It has been just over a year since I lost my hero. My father Steven was a proud veteran of the U.S. Air Force and Army. While I was honored to know him, he never had the chance to know another extraordinary hero in my family: his own father.
Private Allen F. Langille was killed in action during World War II when my father was only 3 years old. I never truly knew my grandfather’s incredible story until I came across a Purple Heart when I was snooping in my parents’ bedroom one day. The story of how he earned two Purple Hearts, a Bronze Star, and a Distinguished Service Cross is truly remarkable.
Along with the awards, I discovered a letter from Gen. George S. Patton addressed to my grandmother. It outlined the heroic actions Allen took after being separated from his platoon in Sicily, Italy.
According to the letter, Allen led a group of men that came under heavy fire at Italy’s Biscari airfield. In the process, he was able to procure a rocket launcher and without orders discharged the rocket to score a direct hit on an enemy platform, killing and wounding its crew.
As he went in search of ammunition he was confronted by a German officer with a drawn pistol. When he was ordered to raise his hands, Allen refused. Behavior that would be in keeping from a man my grandmother once said punched a man for just giving her a glance. But still, his defiant attitude wasn’t just rooted in his rough-and-tumble Boston roots. It wasn’t just his personal honor he was standing up for, it was the values of a nation. The values of freedom, liberty, and that all are created equal were values Allen believed were worth fighting for.
They were also values he believed were worth dying for. I’m sure he was mindful of the world he wanted to leave his son and me as he took on that German officer, unarmed. Maybe that is what motivated him to fight back even while he was reeling from the pain of the shrapnel that was lodged in his back.
I’ll never know what was going through Allen’s mind as he “belabored and disposed” of the officer with just his bare hands and helmet. Yet I know his valiant sacrifice made a loud statement. Still, I am ever mindful that his actions that July day makes it possible to do what I do every day. Whenever we get caught up in the pettiness of Washington and the on-going fights between politicians.
I could never imagine what it must have been like for my grandmother to receive the news she had just become a widow and my father was now an orphan of World War II. It is a reality man families of our brave servicemen and women have been confronted with. Truly, all Americans owe them an incredible debt of gratitude.
Their stories and Allen’s give resounding meaning to the somber refrain of “America the Beautiful”:
“O beautiful for heroes proved.
In liberating strife. Who more than self their country loved.
And mercy more than life!”
This Memorial Day, we should not only honor those who gave everything in service to our great country, but continue to share their stories and give voice to the heroes who can no longer speak for themselves.
An original version of this article ran May 29, 2016.
