6 SC WWII vets to receive French award for service

COLUMBIA, S.C. (AP) — A South Carolina veteran of World War II who helped drive German forces from France says he’s pleased to be recognized with France’s highest military award, the Legion of Honor.

Eighty-eight-year-old O. Stanley Smith of West Columbia is one of six veterans being honored Friday at a ceremony in Greenville.

Smith says representatives of the French Consul General of Atlanta are presenting the award.

Smith says he took part in the Battle of the Bulge, the operation to push the Germans away from the city of Colmar and with U.S. forces in the Ruhr industrial region.

Letters from the French Embassy and Consulate say the award expresses France’s gratitude to those who liberated it in 1944 and 1945.