Good Citizens

On Friday, Oct. 12, 1945, President Harry S. Truman stood on the south lawn of the White House and gave the Congressional Medal of Honor to 15 soldiers. The Washington Evening Star reported that afternoon that the men were “called, one by one, from a group in front of the President.” Each man “heard the actions which earned their decorations described over a public address system.” Nine had fought in Europe and six in the Pacific.¹

When it was over, Truman spoke about the men in front of him.

“These young men were doing their duty,” he said. “They didn’t think they were being heroes. They didn’t think they were doing anything unusual. They were just doing what the situation called for.”²

Then he made a prediction. “Now these young men will go back and become citizens of this great country, and they will make good citizens; and you won’t find any of them bragging about what they have done or what they propose to do. They are just going to be good citizens of the United States.”²

The Star ran a subhead below the speech: “Indianan Is Youngest.” The first man in its list of the other honorees was “Corpl. Melvin E. Biddle, Anderson, Ind.—at 22 the youngest of the group—who led his entire battalion to break the German grasp on the town of Hotton, Belgium, last December.”²

The citation ends at Hotton. Hoosier First went to Indiana’s own newspapers, through the Indiana State Library’s Hoosier State Chronicles, and to the Library of Congress’s Chronicling America, to see whether Truman was right about the youngest man on the lawn. Across almost 40 years, Biddle turns up in those papers on a few days: as a wounded private, as a face in a wire photo, as a name on a convention program, and as a guest of honor. In the coverage Hoosier First found, he is quoted once. He was not talking about himself.

A name on a casualty list

Melvin Earl Biddle was born on Nov. 28, 1923, in Daleville, in Delaware County. His medal is accredited to Anderson, in neighboring Madison County.³ His obituary says he “resided in this area all of his life.”⁴

He first appears in a newspaper Hoosier First found on Nov. 23, 1944, a month before Hotton. That day the Indianapolis Times printed a long list of Indiana soldiers “wounded in action in Europe.” Between a soldier from Rochester and one from Crown Point was “Pvt. Melvin Biddle, son of Mrs. Blanche Biddle, Anderson.”⁵

The list does not say when or where he was wounded, or how badly. It says only that he had already been hurt in combat before the fight that earned him the medal. His obituary confirms his mother’s name: Blanche Olive (Bowen) Biddle.⁴

That list is the start of a pattern. His rank changes from source to source. The Times called him a private in November 1944.⁵ The Evening Star and the wire-photo captions of October 1945 called him a corporal.^2,6,7 His citation and the Congressional Medal of Honor Society call him a private first class, the rank he held at Hotton.³ Hoosier First uses the rank each source gave.

Twenty hours

The Army’s citation is the only detailed account of what Biddle did. It is precise, and it is worth reading closely.³

He was serving in the 1st Squad, 2d Platoon, Company B, 1st Battalion, 517th Parachute Infantry Regiment. On Dec. 23, 1944, his battalion attacked “to relieve the enemy-encircled town of Hotton.” Biddle was the lead scout.³ His obituary places his service “at the Battle of the Bulge.”⁴

The citation says he “aggressively penetrated a densely wooded area, advanced 400 yards until he came within range of intense enemy rifle fire, and within 20 yards of enemy positions killed three snipers with unerring marksmanship.” He went on another 200 yards and found a machine-gun position, and “dispatched its two occupants.” Then he crawled toward a second, well-hidden machine-gun nest and “threw hand grenades which killed two Germans and fatally wounded a third.”³

He signaled his company forward. He then “entered a determined line of enemy defense, cooly and deliberately shifted his position, and shot three more enemy soldiers.” He crawled to within 20 yards of another machine-gun nest, “tossed his last hand grenade into the position, and after the explosion charged the emplacement firing his rifle.”³

The citation’s next sentence covers the night. “When night fell, he scouted enemy positions alone for several hours and returned with valuable information which enabled our attacking infantry and armor to knock out two enemy tanks.”³

At daybreak on Dec. 24 he led the advance again. When the units on the flanks were pinned down, he “made his way toward a hostile machine-gun position and from a distance of 50 yards killed the crew and two supporting riflemen.” The rest of the enemy force, “finding themselves without automatic-weapon support, fled panic-stricken.”³

The citation’s closing line gives the length of the action and its result. “Pfc. Biddle’s intrepid courage and superb daring during his 20-hour action enabled his battalion to break the enemy grasp on Hotton with a minimum of casualties.”³

The distances in the citation are given in yards: 400, then 200, then 20, then 50. Twenty-four years later, an Indiana paper described the same action differently. It said Biddle “led his battalion in a five-kilometer penetration of enemy lines.”⁸ Hoosier First could not find where the five-kilometer figure came from. It does not appear in the citation.

