A medal at last for Brockton WWII veteran
By Theresa Knapp Enos, ENTERPRISE CORRESPONDENT
BRIDGEWATER - Tonight, more than 60 years after Cpl. Walter "Bucky" O'Brien was captured by German soldiers during World War II, his family will receive the Prisoner of War Medal he earned and was promised so many years ago.
O'Brien was a paratrooper with the Army's 82nd Airborne Division. He jumped on D-Day and was captured by the Germans in 1944, then escaped after 18 months of captivity. He and a fellow prisoner slept during the day, traveled at night and eventually found their way back to American forces. He was then sent home to Brockton.
"We still have all the old telegrams saying that he was missing in action and a sympathy card because (the Army) thought he was dead," said his daughter, Beth Connolly of Bridgewater.
The medal, along with a proclamation from Gov. Mitt Romney, will be presented to the O'Brien family tonight at Connolly's home.
O'Brien died in his sleep in 1987 at age 62, still waiting for the medal to arrive.
"His last 3 1/2 weeks, he sat by the window and waited for it," recalled Connolly of her father's last days. "He waited and waited, but it just never came."
O'Brien was notified in the 1980s - perhaps by the Veterans' Hospital where he received services, although family members are not quite sure - that the medal was on its way.
It never arrived.
Three months after his death, the O'Brien family was summoned to the former Otis Air National Guard Base in Bourne, where his widow, Mary O'Brien of Middleboro, received a small box.
"The medal was supposed to be in the box, but the box was empty," said Mrs. O'Brien.
No one knew why the box was empty or where the medal had gone. Hundreds of phone calls to government officials and agencies over several years brought no results.
Then, three weeks ago, while shopping in a home improvement store in Brockton, Connolly stumbled upon a man whom she now calls an "angel."
Unable to find a shower rod, she asked a sales clerk for assistance. While the man helped her locate her item, he said, "You know, I found my way out of Normandy, you'd think I could find my way around (this store)."
Connolly was shocked.
"He reminded me of my dad; that's something he used to say all the time," she said.
The helpful sales clerk was James G. McCann, also vice chairman of the Lt. General James M. Gavin Chapter of the 82nd Airborne Division Association, a local chapter of the paratrooper "Band of Brothers" that offers support to all veterans who have ever worn the silver wings on their uniform.
McCann, after learning of the situation, coordinated the effort to get the medal to O'Brien's family.
"We are the brotherhood of paratroopers, the Band of Brothers," said McCann. "We stay together through all the wars and all the events, trying to right wrongs where a member or a fellow brother had been slighted Once you've worn the wings of a paratrooper, you'll always have a family to look after you."
McCann and the O'Brien family said they're still not sure what caused the initial mix-up.
"Even though Bucky didn't get the medal in his own hands, hopefully he's looking down from whatever aircraft he's flying and saying, 'Thanks, guys,'" McCann said.
Bucky O'Brien, nicknamed for his strong resemblance to his uncle Buck O'Brien, who pitched for the Boston Red Sox during their first game in 1912, was a familiar face on the streets of Brockton where he delivered the mail for 39 years. He was husband to Mary O'Brien and father to six children, Beth, James, Nancy, Donna, John and Mary, four of whom will attend tonight's ceremony.
ŠThe Enterprise, Brockton, MA