Remise de la Légion d’Honneur - Vétérans
Bob Hope Patriotic Hall – Los Angeles
30 janvier 2014
Dear Brigadier General Ruth Wong (LA
County Director of Military & Veterans Affairs
Dear representatives of elected officials,
Monsieur le conseiller des Français de
l’étranger,
Dear honorees,
Dear Veterans,
Distinguished guests and dear friends,
Ladies and gentlemen,
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First of all, I would like to thank Brigadier
General Ruth Wong for her gracious welcome
and for allowing us to have our ceremony here,
at Bob Hope Patriotic Hall.
I am deeply honored to be with you today. It is
a privilege for me to express to all of you, dear
honorees, and through you to all veterans of the
Second World War, the gratitude of the people
of France. It is even more important this year
as we commemorate the 70th anniversary of the
D-day.
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Today, we remember that, very young men,
you left their homes and your families, you
faced danger to fight and liberate not only
France, but the whole European Continent,
defend Democracy and prepare a better future.
Today we remember that your
accomplishments during the Second World are
a vibrant reminder of the deep friendship
between France and the United States. A
friendship bound in blood and hardships ever
since the War of Independence.
From Yorktown to Chateau-Thierry; from the
beaches of Normandy to the Mountains of
Afghanistan, our countries have been fighting
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together, side by side. Today, we remember
what it means.
Ladies and gentlemen,
We are here to pay tribute to eleven
exceptional men whose dedication embodies
our shared history and values.
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1/Colonel Albert Restum, you were born in
Allentown, Pennsylvania in 1926. You
graduated from Allentown High School in
1943. You were inducted into the US Army in
Los Angeles in August 1944, and completed
infantry basic training at Camp Hood, Texas.
You were immediately sent to the European
Theatre and assigned to the 274th Infantry
Regiment.
You entered combat in France during the fierce
winter of early January 1945, in the vicinity of
Phillipsbourg and were involved in 60 days of
continuous combat in the Ardennes, Rhineland,
and Central Europe campaigns. You received
the Bronze Star Medal for exemplary conduct
against the enemy.
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After discharge from the U.S. Army in July
1946, you entered Tulane University where you
graduated in 1950. You were called to active
duty that September and pursued a career as a
Civilian Affairs Officer, fluent in Arabic, with
Attaché/Liaison officer postings notably in the
Middle East.
You retired from active duty in 1970, with the
rank of Colonel. You are the National
Commander and life member of ARAM War
Veterans, Inc, a life member of a number of
other veteran organizations, President Emeritus
and a founder of the Los Angeles National
Cemetery Foundation.
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2/Lieutenant-Colonel Samuel Cathcart, you
were born in Canute, Oklahoma 1924, the
fourth of five children. Your family moved to
California in 1927 where you graduated from
Long Beach Poly High School in 1942 before
attending Long Beach City College until
drafted into the Army in January 1943. You
trained with the 75th Infantry Division at Fort
Leonard Wood, Missouri and were deployed to
Europe in late October 1944. You served with
the 291st Regimental Combat Team during the
Battle of the Bulge, Central Europe and the
Colmar Pocket.
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You were wounded during an attack on
Wolfgantzen in the Colmar Pocket, fighting on
February 4, 1945 and were awarded the Silver
Star for valor for your charge and elimination
of a key enemy machine-gun emplacement.
You returned to serve the Company as Platoon
Sergeant. After the German surrender in May
1945, you were involved in occupation duty in
Germany and participated in the G.I Olympics
in Nuremberg. You were discharged in
February 1946, commissioned a 2 Lt in the U.S
Army reserves in 1949, and were recalled to
active duty during the Korean War. In 1977,
you retired from 34 years of service in the U.S
Army Reserves as the commanding officer of
the 425th Civil Affairs Company in Santa
Barbara.
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3/Lieutenant-Colonel Elmo Maiden, you
were born in Kansas City, Missouri in July
1919, having 3 sisters and one brother. You
attended Kansas University School of
Engineering. In 1941 you obtained a private
pilot's license and, to pay for your education,
you worked for Consolidated Aircraft. After
Pearl Harbor, you enlisted in the Army Air
Corp in 1942. You were sworn in for pilot
training in September 1942 at Leavenworth,
Kansas. You completed B-24 Pilot Training in
Texas, B-24 Combat Crew Training at
Charleston, South Carolina, and B-24 Radar
Training at Langley Air Force Base, Virginia.
