Badges of Honor : World War I Veterans Receive Medals and Relive Memories of Their Service

They are some of the nation’s oldest veterans, soldiers from a war few Americans are old enough to remember. More than 4 million strong when they marched off to fight “the war to end all wars,” fewer than 1% of them are still alive.

But when two dozen World War I veterans--median age, 95--gathered Wednesday in Long Beach for a ceremony to mark the 75th anniversary today of the Great War’s end, the decades that have passed seemed to disappear from their faces.

As a 94-year-old former Army bugler named Fred Hummer blew “To the Colors,” and the aged guests of honor, some standing, some in wheelchairs, raised their hands in salutes to the flag, they showed emotion common to many veterans regardless of age: pride of service, love of country, and nostalgia for what was perhaps both the greatest and most terrible experience of their lives.

“Sometimes I’ll forget what happened yesterday, but I’ll always remember the war,” said Bill Trevethen, 96, of Torrance, who landed in France with the U.S. Army 2nd Division on Christmas Day, 1917. “I’m proud of my service.”

“I remember it very well,” said Fred Roberts, 97, who lives with his daughter in Temple City. “I was a machine-gunner with Co. B, 151st Machine Gun Battalion of the 42nd Division, U.S. Army. I went into the trenches in March, 1918, on the Champagne Front, and then in July, 1918, I was in the Second Battle of the Marne. I was wounded on July 28. . . . Yes, I’m proud of what I did. We did what had to be done.”

In the ceremony, held at the Long Beach Veterans Administration Medical Center and attended by hundreds of family members and veterans of all ages, each of the World War I veterans received a special commemorative medal marking the Nov. 11, 1918, armistice that ended World War I.

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The medals, replicas of the “Victory Medals” awarded to servicemen after the war, were provided free by the Robert R. McCormick Tribune Foundation of Chicago as part of a national program to recognize World War I veterans. About 9,000 of the medals have been awarded so far, said foundation spokesman Burt Minor. Any living World War I veteran is eligible for the commemorative medal.

Not all of the World War I veterans at the ceremony saw overseas combat duty. And not all were men.

Agnes W. Berrill Steinle of Temple City, who will turn 100 this month, was a Navy yeoman in World War I, working on military code and signal books in Washington. She is one of about 1 million living American female veterans--out of about 27 million American veterans--and was the only female World War I veteran at the ceremony.

“We’re very proud of her,” her son, Edward Steinle, said. “She’s quite a lady.”

Equally proud were the family members of Borah Chapman of Pasadena, at 101 the oldest veteran in the group, an African-American who served in a segregated infantry unit at Fort Sheridan, Ill. Family members recalled stories “Grandpa” had told them about helping stave off a flu epidemic at the fort by prescribing whiskey for his comrades. They proudly displayed a copy of his 75-year-old discharge papers.

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About 4.3 million Americans served in the military during World War I. About 126,000 of them lost their lives, in combat or from disease--a costly but still relatively small toll compared to the 1.7 million Russians, 1.3 million Frenchmen and 900,000 Englishmen who died in that war. Germany and its allies--Austro-Hungary, Turkey and Bulgaria--lost 3.3 million men.

The Veterans Administration estimates that between 30,000 and 40,000 U.S. World War I veterans are still alive. But their numbers are steadily dwindling.

During the six weeks of planning for Wednesday’s Long Beach ceremony, at least three of the 30 veterans who were scheduled to attend died, said Lewis Stout, community relations officer at the VA Medical Center.

The loss of old comrades was on the minds of many of the veterans.

“They’re all gone now, all my old friends,” said Hummer, the former Army bugler. “The only one left from my old unit is a guy in New Jersey. We talk every now and then. Pretty soon, though, we’ll all be gone.”

Other World War I veterans receiving commemorative medals at the ceremony were Harold Laws Beckley, Moses Besbeck, Raymond Dewey Casher, William Gerhardt, Tony Glumace, Horart LaMar, Donald S. Poler, Benito Rillorta, Walter Sanders and Dennis Whatley, all formerly of the U.S. Army. Also, Donald W. Chesley, Burchard Iler and Harold Maschke--all former U.S. Marines--and Perry Countryman, Henry DeSimas, J. Festus Gillman, Harold Hilf, John Kretchmer and Gonah Schreckengasts, all of the U.S. Navy.

Any World War I veteran who would like to receive the medal can call toll-free (800) 827-1000 for more information.