On the south lawn

The Evening Star announced the ceremony two days in advance. It said Truman would present the medal “to 15 members of the Army Ground Forces in another mass presentation ceremony on the south lawn of the White House Friday.” The War Department had arranged for “relatives and friends of the 15 men” to come to Washington and stay at the Willard and Washington Hotels.⁹

The Star’s list read like a map of the country: Campobello, S.C.; Middleport, Ohio; South Lee, Mass.; Santa Ana, Calif.; Lynchburg, Va.; Shamokin, Pa.; Manchester, N.H.; Brooklyn; Centralia, Wash.; San Antonio; Johnstown, Pa.; Rockford, Mich.; West Haven, Conn. Fourth on the list was “Corpl. Melvin E. Biddle, Anderson, Ind.”⁹

One man on that list drew most of the attention. The Star’s front-page headline on Oct. 12 read “Objector and 14 Other Heroes Given Honor Medals by Truman.”¹ The objector was Corpl. Desmond T. Doss of Lynchburg, Va., who was assigned to the Medical Corps. The paper called him “the first conscientious objector ever to receive the Nation’s highest award for valor.”¹ It said Doss had been credited with braving enemy fire to evacuate 75 casualties “one by one from a cliff” on Okinawa by means of a rope litter. Doss’s division commander, Brig. Gen. Edwin H. Randle, was quoted as saying Doss had “refused to carry arms or even touch a weapon.”²

So the youngest man on the lawn, the paratrooper from Anderson, was honored alongside the first conscientious objector to receive the medal. The newspapers covered both men. Doss got the headline. Biddle was the first name after it.^1,2

Wire photographs of the ceremony went out within days. On Oct. 13, the Ypsilanti Daily Press in Michigan ran an International Soundphoto of recipients with a caption that included “Cpl. Melvin E. Biddle. Anderson. Ind.”⁷ On Oct. 15, the Decatur Daily Democrat in Adams County, Indiana, ran a photo under the headline “Truman Gave Each One Congressional Medal.” Its caption said, “President Truman himself presented these war heroes with the Congressional Medal of Honor in impressive ceremonies on the south lawn of the White House.” Biddle stood in the front row, between Capt. James M. Burt of South Lee, Mass., and Corp. Edward A. Bennett of Middleport, Ohio.⁶

That photo is the only image of Biddle that Hoosier First found in an Indiana paper. Hoosier First could not confirm the copyright status of the 1945 wire photo, so it is not reproduced here.

A question of age

The Star said Biddle was 22.² By his date of birth, he was not. He was born on Nov. 28, 1923, according to both his Medal of Honor Society record and his obituary.^3,4 On Oct. 12, 1945, he was 21, six weeks short of his 22nd birthday.

Hoosier First could not find where the Star’s figure came from. The paper’s broader claim, that he was the youngest man honored that day, may still be right, but Hoosier First did not find the ages of all 15 recipients in the coverage it reviewed. It reports the claim as the Star made it.

Going home

Truman had predicted the men would go home and be good citizens. For Biddle, the record of what came next is thin. That fits the prediction.

His obituary gives the outline. He married on Dec. 1, 1946. He “retired from The Veterans Administration.” He “was an avid golfer.” It also says, “He loved his roses.”⁴

The newspapers add a few dates.

In June 1949, a column ran in the Journal of Caldwell, Ohio, under the heading “News for War Veterans.” It announced that the 82nd Airborne Division Association would hold a three-day convention and reunion in Cleveland on July 3, 4 and 5. It named the generals who would be honored, and then: “Alvin York, Leonard Funk and Melvin Biddle, winners of the Congressional Medal of Honor, are expected to attend.”¹⁰ Biddle, who was 25, was listed beside York. The column noted that “any present or ex-airborne soldier is entitled to attend the 82nd reunions.”¹⁰ Hoosier First did not find a report saying whether Biddle went.

By 1968 he was part of a roll call. That October, the Mail-Journal, a northern Indiana paper, ran a long article about 2nd Lt. Harry J. Michael, a Medal of Honor recipient killed in Germany in March 1945. The article ended with “the other seven Hoosier Congressional Medal of Honor recipients,” and gave each a one-line description. Biddle’s read: “PFC. MELVIN E. BIDDLE of Anderson. He led his battalion in a five-kilometer penetration of enemy lines.”⁸ The same list included S-Sgt. Gerry Kisters, “the first American to win both the Congressional Medal of Honor and Distinguished Service Cross in World War II,” and Col. David M. Shoup of Covington, “who secured the beachhead on Tarawa.”⁸

The article did not say how its list was chosen. It shows how Biddle’s story was being told in his own state 23 years after the war: as a single sentence.

“These fellows are just like us”

Biddle’s only recorded words in the Indiana coverage Hoosier First found came in 1981. They were about another war.