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In early August 1944, the Maiden crew flew
new radar B-24s to Europe joining the 786th
Squadron/466th Bomb Group at Attlebridge,
England. From September 1944 to April 1945,
you completed 35 combat missions plus 2 gas
haul missions. On a December 27 mission
where 3 engines gave out, you successfully
piloted a crash landing in a field outside of
Paris.
Today, you are active in 466th Bomb Group
functions and Wings Over Wendy's, a weekly
gathering of veterans who exchange stories of
an age not so long ago, that you help keep alive
and transmit.
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4/Captain Arthur Sherman, you were born in
Cleveland in 1921 and graduated from high
school in 1939. You spent the next 2 years
working in defense factories helping the US
economy come out of the Depression. After
the Pearl Harbor attack you volunteered to
enlist in the Aviation Cadet program but had to
wait until fall 1942 to start training because of
lack of space. In the fall of 1943, after
attending bombardier/navigator training in
Texas, New Mexico, and Idaho you were
deployed to Italy in February 1944 as a
bombardier with the 464th Bomb Group
attached to 15th Air Force.
You flew your first mission on May 2, 1944
and on your 13th mission over Austria you
were hit by flak which pierced your helmet and
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caused a serious head injury that prevented you
from further flying. You were then reclassified
as an intelligence officer. While in Bari at the
15th Air Force Headquarters, you helped plan
the second landing in France on August 15th,
1944. You were later assigned to the 5th Wing
in Foggia, Italy, giving mission briefings and
made your mark by suggesting that next day’s
mission be put on the War Map. You
developed the idea of giving a photo of the
mission to the pilots, so they would have more
specific information on the target in event their
navigators were unable to guide them. This
idea saved a number of aircraft and you were
presented the Bronze Star Medal by General
Twining as a result. You were discharged in
January 1946.
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5/Technical Sergeant Murray Codman, you
were born in December 1922 in Coney Island,
New York and were raised in the area.
You are one of three brothers that saw active
combat during WWII. You were inducted into
the service in February 1943 at Fort Dix, New
Jersey and did basic training in Miami Beach,
Florida. After further training in Texas and
Iowa, you were certified as a Flight Engineer
and Top Turret Gunner on the B-17. Your crew
was deployed to Rattlesden Airfield, England
in April 1944 and was assigned to the 710th
Squadron of the 447th Bomb Group.
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Your first mission was to Berlin, Germany, one
of the toughest targets during the air war. The
crew’s average bombing height was well over
20 thousand feet and temperatures were as low
as -55 degrees. Flak over the targets was
intense and, after one mission, the crew
counted over 150 bullet holes in the aircraft
when they landed. You completed 35 missions
mostly over France and Germany. You were
discharged at Mitchel Field, New York in
October 1945.
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6/Staff Sergeant John Knapp, you were born
in April 1920 in Bridgeport, Connecticut and,
at an early age, your family moved to Detroit,
where you attended Chadsey High School and
developed a passion for motorcycle racing.
In May 1942, you were drafted into the Army
and sent to Fort Warren, Wyoming, for basic
training. You deployed to North Africa in April
1943 with the 943rd Ordnance Company,
where you were in charge of a motor pool due
to your mechanical skills, and were promoted
to Staff Sergeant.
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You then deployed to Southern France after the
August 1944 landings in Provence and were
attached to the 114th Infantry Regiment of the
44th Infantry Division. Your unit chased the
enemy across France, Germany, Austria and
Italy. During one particular USO show you had
your picture taken with Marlene Dietrich. You
were awarded the Silver Star medal for
gallantry in action on 15 February 1945 near
Brandelfingerhoff Farm, France, for single-
handedly taking out a German machine gun
nest after evacuating several wounded soldiers.
You were discharged at Camp Chaffee,
Arkansas in October 1945.
