Medal of Honor recipient to be buried today

A funeral service with a special graveside ceremony is scheduled Saturday afternoon to honor Walter Ehlers, a Medal of Honor recipient from World War II.

Ehlers single-handedly took out enemy gun nests during the D-day invasion and drew fire to himself to save other soldiers. He died Feb. 19 at 92 of kidney failure. He will be buried at Riverside National Cemetery with full military honors at 1 p.m., said Jim Ruester, spokesman for the cemetery.

Seating has been set up for 500 people. The Army’s 1st Infantry Division will send a three-star general and 32 soldiers from Kansas to provide pall bearers, a color team and a rifle team. Several other Medal of Honor recipients will fly in to attend.

Ehlers, a farm boy from Kansas, was invited to every presidential inauguration from Eisenhower on. He spoke all over the world to student, military and other groups.

After the war he lived in Buena Park, where a building was named after him and an action figure was made in his likeness.

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esmeralda.bermudez@latimes.com