Smalley only learned that his father had won the Bronze Star after contacting Neal’s office for help replacing his father’s Purple Heart, awarded to soldiers wounded or killed in battle. Watch video
SPRINGFIELD - Taking care of unfinished business from World War II, U.S. Rep. Richard E. Neal presented the Bronze Star Thursday to a city man whose father was killed while fighting with the U.S. Army in France.
“It’s a glorious day,” said Edward Smalley, 70, after receiving the medal honoring his father, Edward F. Smalley, a Windsor Locks native and Army private who was killed Sept. 4, 1944.
The Bronze Star medal which was presented to Edward W. Smalley of Springfield on behalf of his father Edward F. Smalley who was killed in World War II during the Normandy Campaign. Smalley’s uncle, Frances E. Smalley, was killed two weeks later in the same campaign. The brothers are buried side by side in the Brittany American Cemetery in St. James, France - a place Smalley plans to visit on Memorial Day to mark the 70th anniversary of the D-Day invasion.
A retired machinist, Edward Smalley was 3 months old when his father was killed, and knew little of his family’s contributions in World War II growing up.
“Nobody really talked about it,” he said during the ceremony in Neal’s office.
Smalley only learned that his father deserved the Bronze Star after contacting Neal’s office for help replacing his father’s Purple Heart, awarded to soldiers wounded or killed in battle.
In the process of replacing the Purple Heart, which Smalley had lost, he discovered his father was also entitled to a Bronze Star, awarded for successfully completing a mission in a combat zone.
Neal said arranging for families of war heroes to receive long-delayed honors was one of the most gratifying parts of his job.
“Happy to help. This is marvelous,” Neal replied after Smalley thanked him for the Bronze Star.
Neal said several factors, including the enormity of World War II and self-effacing nature of the soldiers who fought it, help to explain why families are still receiving honors.
"This was a very modest generation,” he said.
1/24/14 Springfield- Republican Photo by Mark M.Murray- Congressman Richard E. Neal, left talks about the Bronze Medal which he will present to Edward W. Smalley, right of Springfield on behalf of his father Edward F. Smalley who was killed in World War II in the Normandy Campaign.The presentation was made in Neal's office at the Federal Courthouse. Smalley, an Army veteran, will learn more about his father’s combat service when he visits St. James Cemetery on Memorial Day to participate in the 70th anniversary of D-Day.
“I’m going to have to learn French” for the trip, Smalley said.