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Did you get home from World War II with any souvenirs? Mr. LaCounte: Well I've got a parade bayonet here, a German. And I don't even know where the hell I got it, but I've got one. I don't remember getting it. I've got another souvenir here from England. I was in a pub one time and the pub, about seven foot off of the floor had railing going clear around the pub that stuck out about four inches. And there was, oh everything in there was brass and they had brass vases and figurines and stuff. And as I was leaving the pub when they closed up, right above the door was a vase. And I reached up and took that vase and took it with me and I still have it here. If I go back in three years or go back for the 75, I think I'm going to take it with me and see if I can find that pub. It was in Henley and I'm sure I can fndthe tbing. But if I do I'm going to take that thing back. Yeah. Mr. Misenhimer: Now what ribbons and medals did you get? Mr. LaCounte: Well I didn't get any medals except this one I got from the French government. But I got all those ribbons, a ribbon for each six months. Mr. Misenhimer: A Legion of Honor I think they call that. Mr. LaCounte: Yeah. And then we got some kind of a ..., well I got two medals also from the French government besides that Medal of Honor. I got one issued to me at one of the ceremonies on the
beach for my participation in the invasion. And then I don't know what really what the other one is for. It was something in the mail. Mr. Misenhimer: You probably got the EAME, you got what they call the EAME, Eastern African Middle East ribbon. Did you get a Good Conduct? Mr. LaCounte:
The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an interview with Willard LaCounte. LaCounte was drafted into the Army in September, 1943 and trained as an antiaircraft artilleryman at Camp Haan, California. In late 1943 he was assigned to the 118th Antiaircraft Automatic Weapons Battalion as a jeep driver in an industrial section of England and recalls defending it against German air raids. He landed at Normandy one day after the invasion. His unit eventually set up in Holland and shot down buzz bombs heading across the Channel. After the war LaCounte helped arrange R&R trips for soldiers.
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