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7/Sergeant Richard O’Brien, you were born
in Wessington, South Dakota, in 1924. You
moved to Los Angeles in 1935 and graduated
from Mt. Carmel High School in 1942. You
were inducted into Army in Los Angeles in
February 1943 and completed basic training at
Fort Eustis, Virginia, followed by additional
training in Morse code.
You deployed to England in May 1944 and
landed on Omaha Beach on July 6, 1944 as a
radio operator with the 137th Infantry
Regiment, attached to the 35th Infantry
Division. You fought in the hedgerows of
Normandy liberating the city of St. Lo and
fought across France to near the German border
with General Patton’s 3rd Army.
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On October 7, in Destry, France, your unit took
German mortar fire and you were wounded by
shrapnel. You later were part of the relief
effort to break through to Bastogne where the
101st Airborne was surrounded during the
Battle of the Bulge in the Ardennes. By the
end of the war your unit met the Russians at the
Elbe River after serving 260 days of front-line
combat. You were discharged at Ft.
MacArthur, California in October 1945.
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8/Staff Leon Waldman, you were born in the
Bronx, in 1924 and spent your childhood there.
After High School graduation, you enlisted in
the U.S. Army Air Corps in November 1942.
You then spent 16 months training at aircraft
mechanic and gunnery schools and finally, with
the newly formed 483rd Bomb Group, which
was to fly the new B-17G. The 483rd Bomb
Group transitioned to Italy in March/April
1944 via South America, West Africa and
Tunisia, and was attached to the 15th Air
Force. You completed 50 missions as a gunner
with the bomb group, bombing targets in
Europe from France to Poland, Romania and
Germany.
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You survived one of the worst single bomb
group missions on July 18, 1944 when 14 out
of 26 bombers were lost after being attacked by
an estimated 200 German fighters while on a
bombing run to destroy the Airdrome at
Memmingen, Germany. The unit received the
Presidential Unit Citation for successfully
completing this mission. During your 49th
mission on 15 August 1944, you were involved
in the bombing of the beaches at St. Tropez,
France, in preparation for the amphibious
landings in Southern France. You returned to
the US in September 1944 and were assigned
to Kingman, Arizona, training new bomber
gunners until the end of the war. You were
discharged at Ft. Dix, New Jersey, in
September 1945.
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9/Technician 4th Grade Woodrow Lewis,
you were born in Rochester, New York, in
October 1922. You moved to Los Angeles in
1930 and you graduated from Fremont High
School. You attended the University of
Southern California pre-dental program as part
of the class of 1942. You were inducted into
the U.S. Army at Ft. MacArthur, California, in
December 1942, and completed training in
Nebraska, New York, and Louisiana. You were
then assigned to the Anti-Tank Company of the
291st Infantry Regiment attached to the 75th
Infantry Division.
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Your division deployed to Southern Wales in
early November 1944 and then sent to France
to reinforce the Allied lines after the Battle of
the Bulge broke out in the Ardennes in mid-
December. After that German attack was
repulsed, your unit was temporarily attached to
the French First Army to counter the enemy in
the Colmar Pocket engagement in Alsace-
Lorraine. You then moved into the Ruhr area
of Germany and at the end of the war
encountered Russian units at the Elbe River.
You were wounded in March, 1945, at a Rhine
River crossing. After serving in the Army of
Occupation for a number of months
distributing supplies, you were discharged from
the U.S. Army at Ft. MacArthur, California in
December, 1945.
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10/Technician 5th Grade Howard Beach,
you were born in Milwaukee, in 1925. You
enlisted in the Army in July 1943 following a
family military tradition. After basic training at
Camp Wallace, Texas, and further training in
various other States, you were deployed to
Europe in early June 1944, and landed at
Omaha Beach on D-Day +3. You were
assigned to 9th Recon Cavalry Troop of the 9th
Infantry Division.
You served in five separate campaigns,
including heavy combat in St. Lo and the
hedgerows in Northern France, the Huertgen
Forest, the Battle of the Bulge, and the crossing
of the Rhine River on March 7, 1945, the day
the bridge at Remagen was captured.
