{"id":65816,"date":"2022-08-28T15:01:04","date_gmt":"2022-08-28T15:01:04","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/marinecorpstimes\/uncategorized\/2022\/08\/28\/wwii-veteran-receives-frances-highest-honor\/"},"modified":"2026-08-08T14:37:30","modified_gmt":"2026-08-08T14:37:30","slug":"wwii-veteran-receives-frances-highest-honor","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/marinecorpstimes\/veterans\/2022\/08\/28\/wwii-veteran-receives-frances-highest-honor\/","title":{"rendered":"WWII veteran receives France\u2019s highest honor"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">FRANKFORD, Del. \u2014 Ernest Marvel has a case full of medals in his Frankford home.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">He was awarded his most recent addition, the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.armytimes.com\/news\/your-army\/2021\/09\/20\/army-veteran-of-wwii-receives-french-legion-of-honor\/\" target=\"_blank\">French Legion of Honor<\/a>, in July \u2014 almost 80 years after he helped liberate the country from the Germans in <a href=\"https:\/\/www.militarytimes.com\/news\/2022\/04\/26\/jewish-troops-who-died-in-world-war-ii-finally-receive-star-of-david-headstones\/\" target=\"_blank\">World War II<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\t<aside class=\"smg-interstitial-link wp-block-smg-interstitial-link\">\n\t\t<a href=\"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/militarytimes\/military-honor\/salute-veterans\/2018\/11\/20\/100-year-old-wwii-veteran-awarded-french-legion-of-honor\/\" class=\"smg-interstitial-link__inner\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"smg-interstitial-link__media\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"300\" height=\"225\" src=\"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/AP18323780929238.jpg.jpg?w=300\" class=\"smg-interstitial-link__image wp-post-image\" alt=\"\" \/>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"smg-interstitial-link__content\">\n\t\t\t\t<span class=\"smg-interstitial-link__kicker\">Related<\/span>\n\t\t\t\t<h3 class=\"smg-interstitial-link__title\">100-year-old WWII veteran awarded French Legion of Honor<\/h3>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<p class=\"smg-interstitial-link__excerpt\">The French government on Monday awarded its highest honor to a 100-year-old Kentucky man who fought in World War II.<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/a>\n\t<\/aside>\n\t\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Marvel, now 98, has rarely left the Bethany Beach area, save for the war.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cI\u2019m a home boy,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">He speaks fondly of his family. His garden is his pride and joy. He likes to dance and sing karaoke on the weekends at the local <a href=\"https:\/\/www.militarytimes.com\/education-transition\/2022\/05\/12\/the-changing-face-of-the-vfw\/\" target=\"_blank\">VFW <\/a>and Eagles Club.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">But Marvel also holds dark memories of a different time, when heroes had to fight through Europe to free thousands held in concentration camps under Adolf Hitler\u2019s control.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">He was one of those heroes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">In 1945, Marvel made his way through French and German villages, across the Rhine River and to the gates of <a href=\"https:\/\/www.militarytimes.com\/news\/your-military\/2015\/05\/03\/merkel-joins-survivors-u-s-vets-to-mark-dachau-liberation\/\" target=\"_blank\">Dachau<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Marvel\u2019s war story<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Pfc. Marvel entered the war late, just after the Battle of the Bulge, according to historian Eric Montgomery. A member of U.S. Army Company B, 179th Infantry Regiment, 1st Battalion, 45th Infantry Division, the 20-year-old made his way to Europe aboard the Queen Elizabeth troopship.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"3000\" height=\"2128\" src=\"\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/AP22238686904314.jpg.jpg\" alt=\"Ernest Marvel shows off his medal Aug. 2, 2022, in Frankford, Del.\" class=\"wp-image-105683\" srcset=\"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/AP22238686904314.jpg.jpg 3000w, https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/AP22238686904314.jpg.jpg?resize=300,213 300w, https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/AP22238686904314.jpg.jpg?resize=768,545 768w, https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/AP22238686904314.jpg.jpg?resize=1024,726 1024w, https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/AP22238686904314.jpg.jpg?resize=1536,1090 1536w, https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/AP22238686904314.jpg.jpg?resize=2048,1453 2048w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 3000px) 100vw, 3000px\" \/><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Ernest Marvel shows off his medal Aug. 2, 2022, in Frankford, Del. (Lauren Roberts \/The Daily Times via AP)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">One of Marvel\u2019s first missions, according to Montgomery, was to crawl \u201cacross an enemy-held field (strewn) with mines and booby traps.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cWe had to climb from foxhole to foxhole to get to our headquarters to let them know where we were,\u201d Marvel said. \u201cEach foxhole had two Germans in it, but they were kids. They were maybe 15 or 16 years old and they were scared to death.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">His division crossed the Rhine River in storm boats as the Germans fired mortars at them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cAbout three boats down from me there was a mortar shell landing and it blew it apart,\u201d Marvel said. \u201cWe were about halfway across. It could\u2019ve been us.