A Local Resident and Veteran of World War II To Be Awarded French Legion of Honor
A little over a year ago, Peter Brav read about an award that France bestows regularly on veterans of World War I and World War II. The French Legion of Honor, an order of distinction first established by Napoleon Bonaparte in 1802, thanks those who risked their lives defending freedom.
Mr. Brav, a lawyer and Princeton resident whose parents call the Acorn Glen assisted living facility home, immediately thought of his father Herman L. Brav, who is 91 and had previously been awarded The Bronze Star Medal by the United States Army for his World War II service with the 69th Infantry. Though his father never talks much about his wartime experiences, Mr. Brav knew they were significant. He decided to look into the Legion of Honor award for his father.
“I applied for it, and they wrote back to say he was under consideration,” Mr. Brav said Monday. “Then a couple of weeks ago, we found out that he was getting the award. So my parents and my sister and I will go to West Point this Friday. It happens to be the 70th anniversary of D-Day, so it is really special.”
Born in Brooklyn in 1923, Herman Brav lost his father at age four and his twin brother at 12. “He became the sole supporter of his mother,” Peter Brav said. “When World War II broke out, he volunteered and was shipped off with the 69th infantry. He saw heavy combat.”
Mr. Brav and his company crossed the English Channel to Normandy. “They basically fought their way through France and Germany,” the younger Mr. Brav said. “The big day was when they hooked up at the Elbe River with the Russians. It was pretty much the victory. It signified that the European Theater was going to wind down.”
His father was not one to brag about his experiences. “He didn’t talk a lot about the war when we were young,” Mr. Brav said. “I knew he was awarded The Bronze Star, but he didn’t make a big deal about it, so I didn’t. What he does talk about now is his buddies, including those who were killed at his side. He has dementia, but he remembers that.”
After the war, Mr. Brav returned home. He met his wife, a Holocaust survivor, at a dance at The New Yorker Hotel. “She was one of the last groups of Jewish refugees to get out of Russia,” her son said. “She worked for Macy’s in New York and learned English.”
Mr. Brav’s father worked for the U.S. government before becoming a salesman for a company that manufactures doors and elevator cabs. He retired at 85. The family moved to Long Island in 1961. After Mrs. Brav had a stroke in 2010, the couple moved to Princeton to be near their family. In addition to Mr. Brav and his sister, who lives in Chicago, the couple have five grandchildren and one great-grandchild.
Mr. Brav said his father doesn’t always remember that the family is going to West Point this week to receive his award. But he knows he will be happy to receive the honor. “He doesn’t need this award, because he’s from a generation that did what it was supposed to do, that didn’t look for thanks. And he is no different,” his son said. “As a friend of mine said it’s a little recognition for the generation that sought no recognition. Because that’s how he is.”