On Saturday, March 28, 1981, Anderson held a parade for veterans of Vietnam. The Associated Press story ran in Greencastle’s Banner Graphic the following Tuesday under the headlines “Anderson rolls out red carpet” and “Vietnam vets honored at parade.”¹¹

“It was a parade that looked like a vestige from an earlier era,” the AP reported, “thousands of cheering natives lined the streets of this inflation-ravaged auto town to pay tribute to veterans of the Vietnam war.” The story said Anderson “has struggled under one of the nation’s highest jobless rates in the last year. But that was forgotten in Saturday’s celebration.”¹¹

Judith Ray, the service officer for the Madison County Veterans Affairs office, explained the purpose. “It is our idea to put the Vietnam veteran before the public eye and say, ‘Hey, you are neglecting an entire generation of young men,’” she said.¹¹

The parade included high school bands, a U.S. Army band from Fort Benjamin Harrison and color guards from Indiana military units. Mayor Tom McMahan was the grand marshal. Afterward the veterans were recognized at the Veterans of Vietnam Memorial on the City Hall Mall.¹¹ A veteran who lost both legs in Vietnam received special honors, and a speaker from New York told of veterans exposed to toxic chemicals.¹¹

Then the AP quoted one more man. “‘These fellows are just like us and should be treated the same way,’ said Melvin Biddle of Anderson, who received the Congressional Medal of Honor for his service in World War II.”¹¹

He did not mention Hotton. He talked about the younger men in front of him.

Four months later, the Indiana American Legion opened its 63rd state convention in Indianapolis. The Nappanee Advance-News reported that the convention was “keyed to the Vietnam veteran.” Its parade on July 11 “will be dedicated to the Vietnam veteran,” with a Vietnam veteran as grand marshal and a contingent of Vietnam veterans from Outreach Post 85 at its head.¹²

The paper said “Indiana’s two Medal of Honor winners,” Gerry Kisters of Bloomington and Melvin Biddle of Anderson, would be “guests of honor at the opening session of the convention on Friday, July 10.”¹² (The paper spelled Kisters’s first name “Gary.”) It did not explain what it meant by “two.” It presented the two World War II recipients as Indiana’s Medal of Honor winners at a convention built around veterans of a later war.

The Follow Me Salute

Two years later, Biddle again stood beside another family’s story.

In September 1983, the Mail-Journal’s editorial page marked Hispanic Heritage Week. It noted that “the Veterans Administration is sponsoring a Hispanic Americans Veterans Recognition Day on Friday at 12 noon in the Veterans Park in Indianapolis,” with Rep. Andy Jacobs Jr. as keynote speaker and a proclamation from Mayor William Hudnut.¹³

“During the Indianapolis ceremonies,” the paper said, “Melvin Biddle, Congressional Medal of Honor winner, will be presenting the ‘Follow Me Salute’ to Emilio A. LaGarza, Sr., father of Emilio A. De LaGarza, Jr., who gave his life in Viet Nam and was posthumously awarded the Congressional Medal of Honor.”¹³

The editorial does not explain the salute or say who chose Biddle to present it. It also does not connect the ceremony to his job. His obituary says he retired from the Veterans Administration, the agency that sponsored the event, but Hoosier First did not find a source that says when he worked there or in what role.^4,13 What the item does show is a World War II recipient honoring the father of a Vietnam recipient who did not come home.

The last one

Melvin E. “Bud” Biddle died on Dec. 17, 2010, at Saint John’s Medical Center “after a sudden illness.” He was 87.⁴

His obituary describes his service in one sentence: “Bud served his country in the U.S. Army as a paratrooper at the Battle of the Bulge during World War II.” It adds one more fact about the medal: “He was the last living recipient to receive the Congressional Medal of Honor in Indiana from World War II.”⁴

The rest of the obituary is about family, golf and roses. Hotton is not named in it.⁴

He was buried in Memorial Park Cemetery in Anderson.⁴ The Congressional Medal of Honor Society lists the same burial place as “Anderson Memorial Cemetery.”³

What the record shows

Hoosier First’s search of Indiana’s digitized newspapers turned up a narrow paper trail: a casualty list in 1944, a photo caption in 1945, a convention notice in 1949, a one-line roll call in 1968, and three items from 1981 and 1983. That is not the whole of his life. Hoosier State Chronicles and Chronicling America do not include every Indiana paper or every year. Biddle may have given interviews that are not in these collections.

But within the record Hoosier First could reach, a pattern holds. Biddle’s own deeds come from an Army citation, not from him. The one time a reporter put his words in print, he used them for someone else. More than 35 years after the ceremony, at his hometown’s parade for Vietnam veterans, he said that men from a later war “should be treated the same way” as men from his own.¹¹

In 1945, Truman said that “you won’t find any of them bragging about what they have done.” He said they would be good citizens instead.² For the youngest man on the south lawn that day, Hoosier First found no evidence that the President was wrong.

Hoosier First corrected obvious OCR errors in newspaper quotations, for example “citiezns” to “citizens,” “thpir rintv” to “their duty” and “And my” to “find any.” The 1949 Caldwell column’s sentence about York, Funk and Biddle is split across two columns on the scanned page and is joined here.

How he died

Melvin “Bud” Biddle died on Dec. 17, 2010, at Saint John’s Medical Center, at 87. His family’s obituary says he died “after a sudden illness” and does not name it.⁴ Hoosier First did not find a death certificate or news report that states a cause, so this story does not give one.