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 Hono… - Walter D. Ehlers
" "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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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.
The world changed on June 6, 1944, the day the good guys took charge again. It did not mean peace, but it marked the stand for freedom that would continue through the Korean War, the Vietnam conflict, the fall of the Berlin Wall, and the Allied containment of Iraq. The spirit of D-Day carried Allied momentum across the hedgerows of France, through the Ardennes and the Battle of the Bulge, and toward Berlin; it put new hope into the battle-weary troops in the Pacific.
While we braved these then-fortified beaches to beat back Hitler and to liberate Europe, we fought for much more than that. We fought to preserve what our forefathers had died for. We picked up our guns to protect our faith, to preserve our liberty.
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Our purpose went well beyond aiding our allies as they faced the German blitz. It was to save our way of life, for our parents and siblings at home, for our children, and the children we hoped to have, and for their children. It has been a way of life that was worth fighting for. We have enjoyed the longest period of world peace in modern history. We relish new spectrums of religious, racial, and political tolerance. We are free of the tyrannies of the likes of Hitler. We must not forget, however, what this freedom cost. We earned that security with our sweat and our blood, some of us with our lives. Much of it was earned right here in Normandy. Many of those who enjoy freedom know little of its price.
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