thedrifter
12-20-08, 06:25 AM
Belated Honors: 60 Years Later, Preslar Receives Medals
Friday, 19 December 2008
By THOMAS JENKINS
Staff Writer
Nearly 60 years after being awarded several prestigious medals for his military service in World War II, Big Spring's Lyndall Preslar, a retired Marine corporal, had them placed in his hands for the first time during a special ceremony at the Big Spring VA Medical Center.
“Mr. Preslar, for your service to your country, you are being awarded today with the Prisoner of War Medal, the Combat Action Ribbon, the China Service Medal, Asiatic-Pacific Campaign Medal, the American Defense Service Medal, World War II Victory Medal and the Bronze Star,” Capt. Henry G. Billings, commanding officer of the Marine detachment at Goodfellow AFB, announced Thursday.
Preslar, a man many officials at the VA Medical Center described Thursday as fun and talkative, found himself struggling to describe his feelings following the ceremony.
“I have no words,” said Preslar. “I had no idea this would ever happen.”
Preslar’s family joined him for the ceremony, including his wife of 59 years, Maxine; daughter, Lydia Len Redmon; granddaughter, Cari Loffler; two great-grandsons, Michael Hesson and Sawyer Simpkins; and one great-great-granddaughter, Ciera Hesson.
Billings said Thursday's ceremony serves as a reminder for him and other Marines.
“It reminded me of how very blessed each of us are, and how we take it for granted,” said Billings. “In 1942 on the island of Baton in the Phillipines, after five months of air artillery siege, Mr. Preslar and the Fourth Marines were ordered to surrender to an overwhelming Japanese force. He subsequently remained a prisoner of war for the next 40 months until the war ended.
“During his time as a POW, he was brutalized, starved, treated as less than human and used as slave labor. During his three-and-a-half years in captivity, he weighed 75 to 85 pounds, standing six-feet tall. He and others were used as slave labor to carve an airfield out of the jungle and were exposed to disease and horrible amounts of cement, which has effected his health for the rest of his life.”
Billings also described Preslar's trip to Japan following his capture.
“He was then put on a Japanese Hell Ship and shipped to Japan for use as slave labor, which is where he remained until the end of the war,” said Billings. “Mr. Preslar spent 50 days on a ship with 750 men in the worst and most inhumane conditions imaginable. During his time as a POW, he was beaten more than 80 times and received no medical treatment. He endured diseases and lost all of his teeth, and received no mail or information for the entire time and he became almost deaf.”
The Bronze Star Medal is a United States Armed Forces individual military decoration which may be awarded for bravery, acts of merit or meritorious service. When awarded for bravery, it is the fourth-highest combat award of the U.S. Armed Forces and the ninth highest military award — including both combat and non-combat awards — in the order of precedence of U.S. military decorations.
During Thursday's ceremony, Preslar presented his wife, Maxine, with an anniversary gift to commemorate their many years together.
Contact Staff Writer Thomas Jenkins at 263-7331 ext. 232 or by e-mail at citydesk@bigspringherald.com
Ellie
Friday, 19 December 2008
By THOMAS JENKINS
Staff Writer
Nearly 60 years after being awarded several prestigious medals for his military service in World War II, Big Spring's Lyndall Preslar, a retired Marine corporal, had them placed in his hands for the first time during a special ceremony at the Big Spring VA Medical Center.
“Mr. Preslar, for your service to your country, you are being awarded today with the Prisoner of War Medal, the Combat Action Ribbon, the China Service Medal, Asiatic-Pacific Campaign Medal, the American Defense Service Medal, World War II Victory Medal and the Bronze Star,” Capt. Henry G. Billings, commanding officer of the Marine detachment at Goodfellow AFB, announced Thursday.
Preslar, a man many officials at the VA Medical Center described Thursday as fun and talkative, found himself struggling to describe his feelings following the ceremony.
“I have no words,” said Preslar. “I had no idea this would ever happen.”
Preslar’s family joined him for the ceremony, including his wife of 59 years, Maxine; daughter, Lydia Len Redmon; granddaughter, Cari Loffler; two great-grandsons, Michael Hesson and Sawyer Simpkins; and one great-great-granddaughter, Ciera Hesson.
Billings said Thursday's ceremony serves as a reminder for him and other Marines.
“It reminded me of how very blessed each of us are, and how we take it for granted,” said Billings. “In 1942 on the island of Baton in the Phillipines, after five months of air artillery siege, Mr. Preslar and the Fourth Marines were ordered to surrender to an overwhelming Japanese force. He subsequently remained a prisoner of war for the next 40 months until the war ended.
“During his time as a POW, he was brutalized, starved, treated as less than human and used as slave labor. During his three-and-a-half years in captivity, he weighed 75 to 85 pounds, standing six-feet tall. He and others were used as slave labor to carve an airfield out of the jungle and were exposed to disease and horrible amounts of cement, which has effected his health for the rest of his life.”
Billings also described Preslar's trip to Japan following his capture.
“He was then put on a Japanese Hell Ship and shipped to Japan for use as slave labor, which is where he remained until the end of the war,” said Billings. “Mr. Preslar spent 50 days on a ship with 750 men in the worst and most inhumane conditions imaginable. During his time as a POW, he was beaten more than 80 times and received no medical treatment. He endured diseases and lost all of his teeth, and received no mail or information for the entire time and he became almost deaf.”
The Bronze Star Medal is a United States Armed Forces individual military decoration which may be awarded for bravery, acts of merit or meritorious service. When awarded for bravery, it is the fourth-highest combat award of the U.S. Armed Forces and the ninth highest military award — including both combat and non-combat awards — in the order of precedence of U.S. military decorations.
During Thursday's ceremony, Preslar presented his wife, Maxine, with an anniversary gift to commemorate their many years together.
Contact Staff Writer Thomas Jenkins at 263-7331 ext. 232 or by e-mail at citydesk@bigspringherald.com
Ellie