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">At 20 years old, Frankford\u2019s Ernest Marvel was drafted into the U.S. Army during <a href=\"https:\/\/www.militarytimes.com\/veterans\/2022\/07\/17\/101-year-old-veteran-recalls-world-war-ii-battle-in-italy\/\" target=\"_blank\">World War II<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">From there, the soldiers moved into Germany, taking village after village, often house by house.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cI was a bazooka man for a good while, and I would knock out the wheels of a tank so they couldn\u2019t move. I\u2019d shoot a phosphorus grenade into the turret, and it\u2019d get so hot, they\u2019d have to come out. Some would come out fighting, some with their hands up,\u201d Marvel said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">He bombed German soldiers shooting from perches in church steeples, as well.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cI could hear \u2018em for ages, screaming as it blew \u2018em out,\u201d Marvel said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">He became reflective as he spoke.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cIt\u2019s not a good feeling,\u201d he said. \u201cI\u2019m doing better.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Marvel said he has post-traumatic stress disorder. After the war, he\u2019d wake his wife up in the night as he experienced flashbacks. Ultimately, he got help from a psychiatrist.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cHe said my trouble was it was all bottled up in me; I wouldn\u2019t let it out. He said, \u2018You start letting it out and you\u2019ll feel better.\u2019 And I did. I started telling different people about different things and it started coming around, but it\u2019s still never left my mind,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\t<aside class=\"smg-interstitial-link wp-block-smg-interstitial-link\">\n\t\t<a href=\"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/militarytimes\/news\/your-military\/2015\/05\/03\/merkel-joins-survivors-u-s-vets-to-mark-dachau-liberation\/\" class=\"smg-interstitial-link__inner\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"smg-interstitial-link__media\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"300\" height=\"192\" src=\"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/635662524996281749-germany-dachau-annive-weig-1-jpg.jpg?w=300\" class=\"smg-interstitial-link__image wp-post-image\" alt=\"\" \/>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"smg-interstitial-link__content\">\n\t\t\t\t<span class=\"smg-interstitial-link__kicker\">Related<\/span>\n\t\t\t\t<h3 class=\"smg-interstitial-link__title\">Merkel joins survivors, U.S. vets to mark Dachau liberation<\/h3>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<p class=\"smg-interstitial-link__excerpt\">Survivors and liberators alike recalled on Sunday the horror of the Dachau concentration camp and the overwhelming relief of its liberation 70 years ago. German Chancellor Angela Merkel pledged to keep alive the memory of Nazi crimes and give no quarter to present-day discrimination or anti-Semitism.<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/a>\n\t<\/aside>\n\t\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Liberating Dachau concentration camp<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Part of the trauma he experienced was during the liberation of Dachau concentration camp. Marvel\u2019s memories are vivid of the horrific place where thousands of people were killed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cThere was about a half a mile of concrete road, and they had a big German barrack made out of brick on each side of the road. In between was a white-bark tree,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Marvel and his fellow soldiers moved through the buildings and killed or took prisoner the German soldiers inside.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Elsewhere on the grounds, he opened up a boxcar, only to find it and several others like it full of bodies.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cThe smell was terrible. They had \u2026 big incinerators that they were burning them with and they couldn\u2019t burn them as fast as they were dying,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">That day, U.S. soldiers found more than 30 railroad cars filled with bodies brought to Dachau, all in an advanced state of decomposition, according to the U.S. National Holocaust Memorial Museum.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">He was shocked by the condition of the prisoners still alive inside the camp, who were starving and wracked with diseases.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cYou\u2019ve seen \u2018The Walking Dead\u2019?\u201d Marvel asked of the zombie apocalypse TV series. \u201cThey looked worse than that. They were dying of malnutrition. They were nothing but skin and bones, and their eyes sunk right into their heads.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Soldiers \u201ctossed candy bars and cigarettes over the barbed wire to the starving prisoners until ordered to stop,\u201d according to the July 2022 <a href=\"https:\/\/www.militarytimes.com\/military-honor\/salute-veterans\/2021\/11\/28\/wwii-museum-show-to-feature-stories-of-bravery-sacrifice\/\" target=\"_blank\">National WWII Museum<\/a> article, \u201cThe Last Days of the Dachau Concentration Camp,\u201d but most of them stayed out of the main compound for \u201cfear of disease.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cMedical staff came, regulated the supply of food and water to those beset with malnutrition and created a typhus ward to respond to the epidemic of that dreaded disease in the camp,\u201d the article states.