DUNGENESS — On Andrew Loehr’s sun-splashed deck facing Dungeness Bay, a small crowd gathered Wednesday for Amanda Bacon’s rendition of “The Star Spangled Banner,” and a ceremony for which Loehr had waited nearly a lifetime.
Loehr, 93, stood tall as the Purple Heart was pinned to his cream-colored jacket by Clallam County Commissioner Steve Tharinger.
And then Bacon, a family friend, invited the audience to join her in “God Bless America,” as Loehr sang a little, smiled and recalled how he earned the medal.
It was 1944, and Loehr was in the 14th U.S. Air Force during World War II.
“The Japanese had split China in two by taking a 50-mile-wide corridor from Changsha to Hanoi,” he said.
“This effectively cut off those of us in eastern China from access to all 14th Air Force and Chinese facilities. Hence medical care was not available.”
Loehr’s job was to inspect downed enemy aircraft; he traveled with an interpreter but on one fall day, they were separated.
Loehr came upon a Japanese plane wreck near a beach and set to work — and then heard aircraft noise overhead.
Wounded and no medic
A Japanese pilot made three passes, until Loehr heard shells exploding around him. He was hit in his right leg.
“I took my hunting knife,” he said, “and got the shrapnel out.”
There were no eyewitnesses, and no medic to help him.
That was that. Loehr went on working until six months later, when he was finally evacuated from China.
“I didn’t report to medical [units] because I didn’t want to be delayed,” he said.
By the time he was sent to Wright Field Air Force Base in Ohio, his self-treated wound had healed.
“I did not think it was necessary to see a medic — a grave mistake on my part,” he said.
“I was unaware of this requirement to qualify for a Purple Heart and I did not realize I was eligible for one.”
Loehr served 24 years in the Air Force and retired as a lieutenant colonel.
He and his family moved to Sequim in 1981, and he became known as the “Papa” of Casoni’s, a Carlsborg restaurant that served international fare from 1984 through ’94.
Found record
Then, a few months after his 92nd birthday on July 16 of last year, Loehr located the only paper record he had of his wounding.
While playing baseball at Wright Field, he slid into third base and twisted his right leg.
“After a couple of days in pain, I went to the hospital,” he remembered, and mentioned that he’d sustained a wound on that leg. Loehr was referred to a flight surgeon and given a form stating that the wound had healed.
Last September, Loehr wrote to U.S. Sen. Patty Murray, D-Freeland, whose staff began researching Loehr’s case. Constituent service representative Kim Brown contacted the National Personnel Records Center, a massive archive of military documents in St. Louis, Mo.
In 1973, a fire at the center destroyed some 16 million Army and Air Force files — but not Loehr’s.
“We were lucky,” Brown said, “that his records were still there.”
After the Purple Heart presentation Wednesday, Loehr thanked the friends, family and reporters gathered on his deck and quipped, “This was my fault. I lost the records, and found them after 60 years.”
Loehr said his wound didn’t bother him until after he retired, when “it and two worn-out knees made walking very painful.”
He now lives with that pain 24 hours a day.
Receiving the Purple Heart after all this time, he said, “is a great satisfaction.”
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Sequim-Dungeness Valley reporter Diane Urbani de la Paz can be reached at 360-681-2391 or at diane.urbani@peninsuladailynews.com.
