Caledonia’s ‘Band of Brothers’ soldier set to receive France’s Legion of Honor
It took a while for Bradford Freeman to become famous.
Columbus resident to receive French Legion of Honor
On the 640-acre Alabama farm he grew up on, 16-year-old Joseph R. Johnson told his father he wanted to join the Army after World War II broke out.
Being underage, Johnson needed his father’s signature to go off to war. His father didn’t like that idea. Johnson persisted.
“We had a world to save,” he said last week. “If we left Hitler alone he would take over the world.”
Welcome to the Legion: World War II veteran, Starkville resident to receive French honor
STARKVILLE — When a Starkville man graduated high school in the 1940s, there was little doubt what his next move would be.
The United States was in the heart of World War II, and any able-bodied man was bound for military service, either by choice or through the draft.