WORLD WAR II MEDALS ARRIVE, 61 YEARS LATE.Byline: DENNIS McCARTHY Dennis McCarthy may refer to:
John Miles John Miles is the name of several notable people, including:
sense of humour, humor, humour , so it's it's 1. Contraction of it is. 2. Contraction of it has. See Usage Note at its. it's it is or it has it's be ~have a pretty good bet he would have found a joke somewhere in the telephone call his widow, Melanie, recently received from Cam Galeti. Cam moonlights getting veterans the service medals A service medal is a military award generally of the lowest degree. A service medal is awarded to a member of the military who joins the military, or is already serving, during a designated time period. they earned but never received. He was calling to let Melanie know that John's World War II service medals had just arrived in the mail. John would have been proud of Melanie for wanting to make sure future generations had a chance to see the medals her husband had earned protecting his country in a time of war. But he probably would have found a laugh in there, too -- seeing how they arrived 61 years late, says Melanie Nosek, the Mileses' daughter. Yeah, John named his daughter after his wife because no matter what, he told her, she would always come first in his life. At least, that was the company line. ``Mom wanted to name me Michelle, but Dad was adamant. He wanted me to be named Melanie, the love of his life. Mom and I finally figured out it was because when he yelled yell v. yelled, yell·ing, yells v.intr. To cry out loudly, as in pain, fright, surprise, or enthusiasm. v.tr. To utter or express with a loud cry. See Synonyms at shout. n. `Melanie,' we'd both come running.'' There was always a laugh to be had in the Mileses' house, even during the last few years when John's health was failing. It had been more than 40 years since he'd stepped inside a church to make confession confession, in law, the formal admission of criminal guilt, usually obtained in the course of examination by the police or prosecutor or at trial. For a confession to be admissible as evidence against an accused individual, it generally must have been procured . Maybe it was time to try again, he told his daughter. John told the priest he had never done anything really bad in his 84 years. Never murdered, raped or robbed anyone. ``But you can put me down for two of everything else,'' he said. When it was clear that the end was near in January, Melanie -- the daughter -- read a book about coping with death. ``One day, I climbed into bed next to Dad and whispered whis·per n. 1. Soft speech produced without full voice. 2. Something uttered very softly. 3. A secretly or surreptitiously expressed belief, rumor, or hint: whispers of scandal. in his ear that it was OK, you can go. ``He shot up and said, `Where we going?' That was my Dad, still joking at the end.'' So, yeah, John Miles would have found a laugh somewhere in the 61-years-late service medals he earned for helping stop a guy named Hitler from taking over the world. It wasn't the postal service's fault. It was the government's. Those medals should have been given to Miles and all our veterans right when they were discharged. ``That's when we were supposed to be given our medals, but a lot of the time the medals weren't there when we were checking out so they told us they'd be sent to us later,'' says Galeti, who has worked as a State Farm Insurance agent in the Valley for more than 50 years. ``A lot of times, they never were sent. Guys went on with their lives and forgot about them. They wanted to put the war behind them, way behind them.'' The 84-year-old Galeti spends his afternoons writing letters to the government to recover the long-forgotten medals. He started in 2004 when he found that most of the men who served in Easy Company with him at the Battle of the Bulge Battle of the Bulge, popular name in World War II for the German counterattack in the Ardennes, Dec., 1944–Jan., 1945. It is also known as the Battle of the Ardennes. On Dec. in World War II never got the Bronze Star Bronze Star n. A U.S. military decoration awarded either for heroism or for meritorious achievement in ground combat. Noun 1. for bravery Bravery See also Heroism. Achilles foremost Greek hero of Trojan War; brave and formidable warrior. [Gk. Hist.: NCE, 12] Adrastus courageous Indian prince; Rinaldo’s enemy. [Ital. Lit. that Gen. George C. Marshall had promised them. Galeti went on a one-man campaign to get the medal for the guys in his company. If they had passed on, he got it to their widows. So when Melanie Miles -- the mother -- read about him in one of my columns, she asked Cam if he could help her recover her late husband's service medals. Like a lot of men who came home from war, her husband never talked about it. But one day, late in his life, she found him looking through a veterans magazine that had an ad for miniature service medals. ``He bought the Good Conduct Medal and the other ones he earned, and put them on his VA baseball cap, right next to the Irish shamrock shamrock, a plant with leaves composed of three leaflets. According to legend it was used by St. Patrick in explaining the doctrine of the Trinity; it is now used as the emblem of Ireland. An artificial or real shamrock leaf is customarily worn on St. Patrick's Day. he had on it,'' his widow says. ``When I asked him why, he told me the medals themselves weren't that important, but what they stood for was.'' Nobody knew John Miles better than his wife. They had met in eighth grade back in Detroit and starting going together at 15. They got married in 1941, during a 10-day leave John had before being shipped overseas. Her husband didn't have to say what he was feeling. She knew. He wanted the real medals. He probably would have laughed and joked about it, but he would have cried a little inside, too. Not for the medals. For what they stood for. Today would have been the Mileses' 63rd wedding anniversary. Melanie and her 57-year-old daughter, Melanie, will be going out to dinner with 55-year-old John Gregory John Gregory may refer to:
It will be the first time he's seen his father's service medals. When he was born, John Miles told his wife she could name the boy since he had named the girl. Melanie smiled and told her husband she wanted to name him John. So every time she yelled `John' they'd both come running. ``It didn't work out, though,'' Melanie said. ``Everybody called him Greg.'' dennis.mccarthy(at)dailynews.com (818) 713-3749 CAPTION(S): 2 photos Photo: (1) Melanie Miles of Thousand Oaks Thousand Oaks, residential city (1990 pop. 104,352), Ventura co., S Calif., in a farm area; inc. 1964. Avocados, citrus, vegetables, strawberries, and nursery products are grown. holds World War II medals earned by her late husband, John, that friend Cam Galeti helped her to get after her husband's death. Tina Burch/Staff Photographer (2) MILES |
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