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">U.S. forces liberated 32,000 prisoners at Dachau, according to the Holocaust Memorial Museum.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">A connection to the present<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The only injury Marvel said he suffered during the war was from being hit by a piece of shrapnel on his arm. He still has a scar.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cOur general \u2026 he wanted us to take this village. He said they had been flying over and reconnaissance planes saw no activity,\u201d he said. \u201cWe got out halfway into the field. It was breaking day, and they started shooting at us. &#8230; And the shrapnel was flying everywhere.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Marvel was one of eight of 28 men to survive the attack, he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">One of the soldiers who did not survive was Orla Moninger, a man Marvel had become close friends with since arriving in Europe, he said. When they returned to retrieve the bodies the next day, Moninger\u2019s hand was over his heart, holding photos of his family, Marvel said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Marvel\u2019s grandson, Donnie Carey, knew of Moninger from stories shared by his grandfather. He began wondering if the fallen soldier had any family still alive. The historian he\u2019d been working with, Montgomery, found Moninger did indeed have a living son, and Carey gave him a call.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cHe said he heard [his father] was getting off a train in Germany and was shot,\u201d Carey said, recalling the conversation with Moninger\u2019s son. \u201cThe hair just stood up on my arm because I knew I had some information he had never heard. \u2026 It was right before holidays and he was like, \u2018I have a story I can tell now.\u2019 It was a great moment.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">A grandson, a country music singer and the Legion of Honor<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Carey said he became interested in learning more about his grandfather\u2019s time in the war about six years ago. That was when his wife read \u201cThe Diary of Anne Frank,\u201d the well-known writings of a young Jewish girl who spent two years hiding from Nazis with her family and ultimately died in a concentration camp.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cShe said, \u2018You know, your grandfather experienced a lot of this stuff at Dachau,\u2019 and I just realized how honored I was to still have the opportunity to help him and learn from him,\u201d Carey said. \u201cHe\u2019s my hero.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Carey and the rest of Marvel\u2019s extended family surprised him last summer when they took him to see country music singer Jamey Johnson at the Freeman Arts Pavilion in Selbyville. Johnson gave Marvel a shout-out before singing \u201cIn Color,\u201d a song about a veteran.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The family made their way to the front of the stage and Johnson said, \u201cThank you for your sacrifice, sir.\u201d He then came down and gave Marvel a handshake, a hug and some guitar pics.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Video of the moment was posted online, and one of those who viewed it reached out to let Carey know Marvel qualified for the Legion of Honor, France\u2019s highest decoration.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cI\u2019m just trying to do everything I can to help him be recognized while he\u2019s still here,\u201d Carey said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Marvel turned 98 in May.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">This summer, he contracted pneumonia on top of COVID-19, but recovered in time for the Legion of Honor ceremony in Washington, D.C. It was held the day before <a href=\"https:\/\/www.militarytimes.com\/news\/pentagon-congress\/2017\/07\/14\/france-gives-pride-of-place-to-the-us-for-its-bastille-day\/\" target=\"_blank\">Bastille Day, France\u2019s most notable patriotic holiday<\/a>, and Marvel and two other American World War II vets were presented the award by French Ambassador Phillipe Etienne.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The award was created in 1802 \u201cto recognize outstanding services rendered to France by military and civilian personnel,\u201d Etienne said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">An average of 2,200 French citizens and 300 foreigners are decorated each year, according to the Legion of Honor website.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Ernest Marvel was awarded the French Legion of Honor in July \u2014 almost 80 years after he helped liberate the country from the Germans in World War II.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":105682,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_yoast_wpseo_meta-robots-noindex":"","_yoast_wpseo_meta-robots-nofollow":"","_yoast_wpseo_canonical":"","_acf":"","_yoast_wpseo_primary_category":19,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","_smg_distribution_targets":[]},"categories":[101,23,93,12,25,19],"tags":[],"coauthors":[6792],"class_list":["post-65816","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-daily-news-roundup","category-home","category-middle-column","category-news","category-newsletters","category-veterans"],"acf":{"subheadline":"","legacy_arc_id":"TMKBTFFVB5HWJP7DDHMOFSP35U","arc_canonical_url":"\/veterans\/2022\/08\/28\/wwii-veteran-receives-frances-highest-honor\/","remove_feature_photo":false,"is_sponsored":false,"subtype":"","redirect_url":"","disable_inline_ads":false,"native_logo_pretext":"Presented By:"},"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v26.0 (Yoast SEO v28.1) - 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