Retired 1st Sgt. Leggio J. Sassi, now 103 years old, joined the Army when he was just 15, lying about his age in order to escape a life in the coal mines where he grew up in Star Junction, Pennsylvania.
The Army sent him to Hawaii for two years and then trained soldiers at Fort Mead before being discharged from the Army. Four months later, the United States entered World War II, and Sassi re-entered the Army.
In 1944, Sassi served with the 44th Armored Infantry Battalion of the 6th Armored Division as they sped across France up to the Siegfried Line, which marked the border between France and Germany. Sassi then participated in the Battle of the Bulge, his unit racing to aid American soldiers surrounded by the enemy in Bastogne, Belgium.
It was one of the worst winters on record, and the fighting was fierce, but Sassi survived and went on to help liberate the Buchenwald concentration camp in April 1945. Not long after, Sassi was wounded near Zeitz, Germany, and sent to the rear to recover. After the war, he was discharged once more, only to enlist for a third time and get deployed to American-occupied Japan and Korea.
Sassi rarely spoke about his service during the war, according to those who know him. However, the French government recently recognized his service by presenting him with the Legion of Honor, their equivalent of the Medal of Honor, an award first founded by Napoleon Bonaparte.
The certificate was signed by French President Emmanuel Macron and presented to Sassi at a local VFW by French Consul General Caroline Monvoisin during the ceremony.
"America’s sons and daughters have been outnumbered, out-trained, and out-equipped since the American Revolution," said Command Sgt. Maj. Richard Moore, the Garrison CSM at Fort Mead during the ceremony. "But what we have had, and continue to have, is something no other country has — that is the best leaders a country could ever ask for."