{"id":71779,"date":"2022-02-20T17:46:59","date_gmt":"2022-02-20T17:46:59","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/navytimes\/uncategorized\/2022\/02\/20\/wwii-vet-honored-by-france-for-d-day-contributions\/"},"modified":"2026-08-08T14:02:50","modified_gmt":"2026-08-08T14:02:50","slug":"wwii-vet-honored-by-france-for-d-day-contributions","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/navytimes\/veterans\/2022\/02\/20\/wwii-vet-honored-by-france-for-d-day-contributions\/","title":{"rendered":"WWII vet honored by France for D-Day contributions"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">NEW MARKET, Md. \u2014 More than 75 years after he served during the D-Day invasion of Nazi-occupied France, Frederick County resident Carl Felton received <a href=\"https:\/\/www.militarytimes.com\/news\/your-army\/2017\/09\/20\/us-veterans-awarded-frances-highest-honor-for-wwii-service\/\" target=\"_blank\">an official commendation<\/a> from the country he helped liberate.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Felton, who is just a few days past his 96th birthday, recently received a medal declaring him a knight in the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.militarytimes.com\/military-honor\/salute-veterans\/2018\/11\/20\/100-year-old-wwii-veteran-awarded-french-legion-of-honor\/\" target=\"_blank\">French Legion of Honor<\/a>, the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.militarytimes.com\/news\/your-military\/2017\/07\/14\/marine-corps-gen-joseph-dunford-awarded-france-s-legion-of-honor\/\" target=\"_blank\">highest honor awarded by France<\/a>. During the Allied invasion of Normandy, Felton was serving on board the HMS Ceres, a British ship manned by a crew from both the United Kingdom and the U.S.<\/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\/veterans\/2019\/01\/27\/3-wwii-veterans-honored-with-frances-most-distinguished-medal\/\" 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=\"191\" src=\"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/4363273.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\">3 WWII veterans honored with France\u2019s most distinguished medal<\/h3>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<p class=\"smg-interstitial-link__excerpt\">Three St. Louis-area World War II veterans in their 90s who played roles in liberating France from Nazi occupation have been given France\u2019s Legion of Honor.<\/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\">Speaking from his son Jack\u2019s New Market home on Feb. 15, Felton said it was a humbling experience to see the award.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cI feel not only honored, but &#8230; feelings of humility,\u201d he said. \u201cI would say primarily feelings of humility, because there were so many thousands and thousands and thousands of military people who participated in one way or another, and nobody really had control over where they would be assigned to.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The younger Felton said the process to get his father the medal began after the pair went to Normandy for the 75th anniversary of the D-Day invasion. During that trip in June 2019 \u2014 in addition to getting the chance to meet then-President Donald Trump and French President Emmanuel Macron \u2014 they learned veterans who could prove with documentation they were present during the Allied invasion were eligible for the medal.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Jack Felton said the documentation process typically takes about a year, but it was delayed in his father\u2019s case due to the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The medal finally arrived in the mail earlier this month.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">During the war<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Originally from a small Massachusetts town outside Boston, Felton said he joined the U.S. Navy at the age of 17 after graduating high school in 1943. Felton said he received training in Sampson, a small town in upstate New York, before eventually being shipped out of New York City on the RMS Queen Mary, a cruise-liner that was used to ship troops across the Atlantic Ocean.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The Queen Mary took a southward trajectory, heading into nearly tropical waters before taking an abrupt turn north to Scotland. Felton said he later learned this path was taken in an attempt to avoid German U-boats.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">After arriving in Scotland, Felton said he was sent to England, where he was trained extensively in Morse code, something that shaped the course of the rest of his time in the war.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Felton said learning Morse code was challenging, drumming out the spelling of his own first name on his son\u2019s dining room table as an illustration of how complicated it would be to send a message of only four letters.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cYou can see it takes a while to really get that ingrained in your mind,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">During the war, Felton served as a signalman, which meant it was his job to receive messages flashed in Morse code from other Allied ships and return messages conveyed by his superiors.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Eventually, Felton was assigned to board the HMS Ceres, with its combined crew of American and British troops, including, as he said, high-ranking officers from both militaries.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The Ceres and HMS Capetown were assigned to serve essentially as command ships along the portion of the beaches of Normandy codenamed Omaha Beach.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cTheir purpose was to have control so that the ships going in and out proceeded orderly, so there would be no chaos,\u201d he said. \u201cAnd that was the purpose of all of these officers up top who had knowledge about the overall picture.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">And this is how Felton, working as a signalman, flashing signals back and forth between the command ships, ended up with a front row seat to a major turning point in World War II, which took place on June 6, 1944.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The memories still live with him.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"4955\" height=\"3303\" src=\"\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/AP22049735118455.jpg.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-105824\" srcset=\"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/AP22049735118455.jpg.jpg 4955w, https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/AP22049735118455.jpg.jpg?resize=300,200 300w, https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/AP22049735118455.jpg.jpg?resize=768,512 768w, https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/AP22049735118455.jpg.jpg?resize=1024,683 1024w, https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/AP22049735118455.jpg.jpg?resize=1536,1024 1536w, https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/AP22049735118455.jpg.jpg?resize=2048,1365 2048w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 4955px) 100vw, 4955px\" \/><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Jack Felton listens as his father, Signalman First Class U.S. Navy veteran Carl Felton, discusses his experiences in World War II at the family home in New Market, Md., on Feb. 15, 2022. (Katina Zentz\/The Frederick News-Post via AP)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cThere were shells coming out from the land being fired by the Germans at the ships, and there were splashes of water all over the place,\u201d he said. \u201cThe number of bodies \u2014 you could just simply look over the side \u2014 they were so numerous that it was unbelievable.