Walt Ehlers, RIP

Walt Ehlers received the Medal of Honor for his brave actions in France, shortly after the D-Day invasion. He was the last surviving medal of honor recipient to be part of the invasion and he passed yesterday at age 92. Longtime moron Jeffrey Carter knew Ehlers and wrote a stirring remembrance.

I'll just steal a little bit and then you should click over and read the whole thing.

I learned a lot about the Medal from Walt. It truly isn’t about the people living with those blue ribbons around their necks. It is about their friends that aren’t with us. It extends to all the soldiers in all the wars our country ever fought for freedom that are no longer. There are only 75 living left in the US. We need to cherish them, learn from them, and try to live up to the standards that they set for us.

Ironically, you’d think wearing a medal like that with so much responsibility would be an albatross. It isn’t. They are some of the freest people I have ever met. They have seen the worst humanity has to offer, survived, and more importantly helped others survive it. Somehow, going through what they went through and confronting your deepest fears changes you in ways that we wouldn’t have imagined.

May he rest in peace.

posted by Gabriel Malor at 10:23 AM

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