WWII Veteran finally accepts medals from Battle of Okinawa

67 years later, veteran finally accepts medals from Battle of Okinawa
Oct. 13, 2012
Philadelphia Inquirer
By Mari A. Schaefer
Inquirer Staff Writer

Sixty-seven years did not blot out the searing memories of the Battle of Okinawa for World War II infantryman Montraville "Monte" Lybrand.

He held his hand to his quivering chin, bowed his head, and whispered, "You always remember the ones that didn't make it." With blue eyes welling up, he waited for composure. "I was with them for such a short period of time," he finally managed to say. "We were buddies."

Over the decades, Lybrand, of Drexel Hill, rarely spoke of his experience in one of the war's bloodiest episodes, dispensing his fighting past only in "little bits and pieces," said his oldest daughter, Kathleen Murtaugh.

Yet, suddenly at 86, he decided he wanted the medals that were due him from the 82-day assault that took the lives of 12,500 comrades.

On Friday, at a ceremony in the Delaware County office of U.S. Rep. Patrick Meehan (R., Pa.), Lybrand stood proud as his blue blazer was festooned with hardware: the Purple Heart, the Good Conduct Medal, the Asiatic Pacific Theater Medal, the Army of Occupation Medal, the World War II Victory Medal, the Combat Infantryman Badge, the Rifle Marksmanship Badge, the Honorable Service Lapel Button - and, in a surprise to Lybrand, the Bronze Star, the fourth-highest honor.
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