Walter Ehlers dies at 92; awarded Medal of Honor for WW II heroism

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Medal of Honor recipient Walter Ehlers of Buena Park carries a flag in Huntington Beach's 2006 Fourth of July Parade. (Gary Friedman / Los Angeles Times / July 4, 2006)

By David Colker
February 22, 2014, 2:10 p.m.

For extraordinary acts of courage during the D-day invasion of World War II, Walter Ehlers received the nation's highest military award — the Medal of Honor. And it changed his life.

"I didn't have a life before the medal," Ehlers said in a 2004 Washington Post interview. A self-described "farmer boy" who not only took out enemy gun nests single handedly during the D-day operation, but also drew fire to himself so other soldiers could withdraw, Ehlers was invited to every presidential inauguration from Eisenhower on. He spoke all over the world to student, military and other groups. In Buena Park, where he where he lived after the war, a building was named after him and an action figure was made in his likeness.

But all the honors could not bring back his greatest loss during the war. His older brother, Roland, who was assigned to a different Army company, was killed on D-day.

"He was the bravest man I ever knew," Ehlers told the Inland Valley Daily Bulletin in 2003. "My hero. Not a day goes by I don't think about him."

More: http://www.latimes.com/obituaries/la-me-walter-ehlers-20140223,0,160994.story#ixzz2u7c4RRlf

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