Barrington veteran receives French Legion of Honor medal
More than seven decades after his military service in France during World War II, 92-year-old William R. Colton of Barrington has been awarded the Knight of the French Legion of Honor medal.
A formal ceremony organized by the French consulate in Chicago will take place at 10:30 a.m. Saturday, at The Garlands of Barrington retirement community where Colton now lives.
The longtime Naperville resident will be joined by family from near and far for what has already proved to be a poignant experience for the Army Corps of Engineers veteran, said his son, Tom Colton of Naperville.
"He was very emotional," Colton said of his father's reaction to receiving the medal about a month ago. "It's really an amazing thing."
William Colton had no idea he was being vetted for the honor until it was in the palm of his hand.
"It was a complete surprise to me," he said Thursday. "I was sort of shaken up, to tell you the truth, because I wasn't expecting it."
More than 18 months earlier, Tom's brother Bill in Texas read about American soldiers who'd served in France during World War II being honored with the Legion of Honor medal, which Napoleon Bonaparte instituted for the French government.
Tom Colton and his wife, Kathleen, reached out to the French to initiate the process, then heard nothing for well over a year as William's service during the war was being researched.
As a member of the Army Corps of Engineers, William Colton helped build hospitals and bridges in France, and served at the Battle of the Bulge.
Though his family knows the basics of Colton's service during the war, he's always been reluctant to share the darker aspects of what he saw there, Tom said.
"His attitude is that he didn't do more than anybody else," Tom said. "You know how this generation is."
William reiterated that stance Thursday.
"We all did our part. That's why we were successful," he said.
Such high recognition of military service runs in the Colton family. Colton's father served in the trenches during World War I and received a Purple Heart after surviving a gas attack, Tom said. However, his health never fully recovered and he died at the age of 62.
While both William and his father experienced war in France, it didn't sour William's attitude toward the nation that's now honoring him. He's revisited the country several times, including on his second honeymoon in 1984 after he lost his first wife.
"I like France," William said. "It's a very, very interesting country. It's so different from here."
Honor: Barrington man helped rebuild France