| San Diego county veterans to be guests of France at June 6 ceremony...
By James W. Crawley
UNION-TRIBUNE STAFF WRITER
May 24, 2004
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LAURA EMBRY / Union-Tribune
John Moreno, 95, of Coronado, a Navy veteran of World War II, will soon add France's highest military award, the Legion of Honor, to his service medals.
One helped plan the historic D-Day invasion of France. Another landed at Utah Beach on a secret mission. A third flew overhead, looking in wonder at the colossal Allied fleet that dotted the English Channel.
For John Moreno, Charles Hostler and Robert Clark, the June 6 celebration marking the 60th anniversary of the Normandy landings against the forces of Nazi Germany in World War II will be a rewarding ceremony.
The San Diego County residents are three of the 100 Americans who will be presented France's highest military decoration, the Legion of Honor, during the commemorations.
Each is being flown to France, at the French government's expense, for three days of celebrations. In all, the French will bestow medals to veterans of 14 nations that participated in the liberation of France from enemy occupation.
It probably will be the last salute for most D-Day veterans, all in their 70s, 80s or 90s. Few will live long enough to revisit the Omaha, Utah, Gold, Juno and Sword invasion beaches on the 70th anniversary in 2014.
"It's the last hurrah," said Hostler, a Coronado resident who was U.S. ambassador to Bahrain during the 1991 Persian Gulf War. "I'm 84, I doubt I'll be around for 94."
For John Moreno, receiving the Legion of Honor will mark the second time France has recognized his family for war service.
"I'm receiving the same award my dad did," said Moreno, 95.
His father was awarded the medal as a senior Army officer on the staff of Gen. John "Black Jack" Pershing, commander of the American Expeditionary Force that fought in France during World War I.
Moreno elected not to pursue an Army career and attended the U.S. Naval Academy, graduating in 1930.
He commanded a patrol bomber squadron at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, and later in Morocco after the Allied invasion of North Africa, searching for German U-boats prowling in the Atlantic Ocean. He earned a Bronze Star when his plane disabled an enemy submarine, leading to the capture of most of its crew.
For D-Day, Moreno was on the planning staff for the American landings at Utah Beach. He watched the landings from the invasion force flagship Bayfield, which was manned by a Coast Guard crew.
While he is proud to receive the award, Moreno is mystified about why he was selected.
"I haven't any idea how they got my name," said Moreno, who lives in Coronado. "Perhaps I'm the oldest guy alive who served in Normandy."
Only eight members of his Annapolis class are alive, he said.
Giving the question a second thought, Moreno joked, "I did win the war, but I had 2 million men helping me."
For most of the past 60 years, Charles Hostler's war exploits were classified, hidden by a cloak of secrecy because he was a captain in the Office of Strategic Services, predecessor to the CIA. Hostler arrived in France on the afternoon of June 6 armed with a carbine, pistol and some special equipment: a spy camera, a lock-picking set and, to curry good will and information, four pairs of stockings, lipstick and cigarettes, he wrote in his memoir, "Soldier to Ambassador."
The only visible mark of his duty in France is the faded scar on his forehead, left from a meat ax blow delivered by a French Nazi sympathizer on D-Day. He received a Purple Heart for the wound five months ago – delayed six decades until records of the mission were declassified.
As an OSS agent, Hostler was often ahead of the advancing American troops. He entered Paris hours before Allied forces, securing Marie Curie's former atomic lab at the Sorbonne and the Gestapo headquarters. Later in the war, he served with the OSS in Romania.
But in France next month, Hostler's mission will be up front, literally.
He has been selected as the only American to receive his Legion of Honor from French President Jacques Chirac on June 6. The others will get their medals at a ceremony the day before.
"It's satisfying today that at last there will be some recognition," Hostler said while reminiscing at his condominium.
D-Day was the first of 75 combat missions for Robert Clark, a 23-year-old pilot of a P-38 Lightning fighter-bomber.
Early that morning, Clark and his fellow pilots were surprised when their commanding officer pulled aside a curtain, revealing their bombing target on a map: France.
His job was to blow up bridges about 25 miles south of Omaha Beach to prevent German tanks from reaching the beachheads, where the largest armada in history was landing a force of more than 130,000 troops.
"To see those thousands of ships lined up in the ocean was unbelievable," said Clark, who lives in Vista.
After they bombed the bridges, Clark and the pilots flew back over Omaha Beach.
American infantry was foundering under German fire along the narrow beachhead and amid the steel obstacles in the surf. From his cockpit, Clark could see the desperate battle going on thousands of feet below.
"It didn't look like a huge success at first," he said. "It was just appalling."
Despite the distance of the decades, Clark, 82, still recalls the high points and low points of aerial combat.
He earned a Silver Star when his and other planes were attacked by nine German Me-109 fighters during a reconnaissance mission over Germany in 1945.
Clark peeled off, shooting down the enemy flight leader before he got into a dogfight with the remaining German planes. He damaged several before the fight skirmish and he escaped.
"I got a hell of a lot of holes in my plane," he said.
"The (P-38) was marvelous. It could take a hell of a beating and still fly."
Unlike most American fighters, the P-38 had two engines and two tails, giving the plane extra power and durability and causing the Germans to dub the plane "the fork-tail devil."
Clark also earned a Distinguished Flying Cross for bombing German tanks in the Falaise Gap in northern France.
Receiving the French medal will be a great honor for him and the millions of veterans he will represent, Clark said.
But, like his previous two trips to the D-Day memorial near Omaha Beach, he said the anniversary will be one of remembering those who never left France, who rest in the war cemeteries.
"It's emotional to stand in front of the crosses at Colleville (the U.S. war cemetery in Normandy). Everyone cries," Clark said.
Source: http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/...9-1m24dday.html | |
