World War II.
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Walter David Ehlers
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Additional quotes by Walter D. Ehlers
I was born and raised in the state of Kansas. I was a farm boy, and nowadays I keep hearing people say, 'Well, a lot of farm boys got the Medal of Honor.' I don't know if that's true or not, but I do know a lot of city boys got the Medal of Honor. The first thing I experienced was that to join the Army in Kansas under the age of twenty-one you had to have your parents' signature. When I confronted my mother and dad, my dad said he would sign, but my mother said, 'Son, I will sign on one condition.: If you promise to be a Christian soldier.' She said that with tears in her eyes. I promised her that I would do my best. I carried that faith throughout my military career. It helped all the way through.
We waded and scrambled toward shore. We found men pinned down on the beach, many wounded or killed and many terrified, all surrounded by ruined and swamped landing craft. The dead and wounded soldiers, the wreckage, the ability of the enemy to cause so much damage, made us realize that this war- with its noise of mines detonating, airplanes' continuous roar, mortar and artillery shells bursting on the beach, rifle and machine-gun fire ripping holes in the sand and splashing in the water- this war was far from over. However, D-Day turned the tide. Sadly, it was the end of the war for a great many brave men who died here that day. But it was also the beginning of the end of the war for Hitler.
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When I came home, I never used the Medal at any time, except when I went to the inaugurations of the Presidents. They always invite the Medal of Honor recipients. I went to about every inauguration from Truman to now. I went to the one for Bush, but I didn't go to Clinton's because I wasn't a Clinton man. In 1994, on the fiftieth anniversary of the invasion, I went to France and gave the main address at Omaha. There was a French liberation ceremony on the beach that daym, and I come marching in with the troops, and then they marched me up. There was a microphone in the middle of the field, and of course I had a general escorting me.
It was pretty nice. I'm standing out here in the middle of this field and I'm giving the address that day for the First Division; they had another guy, from the 29th Division, I think it was, but I gave the first speech. I got tremendous applause and accolades. Anyway, Clinton was in the audience that day, and I talked to him down on the beach.
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