By Jeff Clemetson | Editor

WWII veteran awarded Bronze Star after 70 years

On Nov. 12, just a day after Veteran’s Day, WWII veteran Richard Chase was awarded the Bronze Star for his service at a ceremony in front of family and friends at Allied Gardens Park. The ceremony included a color guard and a presentation by Rep. Susan Davis and Brig. Gen. Suzan Henderson.

Pfc Chase served in the Army and fought in the European theater during WWII, including the infamous Battle of the Bulge, where Allied troops fought back against a surprise German offensive of more than 500,000 Nazi troops armed with tanks, artillery and air support. The battle started in December of 1944 and went into January of 1945 and cost American troops 90,000 casualties.

Chase was presented the medal “for meritorious achievement in active ground combat against the enemy on 1 May 1945, while serving with Cannon Company 303rd Infantry Regiment 97th Infantry Division in support of the Trident Division’s attack toward Plzen, Czechoslovakia,” Henderson said. “Private First Class Chase’s exemplary performance of duty in active ground combat was in keeping with the finest traditions of military service and reflects great credit upon himself, his unit and the Army of the United States.”

The Bronze Star Medal is the fourth-highest individual military award and is given for “acts of heroism, acts of merit, or meritorious service in a combat zone,” according to the Army’s website.

Chase has waited more than 70 years for his.

“Generals got mixed up or something,” he said of his long-overdue recognition.

Chase said that he, with the help of family and friends, initiated the process of getting his Bronze Star after he read in a newspaper about another WWII veteran receiving one for similar service. So he contacted Rep. Susan Davis’ office and that got the ball rolling for him to get the medal.

Davis said helping recognize service members is not a job duty to her, but rather an honor.

“I was born in 1944 and I often feel when I meet WWII veterans that it was their fight that helped my dad, who was serving in Europe as well, to come home,” Davis told the crowd at the Nov. 12 ceremony. “So it is very meaningful to me.”

Before the ceremony began, Chase shared a bit of his history in the Army. He was drafted into the Army when he was 18 after passing all the physical and mental evaluations given by the Selective Service.

“We got a little card, come to the Pickwick Hotel, get on a Greyhound bus and we were going to Camp Levitz and start your basic training,” he said. “For somebody who milked cows all his life, when he went in the Army, it was a big change. They start to give you all the orders and learn to follow commands — it was a big change.”

In Europe he served in Belgium, Holland, Germany and in Czechoslovakia, and he fought in the Battle of the Bulge.

“It wasn’t Sunday every day. We were busy,” he said of the fierce battle. “I had a job to do and that’s what I did. Uncle Sam says do this, you do that. You follow the orders.”

Humble words.

Davis offered a more descriptive praise of Chase’s service.

“Your great-great-grandfather ‘Papa,’ as a young man, walked, ran, crept, crawled, fought and served our nation with distinction on that exact, cold snow covered ground,” she said. “He truly is part of the fiber of this brave chapter of our nation’s history.”

—Reach Jeff Clemetson at [email protected].