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You were wounded on three separate
occasions. You were awarded the Silver Star
Medal for gallantry in action near Zweifall,
Germany on October 12, 1944, in defending
your position against a heavy enemy
counterattack that killed nine of your comrades
and wounded others. Your patrol met up with a
Russian Army unit at the Elbe River just before
the war ended. While serving in the Army of
Occupation in Germany, you had the
opportunity of meeting General George Patton
on August 1st, 1945, during an honor guard
inspection. You returned to the U.S. in October
1945, and were discharged at Camp Atterbury,
Indiana.
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11/Technician 5th Grade Bruce Monkman,
you were born in Winnett, Montana in 1921.
Your family moved to Southern California
where you attended grammar school in Alta
Loma, a small town in San Bernardino County,
and high school in Ontario, California. You
worked at March Air Base before enlisting in
the U.S. Army at Costa Mesa, CA in December
1941 after the Pearl Harbor attack. You did
your basic training at Camp Roberts,
California, and then were assigned to the 9th
Field Artillery Battalion of the 3rd Infantry
Division at Fort Lewis, Washington.
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After further training in California, Virginia
and New Jersey you were deployed to Morocco
in December, 1942, and later made amphibious
landings in Sicily, Southern Italy and Anzio. In
August, 1944, you made the amphibious
landing in Southern France, then moved north
and linked up with the French First Army for a
time, closing out the Colmar Pocket front. Your
unit then moved into Germany and ended up at
Salzburg, Austria when the war ended. You
had served in eight battles and campaigns. You
were discharged at Ft. MacArthur, California in
October 1945.
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Gentlemen,
In recognition of your heroic actions and
extraordinary accomplishments, the President
of the French Republic has appointed you to
the Legion of Honor.
The French will never forget that you helped
restore their freedom. Your courage and
dedication is an example to us all and I hope
this example will inspire the younger
generations.
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Today, we also remember the ultimate sacrifice
of many of your comrades who rest in the soil
of France. They will forever remain in our
hearts. Long live the United States of America,
long live the French-American Friendship,
Vive la France!
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Colonel Albert Restum, au nom du Président
de la République française et en vertu des
pouvoirs qui nous sont conférés, nous vous
faisons chevalier dans l’Ordre de la Légion
d’Honneur.
Lieutenant-Colonel Samuel Cathcart, au
nom du Président de la République française et
en vertu des pouvoirs qui nous sont conférés,
nous vous faisons Chevalier dans l’Ordre de la
Légion d’Honneur.
Lieutenant-Colonel Elmo Maiden, au nom du
Président de la République française et en vertu
des pouvoirs qui nous sont conférés, nous vous
faisons Chevalier dans l’Ordre de la Légion
d’Honneur.
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Captain Arthur Sherman, au nom du
Président de la République française et en vertu
des pouvoirs qui nous sont conférés, nous vous
faisons Chevalier dans l’Ordre de la Légion
d’Honneur.
Technical Sergeant Murray Codman, au
nom du Président de la République française et
en vertu des pouvoirs qui nous sont conférés
nous vous faisons Chevalier dans l’Ordre de la
Légion d’Honneur.
Staff Sergeant John Knapp, au nom du
Président de la République française et en vertu
des pouvoirs qui nous sont conférés, nous vous
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faisons Chevalier dans l’Ordre de la Légion
d’Honneur.
Sergeant Richard O’Brien, au nom du
Président de la République française et en vertu
des pouvoirs qui nous sont conférés, nous vous
faisons Chevalier dans l’Ordre de la Légion
d’Honneur.
Staff Sergeant Leon Waldman, au nom du
Président de la République française et en vertu
des pouvoirs qui nous sont conférés, nous vous
faisons Chevalier dans l’Ordre de la Légion
d’Honneur.
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Technician 4th Grade Woodrow Lewis, au
nom du Président de la République française et
en vertu des pouvoirs qui nous sont conférés
nous vous faisons Chevalier dans l’Ordre de la
Légion d’Honneur.
Technician 5th Grade Howard Beach, au
nom du Président de la République française et
en vertu des pouvoirs qui nous sont conférés,
nous vous faisons Chevalier dans l’Ordre de la
Légion d’Honneur.
Technician 5th Grade Bruce Monkman, au
nom du Président de la République française et
en vertu des pouvoirs qui nous sont conférés
nous vous faisons Chevalier dans l’Ordre de la
Légion d’Honneur./.
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