Dick Grout is hero among us.
Grout, a longtime county resident now living in Traverse City, was awarded France’s highest distinction Tuesday — the French Legion of Honor.
The honor comes nearly 80 years after he and thousands of other Allied servicemen stormed the beaches of Normandy on D-Day and soon after pried France from the clutches of Hitler’s Third Reich.
Grout’s son-in-law, François Mouzard, served as master of ceremonies for the event, held at Kirkbride Hall at the Village of Grand Traverse Commons.
“I was born just years after (Grout) liberated the country of my birth,” said the French national now married to Grout’s daughter, living in Quebec.
A member of the Greatest Generation, Grout was part of the 142,000 Allied soldiers who took part in the D-Day invasion.
He was a member of the 112th Engineering Combat Battalion which spent much of their time in southern England, near Bath, as part of a troop buildup in the British Isles.
To prepare for their yet-to-beknown mission, the engineering battalion practiced blowing up and rebuilding bridges as well as identifying and removing mines from fields.
On the morning of June 6, he and his crew, the 112th Engineer Combat Battalion landed at Omaha Beach with the goal of clearing obstacles on the beach and open an exit for troops trying to move inward.
“We could almost walk onto the beach,” recalled Grout during a 2021 interview. “We knew we would come under small arm fire from the Germans on the hills over the beach. We were looking for protection … a log or whatever we could to get away from small arms fire.”
Grout said it was chaos on the beach for a number of hours. His unit had weapons, but didn’t get a chance to use them.
“We spent a lot of time on our hands and knees. We couldn’t see who was shooting,” he said.
Of the 200 soldiers which were part of his unit, 37 were killed in action. Another 34 soldiers were wounded.
Grout and his unit were charged with clearing paths through mine fields and building bridges for tanks and other vehicles. It was while constructing a bridge near the village of Malmedy, Belgium, on the eve of the Battle of the Bulge that Grout was struck by mortar fire.
He woke up days later in an English hospital run by a religious order of nuns. Grout healed and returned to his battalion, which reached Munich before Germany surrendered on May 8, 1945. He remained there for some time directing cleanup efforts with about 2,000 German prisoners under his watch before exiting active service on May 7, 1946.
And like so many of the Greatest Generation, Grout returned to the states to careers and family. Our own hometown heroes.
According to the U.S. Veterans Administration, of the 16 million Americans who fought in World War II, just 119,550 survive.
And even fewer of these are D-Day veterans.
“France has not forgotten,” said the Honorable Yannick Tagand, Consul General of France who made the trip from Chicago for the ceremony, which included the presentation of American and French flags and the anthems of both nations.
The Legion of Honor is the highest French distinction. Founded by Napoleon Bonaparte in 1802, the National Order of the Legion of Honor recognizes eminent service to the French Republic.
Recipients of this honor are named by decree signed by the President of the French Republic.
“Today, we honor you and all the soldiers who did not return home,” Tagand said. “It’s because of you that I grew up in a free country.”
Tuesday’s event was a veritable Who’s Who of Leelanau County residents.
The Rev. Robin Carden, pastor of the Suttons Bay Congregational Church, provided the invocation. Many church members also were in attendance.
Speakers included Jim Bensley, Northwestern Michigan College, director of International Services and Service Learning and Kelly Lively, northern Michigan regional director for Senator Gary C. Peters.
Lively lives in Empire and Bensley has close ties with Leelanau Township.
Also providing tribute was Mike Lehnert, Major General, U.S. Marine Corps (retired) of Williamsburg.
Ever humble, Grout, who after age 95 jumped out an airplane twice to raise funds for Rotary’s Polio Plus campaign, was touched.
“Thank you, thank you for all of you here,” Grout said. “It’s a humbling experience for me to have so many people come out ... and I’m happy to say that I think I can call almost all of you by name.”
The ceremony was recorded by Northwestern Michigan College and posted online for viewing at a later date.
