MEDAL OF HONOR WINNER WEARS IT WELL.

Byline: DENNIS McCARTHY 

Somewhere in the Iraqi desert right now, the next Medal of Honor winner is getting ready for battle.

He - or maybe she - is cleaning his weapon, checking his gear and preparing for something that will change his life forever.

He will distinguish himself on the battlefield with an act so courageous it will propel him from the ranks of all the other brave U.S. soldiers, sailors and Marines fighting this war, and make him a genuine national hero.

A man whom generals will salute, and presidents will invite to the White House.

A man like Walter Ehlers, who received a chestful of medals in World War II, including the highest military honor of them all - the Medal of Honor awarded by Congress - for his actions in the invasion of Normandy on D-Day.

A man who, now 78, walked into a Van Nuys banquet room Thursday night to face a standing-room-only crowd of men - most of them veterans, saluting him - and women applauding him, many with tears in their eyes.

``People were coming from the bar and restaurant area just to stand in the doorway to get a look at him when they heard there was a Medal of Honor recipient in the room,'' said Frank Barnyak, president of the local Navy League of the United States.

``It was very emotional, very powerful,'' he said.

It always is, says Ehlers, wherever he goes with the country's greatest military honor pinned on his chest.

``There are going to be a few young soldiers and Marines fighting in the Iraqi desert right now who are going to find that out.''

The Medal of Honor citation presented to Sgt. Walter Ehlers in the field in Paris on Dec. 14, 1944, by Lt. Gen. John C.H. Lee is long and filled with details of his bravery, but this is what you have to know:

``In an early-morning attack, Sgt. Ehlers' company was pinned down in an open field by fire from machine-gun nests and two mortar pits. Without orders, he jumped to his feet and headed toward the first machine-gun nest.

``Suddenly, a patrol of four enemy confronted him. Sgt. Ehlers killed them all and proceeded to advance on and single-handedly destroy the machine-gun nest and its crew of eight enemy. Then, he turned his attention to the mortar pits ... single-handedly knocking out that enemy position.''

The next day, June 10, Ehlers was wounded while returning to rescue a fallen buddy and carry him on his back to safety.

``Sgt. Ehlers refused to be evacuated. His wounds treated and bandaged, he returned to his squad to lead his men. By July, after a month of fighting, his squad was holed up in an abandoned farmhouse when he received a visitor, the company commander from his brother, Roland Ehlers', company.

``He came bearing sad news. Roland had died at Omaha Beach. Walter was devastated. He saluted the officer and said, 'OK,' then found a place of privacy to weep, unashamed.

``Over the coming weeks, Sgt. Ehlers continued to do his job, leading his men. He was wounded three more times and sent to the hospital twice. Then, he learned he was to receive the Medal of Honor.''

After receiving the medal, Ehlers was flown home for celebrations in Manhattan, Kan., and to spend Christmas with his family.

``But it bothered him to think of his men spending Christmas in the field, facing the dangers of a desperate enemy. Sgt. Ehlers requested and received permission to return, finishing the war with the men in his battalion.''

Fifty-eight years later, he sits in a Sherman Oaks restaurant, having breakfast with his wife, Dorothy, talking about what the medal means.

``It's kept me honest my whole life,'' Ehlers says. ``When you have a distinction like that, you don't want to dishonor it. You have to think twice when you go out.

``We've had some medal recipients who have ruined their lives, drank too much. But I have too much respect for medal to do anything that would dishonor it.''

Most of the year, the medal sits in a display case in his Orange County home, with dozens of other medals he earned in World War II. Only when he goes out to talk to veterans' groups and school kids does he wear it.

And then, life changes.

Think of winning an Oscar and an Olympic Gold Medal. Now multiply the honor by a hundred, a thousand, and you get a sense of the admiration and respect Walt Ehlers sees in the eyes of people looking back at him every time he wears his Medal of Honor.

``I had been working for 16 years as a benefits counselor at the West Los Angeles VA before anybody found out I even had one,'' he said, laughing.

``It was the 20th anniversary of D-Day, and the White House called me at work. President Johnson wanted to know if I could come back to Washington for a garden party he was having in honor of D-Day.

``He had a plane sent out, and I flew back with Gen. Omar Bradley,'' Ehlers said.

When he got back to work a few days later, people still treated him the same at the VA, but they sure weren't looking at him the same.

The Medal of Honor and an invitation to the White House from the president of the United States had made him taller somehow - a lot taller.

If he could speak right now to that young soldier or Marine who's going to be the next Medal of Honor winner, he'd tell him this, Ehlers said.

``Don't be a Rambo,'' he said. ``Just be brave and do your job.

``Fifty percent of the Medals of Honor are awarded posthumously. That's the risk of getting one. You have to be lucky, and have witnesses see what you did.''

There were many men in his war as brave as he was, Ehlers says, men who also deserved the honors given him.

``I know my brother, Roland, was one of them,'' he said. ``He was the bravest man I ever knew. My hero. Not a day goes by I don't think about him.''

When he talks to schoolchildren, he uses that Medal of Honor to stress the importance of staying in school and getting an education.

``When you have a job to do, whatever it is, you need as much training as possible to accomplish it successfully - whether it's fighting a war, becoming a professional athlete, movie star or schoolteacher,'' he tells the kids.

Or becoming a man generals salute and presidents invite to come visit in the White House.

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Photo:

Walter Ehlers, recipient of the Medal of Honor for heroism during World War II, says that the commendation has ``kept me honest my whole life.''

John Lazar/Staff Photographer