Forest Hills Veteran Knighted By French Government

There's a knight in Forest Hills.

On this past November, the French government officially instated William Engel to the Legion of Honor, its highest order, as a chevalier, or knight, for his service to the country during World War II.

Engel will show you the medal if you ask, green and white stone patterned into a ten-point star on a red ribbon, but he's wary of going into the war hero stuff.

"I liberated some friends" is enough for Engel. But Engel was only knighted after an extensive approval process, and after combat service in World War II that included a few of the most grueling offensive campaigns in U.S. military history.

At eighteen years old, Engel was drafted in April 1943 only a few years after he and his family immigrated to New York City from the southwest region of Nazi-controlled Germany. A few months in basic training and Engel entered the American Fifth Army, which was in the process of reaching the German Army's defensive line just south of Rome, at the time called Hitler's Line.

After months of mid-winter warfare on difficult terrain that resembles the rolling hills of Northern California, the Fifth had broken through Rome, and advanced to Siena, Italy. Two days later, Engel and the rest of the division was deployed to invade the French Riviera, as part of Operation Dragoon in August 1944.

In just two months of combat from Saint Tropez on the coast pushing further inland, the Fifth Army had sustained 100,000 casualties.

After being nominated by the Jewish War Veterans, Engel's name traveled through the French Embassy in Washington, D.C. to the French War Ministry, to a committee in Parliament, and finally to President Nicolas Sarkozy for approval. In early September, Engel got a phone call at his Exeter Street home from the French Consulate in Manhattan.

"They said I would get a medal, and a letter would follow with instructions," he said.

After Engel provided the necessary discharge documents and proof of identity, Engel was invited to Lycée Français de New York, a French-speaking private school in Manhattan. There, he and eighteen others were honored with the medal at a ceremony.

"A young man or woman was assigned to each of us, and when my name was called, the fellow got up and said a few words about me," said Engel, who wouldn't go into what those words were.

Engel finds himself with impressive company in the Legion of Honor, alongisde Americans Dwight Eisenhower, Douglas MacArthur, and more recently David Petraeus. Napoleon Bonaparte created the Legion of Honor to replace France's royal decorations. "Geothe, the poet, got one from Napoleon," said Engel.

"I didn't expect a title," he added. "I'm always proud of my service. There's a lot of people who talk a lot and did nothing for this country."