‘A Grand Ol’ Day’

When one of the best-known medals in the world was pinned to his checked blazer Monday, Ralph Latson pulled his 103-year-old frame to a standing position and proudly puffed out his chest.

“This is a grand ol’ day I’ll never forget,” he said simply, glancing down at the prestigious National Order of the Legion of Honor medal that dangled over his heart. The roomful of well-wishers and government officials who had packed the lobby of Latson’s retirement home in Stanton then leaped to their feet, clapping as the World War I veteran shook hands with strangers and blinked into a crush of television cameras and flashbulbs.

“He’s a world celebrity now,” said Harley Latson, 74, who nominated his uncle for the award last November. “What a moment.”

Ralph Latson is the latest of the roughly 40 living World War I veterans in California to be given the Legion of Honor, the highest honor that France can bestow on military allies because it cannot be awarded posthumously.

Last summer, French leaders asked for U.S. assistance in locating all surviving eligible World War I veterans, hoping to commemorate the 80th anniversary of the Armistice that ended the war by honoring surviving American veterans who served in France.

Similar searches are underway in Britain, Australia, New Zealand, Canada, Portugal and other countries that were allied with France, and officials say the effort has been difficult.

“It’s tough to get the word out,” said Robert Johnson of Veterans of World War I of U.S.A. “We mostly have to rely on people finding us.”

Johnson said the process begins with a one-page application on behalf of the veteran, which is then forwarded to the French Embassy in Washington. Officials verify that the applicant served in France, usually by examining discharge records, and then send the paperwork to Paris. The French president then signs a decree that says the veteran is to be honored with the medal.

“It’s the equivalent of passing a congressional bill,” Johnson said of the last step, noting that the entire process takes four or five months.

After the ceremony, Guy Yelda, the consul general of France, said the embassy has received at least 300 applications so far. It is estimated that no more than 1,600 of the veterans are alive today. Most are about 100 years old, and are frail or in ill health.

On Monday, Yelda pinned the medal on Latson’s chest, clasped his shoulders and kissed him on both cheeks.

“Ralph Latson, France wants you to know that you are remembered,” he said. “And, from the bottom of our heart, we thank you.”

Latson, who never fired a weapon during the roughly 12 months that he was in France, built camps and warehouse facilities in the port area of Le Havre-Brest. He was in Paris during the Armistice celebration and returned to Whittier after the war, where he took up a list of odd jobs as a farmer, rancher, carpenter and, at one time, walnut tree shaker.

The award, his family said, is yet another testament to Latson’s character. A “sickly child” who never completed the eighth grade, Latson persevered as a doughboy and now prides himself on the fact that he takes no medications, plays regular bridge games and can recall, with precise detail, the 285-mile river rafting trip he took with his nephew when he was 87.

“He’s always clean, he’s always sweet, he’s always sentimental,” said another nephew, Bob Latson, 43, of San Luis Obispo.

Added Harley Latson of Whittier: “He’s an all-American man.”

But the 6-foot-tall veteran, whose gentle face offers no clues to his age, even when he shuffled to the front of the room Monday using a metal walker, said he has simply been blessed with a long and healthy life. And as a nurse prepared to escort him back to his room for an afternoon nap, Latson shied away from such praise.

“I don’t feel like a celebrity,” he said. “I never even graduated from the eighth grade . . . but today I feel pretty good.”