French honor Ohio WWII soldier
Wyandot County man, 96, awarded Legion of Honor.
— With UPPER SANDUSKY Gallic panache and in the characteristic round, flat cap of his country’s military, French Army Col. Nicolas Auboin bestowed France’s highest honor Monday on Clyde Shull, a 96-year-old veteran of World War II, for helping to liberate France from its Nazi occupiers.
Auboin presented the Knight’s medal of the Legion of Honor to Shull, an advocate for veterans in his native Wyandot County, and then embraced him in a short ceremony in the Wyandot County Courthouse.
“You saved us, and we will never forget,” said Auboin, who is a liaison from the French Army to the U.S. Army posted at Fort Leavenworth, Kan. “Many of your fellow soldiers did not return but they remain in our hearts.”
A color guard made up of uniformed members of local American Legion and Veterans of Foreign Wars posts stood at attention for the medal ceremony.
In a reception afterward, with the colorful Legion medal pinned to his jacket, a seated Shull briefly recounted the major battles he was involved in, saying later he had only touched the surface of his 2½ years under fire.
Drafted in 1942, Shull fought with the artillery in North Africa, Italy, France, and Germany. He served in the Ninth Infantry Division, 34th Field Artillery Battalion, and was one of the first to go onshore in North Africa.
During the D-Day invasion, Shull landed on Utah Beach, from where he fought through France, Belgium, and Germany.
Shull’s daughter, Barbara Kroll of Novi, Mich, wept as her father spoke, saying later, “I’m very proud. He never really talked about World War II until my mother passed 20 years ago.”
Also on hand were his three sons, John of South Lyon, Mich.; Joe of Put-InBay, and Jim of Upper Sandusky, as well as grandchildren and great-grandchildren.
Asked if he was glad to help France repel the German invaders and if he was proud of his service, Shull said, “Those things are hard to say. I’m proud of my service.
“There’s only one bad thing. I wish some of my buddies could have been here today,” Shull said.
At least one other World War II vet was present: Orrin Lust, 98, of Upper Sandusky, who was a quartermaster in the Army, serving in Italy in 1944-45. Lust said he and Mr. Shull have become friends in recent years.
After his discharge in 1945, Shull was treated for malaria and shell shock at a hospital in Texas, but said he wanted out of the hospital to get back home. According to his daughter, Shull was one of 12 children, and one of five boys who were in the Army and fought in the European theater. All five returned, but Shull is the only one of his siblings still living.
After his war service, Shull was an Ohio Highway Patrol trooper for four years, followed by seven years in the state probation office. He worked for more than 20 years as an inspector and investigator for the Ohio Board of Pharmacy.
Shull was appointed to the Wyandot County Veteran Service Commission in 1985. His responsibilities often included reviewing financial aid grants that made it possible for veterans to obtain food or keep utilities turned on, said Theresa Miller, director of the Wyandot County Veterans Service Commission.