DRACUT — When Dracut’s Frederick “Pat” Walor was about to leave his house a little after 4:30 Sunday morning, he knew he would be boarding a plane and flying to Washington, D.C., to be honored for his military service. What he didn’t know was that despite the early hour, dozens of people were gathered on his front lawn to cheer him on as he left for his Honor Flight.
Pat Walor, 100, served in the Army during World War II, enlisting in 1942 at 18 years old, and landing on Utah Beach in France four days after D-Day in June of 1944. Two months later, Pat was given a Purple Heart after he was injured by German artillery in Belgium on his 21st birthday.
Through his service he was also awarded the Europe and American Campaign Medals, the Combat Infantry Badge, a Bronze Star, the World War II Victory Medal and a Distinguished Unit Ribbon.
On Sunday, just days after the 80th anniversary of Walor’s arrival in France, he joined 60 other veterans on a flight provided by Honor Flight New England to go to the nation’s capitol to see the city and its war memorials, and to be honored for their service. Pat was one of three World War II veterans on the flight, with the rest being veterans of the Korean and Vietnam Wars. They are three of just 119,000 American veterans of World War II that are still living out of the 16 million who served in the war.
As Walor sat in his kitchen Sunday, he was greeted suddenly with cameras, as state Rep. Colleen Garry gave him a citation from the Massachusetts House of Representatives to honor him ahead of his big flight.
“I am so proud to know you. You are a true American hero,” said Garry to Walor. “When you were injured, you still took care of the young men in the hospital with you, and made sure they were clean cut and everything else.”
If Walor had been none the wiser that something more was going on before, he likely began to suspect something when Dracut police and Chief Peter Bartlett walked in.
“What the hell is this?” Walor asked as the police entered.
He soon got his answer as he was wheeled out in a wheelchair by one of his daughters, Sandy Walor, who joined her father on the trip as his designated guardian. Pat’s family, friends, Dracut police and firefighters, staff from the Centralville Sportsman’s Club in Dracut which Pat frequents, Boy Scouts Troop 80 and Cub Scouts Pack 8 stood before him to cheer him on as the sun just began to peek over the horizon. Pat was brought to a car, in which he was escorted to Manchester Airport in New Hampshire to get on the flight, which ended up being delayed a few hours.
Dan Croce, who is on the Centralville Sportsmans Club’s Special Events Committee, said he had learned that Sandy signed her father up for an Honor Flight, and that Pat had been chosen.
“Part of it is that they ask people to send in cards as mail, and they go through mail call like they did in the service,” said Croce. “When I saw the cards, I contacted the board and asked them if we could get 100 people to stand on his front lawn.”
After getting the board’s blessing to try to get 100 people to wake up for a 4:30 a.m. event, Croce said he then got the support of Dracut Town Manager Ann Vandal, and the local police and fire departments. Until the moment Pat’s front door opened, he was not made aware of any of the extra effort to honor him.
Pat’s oldest daughter, Patty Diodati, said her father was shocked at all the attention he was getting.
“He is so humble. He never talks about the war, but he has more recently,” said Diodati. “He is just so excited to be with a couple other World War II vets on this trip.”
All four of Pat’s children were able to be a part of the day, including his other daughter Mary Kazalski and his oldest child, his son Joe Walor who woke up to Facetime his dad from Fredericksburg, Virginia.
Among their itinerary were to visit the memorials in the capitol for World War II, the Korean War and the Vietnam War, as well as Arlington National Cemetery, where hundreds of thousands of men and women who served in the U.S. military are buried. They were scheduled to return late Sunday night.
Walor was also honored for his 100th birthday at an event at Lenzi’s Catering and Function Facility in Dracut last August.