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cAll you could think about was their families and home, not knowing where their children were. \u2018Were they safe or not safe, were they alive or not alive?\u2019 And the worry that all of them had,\u201d he went on. \u201cAnd it wasn\u2019t only a one-way street; I know for sure that those troops also worried for their mother and father, brothers, sisters and family. I know that for a fact. Because that\u2019s how I felt.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Felton said his fear of worrying his family was so strong that, upon arriving in Scotland, he sent a letter home saying he had been stationed on a Pacific island, because he felt knowing he\u2019d been sent to the European theater would be too much for his family to bear. Felton\u2019s son Jack was surprised when he told this element of his story, saying it hadn\u2019t come up in any of his father\u2019s stories before.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">During the invasion, Felton described seeing splashes and sprays flying out of the water.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cAt the very beginning, I didn\u2019t even know what they were,\u201d he said. \u201cI just say splash, splash, splash! And so somebody next to me said, \u2018That\u2019s them shooting at us from the shore, aiming at the ships.\u2019 It was a scary situation.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">After the culmination of the D-Day invasion, Felton said he was assigned to the French town of Cherbourg, a port town in the Normandy region, where he manned a signal tower from which he sent and received messages to ships on the coast, passing crucial information about the war effort.<\/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\/veterans\/2021\/12\/12\/downed-war-pilot-from-montana-memorialized-in-french-film\/\" 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=\"200\" src=\"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/AP21344020991319.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\">Downed war pilot from Montana memorialized in French film<\/h3>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<p class=\"smg-interstitial-link__excerpt\">After the film titled \u201cUn Ete en Provence\u201d was completed, the town earlier this year hosted a screening and ceremony where they renamed the town square in honor of Norbert Herriges.<\/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\">After the war<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Felton worked in a few other capacities before eventually being discharged in 1946, after the war\u2019s end in 1945, having attained the rank of signalman, first class.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">He described adjusting to postwar life as being difficult.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cI felt like a different person than what I was two and a half years ago,\u201d he said. \u201cI felt unreal, that going back home was something different, and I felt different about it all. And I was afraid to go home.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">After arriving in Boston, Felton took first a subway and then a bus to his small Massachusetts hometown. He said he stood on the front porch but couldn\u2019t bring himself to ring the doorbell.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cWhen I got to my house, I was literally afraid, frigid, to ring the bell,\u201d he said, tears in his eyes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cSo I didn\u2019t,\u201d he said. \u201cI felt like I didn\u2019t belong. I didn\u2019t know what to say. So I didn\u2019t ring the bell, and I left.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">But, knowing he had to go back, he eventually worked up the courage to ring the doorbell and see his family.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cThey weren\u2019t expecting me, because I didn\u2019t call them,\u201d he said. \u201cEverybody heard me, and very quickly I felt at ease again. But that\u2019s what happens, when you don\u2019t see nobody for a long time, and you\u2019re in an environment that was unrealistic.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cUnrealism\u201d was a common theme for Felton as he spoke in his son\u2019s home. He said it was often hard to process why the things he saw happened in front of him \u2014 or at all.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cYou can\u2019t believe things like that happen,\u201d he said. \u201cThe German people themselves, I\u2019m sure, the soldiers didn\u2019t know the French people, they didn\u2019t know the American people. They had no grudge against them. We had no grudge against them. We didn\u2019t even know them. Yet we\u2019re killing each other.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cWhy? Because of dictatorships,\u201d he said. \u201cThere wouldn\u2019t be wars if there weren\u2019t for the evil people that run them, wanting more land, wanting more of this or the other; then they have a lot of people go to war for them. It\u2019s always been that way.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Eventually, Felton made his way to Maryland, when his father, who was employed by the Veterans Administration, was transferred to a location here. Thanks to the GI Bill, he studied at Suffolk University Law School in Boston, where he received his law degree before later working for the U.S. Department of Labor.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">As Felton told his story, the medal, sent all the way from Paris, sat on the table in front of him. During the interview, Felton said the French Legion of Honor was first created by Napoleon Bonaparte, with obvious pride about having received an honor with such a long history.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">But if it feels a bit unceremonial to have the highest honor a nation can give simply FedExed to Felton, don\u2019t worry \u2014 Felton and his family have been invited to the French Embassy in Washington, D.C., where he will be formally honored with the medal.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Navy veteran Carl Felton recently received a medal declaring him a knight in the French Legion of Honor, the highest honor awarded by France.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":105823,"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":[101,23,89,12,26,19],"tags":[],"coauthors":[6739],"class_list":["post-71779","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":"DCN5MJBP5NCINISQNGTPEB5Z6M","arc_canonical_url":"\/veterans\/2022\/02\/20\/wwii-vet-honored-by-france-for-d-day-contributions\/","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) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-premium-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>WWII vet honored by France for D-Day contributions - Navy Times<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Navy veteran Carl Felton recently received a medal declaring him a knight in the French Legion of Honor, the highest honor awarded by France.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"noindex, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"WWII vet honored by France for D-Day contributions\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Navy veteran Carl Felton recently received a medal declaring him a knight in the French Legion of Honor, the highest honor awarded by France.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" 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