AMERICANWAY

PUBLIC OPINION M following D-Day. Like many of the soldiers in World War II, he had enlisted to fi ght for his country, which required him to leave his wife, 3-year-old daughter and his assistant- manager position at a small-tow n depart- ment store in Chambersburg. He was 25. A fter basic training in Texas, he joined his com rades in Operation O verlord, a n A llied mission to ta ke back Fra nce from A x is powers. He wa s a ssig ned to K Com- pa ny of the 15th Infa ntr y Reg iment, 3rd Infantry Division — battle-bound through the heavily protected northeastern tip of France, across the Rhine River border and east wa rd into the hea r t of Germa ny. Si x weeks into his service, Shimer was awarded the Bronze Star and promoted to the rank of sergeant for his distinguished acts of hero- ism during a successful attempt to conquer Hill 351 ("Bloody Hill") and Bennw ihr, a border town in northeastern France. There, ' - stu ng has always been worth the hectic T h a n k sg iv i ng t r avel — ja m-packe d a i r - ports and connecting fl ights before the fi nal touchdown in Boise, Idaho, where an hour's icy drive still awaits. The fi rst night is always the same: excited, reunited-at-last chatter that goes on into the early morning. The short week will unfurl all too quickly; the cutting of turkey and passing of gravy will come and go just as briskly as the inevitable Black Friday stampede at the Boise mall. But a f ter the ex tended fa mily has lef t a nd the dishes have been scr ubbed, one a f ternoon w ill be suspended in time. My mother, g ra ndmother a nd I w ill coz y up on the familiar brow n couch, w rapped in Afghans knitted by my great- grandmother and sipping hot cocoa while fl ipping through abunda nt stacks of leather-bound photo albums. Just like the year before, both of them shout out stor ies as we t ur n pages, por i ng over memor ies of swadd led new- bor n s a nd ex h au sted pa rent s, todd ler s licking ice-cream cones in the summer sun, youthful excitement shining from a pile of half-ripped-open Christmas presents. O f t he my r i ad phot os , however, one page has always stuck out to me. I can hear the silent hear tbeat of familia l and patri- otic pr ide a s I un fold the thin, yellowed news paper clipping from Chambersburg, Pennsylvania, about a local man who made history 70 years ago. In October 194 4, hordes of A mer ica n troops shuf f led across the Southa mpton dock in Britain, their fi nal checkpoint be- fore shipping o to the European theatre of war. It was the fourth-busiest Army port of 60, working at full capacity daily for em- barking troops and military equipment. In the faded black-a nd-white photo, a young infantryman is surrounded by ebul- lient Army o cers. Bearing a sign around his neck reading "The Millionth Yank," the young soldier humbly sha kes the hand of Southa mpton Mayor Rex Stra nger. That young man was Paul Shimer Jr., my great- g r a n d f at h er, w h o w a s t h e 1 m i l l iont h American soldier to pass through the port HISTORY The Millionth Yank Three generations later, a WORLD WAR II hero is still celebrated. HISTORY MADE: Paul Shimer Jr. (right) is congratulated by Southampton, England, Mayor Rex Stranger in October 1944 as "The Millionth Yank" to pass through the Southampton port. 52 N OV E M B E R 2 01 4 A A .CO M/A M E R I C A NWAY

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