POW WWII Veteran finally gets Silver Star

Silver Star presentation first of its kind in Sanford

By Ellen W. Todd
Sanford News Writer

Thursday, October 22, 2009
SANFORD — Leon J. Tanguay, of Sanford, was 19 when he was captured in Saint Lô, France, in August of 1944. As a scout, Tanguay had gone out ahead of his platoon as they made their way from the beaches of Normandy inland. He was alone when the Germans took him prisoner.

He spent nine months as a prisoner of war — first at Stalag 12A, a camp near Limburg, Germany, and then at Stalag 7A in Moosburg, Germany. He and other POWs spent much of their time clearing roads that had been bombed by American troops, working on Germany's railroad, digging potatoes and digging holes in a forest where trees were to be planted.

Tanguay and other POWs were liberated in April of 1945 after German guards fled the camps and shortly before the end of the war.
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Silver Star presentation first of its kind in Sanford