Dan Rodricks: As the World War II generation passes, we pause to honor one who served | STAFF COMMENTARY
In the final weeks of his life, 99-year-old John Valancius received a beautiful medal for what 19-year-old John Valancius did as an American soldier in France.
On April 8, in a brief ceremony in a Pennsylvania restaurant, a French diplomat presented him with the Légion d’Honneur, pinning the medal to his lapel and thanking him for his role in liberating France from German occupation during World War II.
Little more than a month later, early on May 11, the old soldier died, three months short of his 100th birthday.
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