The Middletown Press (Middletown, CT)
Veteran’s family gets senator’s help with medals
CHESHIRE — Herman Asmus’ medals, earned for his Air Force service during the Korean War, had seen better days by the time died in 2017.
Asmus earned Good Conduct, National Defense Service, Korean Service and United Nations Service medals as well as the Connecticut Wartime Service and the Korean Ambassador for Peace medals for his Korean War service.
When his daughters set about getting replacement medals for their 90yearold mother, Loretta, they didn’t expect any difficulty in the process.
“When we sent in the paperwork, the Department of Defense told me they couldn’t help me because I wasn’t the oldest child,” said Claudia Baron, who is five years younger than her only other sibling, Laurene Asmus. “What kind of an excuse is that? I think they just wanted some kind of an excuse not to give us the medals.”
The family had turned to U.S. Sen. Richard Blumenthal in 2017, when they had sought to obtain a new foot stone for Asmus’ grave recognizing his service in Korea. So they sought Blumenthal’s help once again.
Blumenthal met with family members on Friday at Asmus’ grave in Hillside Cemetery to present Loretta Asmus and her two daughters with new medals honoring Herman Asmus’ service.
“We wouldn’t be where we are without you guys,” Claudia Baron told Blumenthal. “We appreciate what you did because he should be recognized.”
Asmus was a staff sargeant with the 4th Air Wing of the Air Force, which destroyed or damaged more than 520 enemy aircraft while covering for U.N. fighterbombers, hitting North Korean rail and communication targets.
“Often the Korean War is called the forgotten war, but the men and women who served in that war should never be forgotten,” Blumenthal said.
Following his deployment, Asmus returned to Connecticut. For most of the rest of his working life after the war, Asmus was employed for The United Illuminating Co., first as a lineman and then in a managerial position running the utility’s English Station power plant in New Haven.
Asmus retired from UI in 1985. He also was active in Cheshire politics, working at one point as repairman for the town’s voting machines. “He liked to get involved in a lot of things,” Laurene Asmus said.
Asmus talked freqently frequently of his military experiences. Claudia Baron recalled her father telling the story of a handmade enamel box that a Korean boy gave him as a gesture of goodwill.
Keith Baron, Claudia’s husband, said his fatherinlaw was always very even tempered.
“I never saw him in a bad mood,” Baron said.
luther.turmelle@hearstmediact.com
“When we sent in the paperwork, the Department of Defense told me they couldn’t help me because I wasn’t the oldest child. What kind of an excuse is that?” Claudia Baron