Sixty years after
nomination, veteran
gets Silver Star at WWII memorial
WASHINGTON, D.C. (Army News Service, May 26, 2004) - As a lieutenant
with the French Resistance, Michel Thomas battled tyranny alongside
American troops as an attached member of the 45th Infantry Division in
World War II.
Thomas was nominated for the Silver
Star in 1944. Now 90, he finally has it.
Former Sen. Robert Dole and Sen. John
Warner, both WWII veterans, presented Thomas with the Army's
third-highest award for combat valor at the National World War II
Memorial May 25.
"It's taken 60 years," Dole
noted of the medal and official recognition of Thomas' contributions to
the allied victory. "I'm honored to be in his presence."
The private ceremony also included
Thomas' adult children, Micheline and Gurion; WWII comrades Theodore
Kraus and Bedford Groves; and French Ambassador Jean-David Levitte.
Thomas, whose family was killed by
Nazis at Auschwitz, survived two years of slave labor and deportation
camps in Vichy, France, before joining the French Forces of the
Interior, Marquis Commando Group. He fought with them for two years
before being attached to the Army's 1st Battalion, 180th Infantry
Regiment of the 45th ID.
From August to September 1944, Thomas
led reconnaissance patrols into enemy territory - sometimes three a day
and sometimes alone, without regard for his own safety - to get
information to help allied forces, the award citation said.
"Lt. Thomas was instrumental in
capturing many enemy prisoners whom he personally interrogated and
obtained much vital information,'' said Dole, reading the citation.
"His fluent knowledge of various languages was beneficial in
interrogating enemy prisoners and capturing slave laborers and French
civilians."
Levitte thanked Thomas for his
service, as well as the United States.
"From the bottom of my heart, I
thank you," the ambassador said. "The American people saved
France twice. We will never forget."
Thomas expressed gratitude in return,
not just to Levitte, but also to the senators, his comrades and others
whose work led to the medal presentation, such as Alex Kline, a San
Francisco private investigator, and Robert Wolfe, a retired senior
archivist with the U.S. National Archives. Sen. John McCain, who
couldn't attend because of scheduling conflicts, and U.S. Rep. Carolyn
Maloney acted on Thomas' behalf by asking the Army to revisit the award
recommendation in September 2003.
"It is with great pride that I
stand here with you today, and with our fellow comrades in that worthy
battle to defend both freedom and the sanctity of human life,'' Thomas
said, reading his prepared remarks. "I am deeply moved and humbled
by this gesture from each of you, and immensely honored to receive this
recognition from the United States of America. Thank you."
Afterwards, Thomas said he was deeply
moved by receiving the medal, especially at the memorial, and with all
of the people who traveled to witness the presentation.
Kraus, who witnessed many of Thomas'
deeds as a Counter Intelligence Corps agent and commander, came from
Connecticut for the ceremony. He was elated to see his friend honored
after all this time.
"I've had tears in my eyes all
day," Kraus said. "It's the culmination of a great effort by
many people."
Gurion Thomas said that while his
father has shared the stories of his service over the years, he never
held any bitterness or regret that the Silver Star nomination didn't
move forward, until now.
"He did not fight for medals,
that's why he didn't pursue it,'' said Gurion Thomas. "He felt that
fighting with the U.S. forces was honor enough. He's always said the
American Army is the best fighting force in the world and he was honored
to serve with them."
Momentum for the award started
building about two years ago, after a reporter for the Los Angeles Times
wrote an article about Thomas' biography, "Test of Courage,"
by Christopher Robbins. The book recounts a number of incredible feats
by Thomas: his 1943 escape from Klaus Barbie, known as the Butcher of
Lyon, and his later testimony against Barbie in his 1987 war crimes
trial; and his participation in the liberation of the Dachau
concentration camp, where Thomas interrogated and photographed workers
with ithen-Lt. Col. Wilson Gibson, who died in 1947 in New Orleans.
Robbins also described Thomas
following a truck convoy to a paper mill near Munich in May 1945, where
he prevented the Nazi Party's worldwide membership card file and other
Third Reich documents from being destroyed; and how, in 1946, Thomas and
Kraus together captured Gustav Knittel, a notorious war criminal who was
eventually convicted for his role in the Malmedy massacre of American
prisoners of war at the Battle of the Bulge.
Thomas, and many others, believed the
Times' article attacked his reputation by questioning the credibility of
his accounts. That's when Kline, the private investigator, got involved.
Although Thomas had many documents to back up his claims, Kline's
research unearthed more and led to Wolfe, who examined the documents
Thomas still had in his possession and verified their authenticity.
Wolfe also wrote a paper that described how Thomas was responsible for
saving the documents, which were instrumental in the iNuremberg war
crimes trials and became the centerpiece of the Berlin Document Center.
Wolfe said he and others knew a CIC
agent save the records from being destroyed, but the agent's identity
was a mystery until he was asked to verify Thomas' account. Wolfe said
he made it a point not to meet or speak to Thomas, who was a stranger to
him, until the day Thomas delivered the documents he still had
possession of.
"One of the documents had
Heinrich Himmler's signature,'' Wolfe said, referring to the Nazi
general who headed Adolph Hitler's secret police. "I ran my fingers
over it and the raised signature told me it was original. I looked at
Michel and said 'You're the guy.'"
The two have since become friends. Any
suggestion that Thomas lied or exaggerated about his history makes Wolfe
bristle.
"He did a job few of us did, or
could have done," said Wolfe, also a WWII veteran. "And I'm a
twice-wounded infantryman."
Thomas sued the Times and the reporter
who wrote the "Larger Than Life" article for libel, but a
judge dismissed the suit before it went to trial, ruling that the
article was more of a commentary piece than a hard news story, and
protected by the First Amendment since Thomas was a public figure.
The Silver Star and all of the
ceremony surrounding it is vindication for his father, Gurion Thomas
said.
"To be honored finally by the
U.S. government and military means a lot right now,'' he said.
Kline agreed. After three years of
working to repair Thomas' reputation and getting congressional leaders
involved in the medal pursuit, Kline felt exhilarated as he watched
Warner pin the star to Thomas' chest.
"All of the delays actually
worked in our favor," Kline said. "We're here in front of the
World War II memorial. There's just no better place to do this. And to
have it presented five days before the dedication by the man (Dole) who
spearheaded the effort to get it built is just incredible."
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