Submitted by Kenneth F. Schrepfer, Lansdale

On June 23, 2010 I was awarded France’s highest military decoration by the Consulate General of France at a ceremony in the French Embassy in Washington.
I was named a “chevalier,” as a sign of France’s gratitude for my contribution to the liberation of France during World War II. I was a corporal in the 26th Infantry Division of the Gen. Patton Third Army. I was in the campaigns of northern France and Rhineland, and was awarded two Bronze Stars and two Purple Hearts.
I am 100 percent disabled because of severe war wounds suffered in France in 1944, when my unit was ambushed by a German Panzer division in a quarry outside the town of Guebling, France.
I spent two years in Army hospitals.
Following my honorable discharge from the Army in 1946, I attended the University of Pennsylvania, earning an A.B. and M.S. degree. I also received a doctorate in educational psychology from Temple University.
In the late 1990s, I graduated from Montgomery County Community College, specializing in modern languages and history. At the time I was 75 years old.
I will soon be 87 and am very proud of my military service.
I am also very proud of the French Legion of Honor and very humble at the same time.