One Medal

"I accept the Legion of Honor on behalf of my comrades who participated in the first great conflict for freedom of the 20th century."

At the age 104, Lloyd Botimer received the highest honor bestowed a civilian on Wednesday, May 28, 1999.  Patrick Chorpenning, director of the Arizona Veterans Service Commission, called Botimer a hero. 

"I was only one person out of almost 2 million American men and women who offered to die rather than forfeit the freedoms both France and America enjoyed."

"It is hard for people today to understand, but at that time there was a real feeling that we Americans were doing something good. We were making the world safe for Democracy. Patriotism ran very high and you wanted to be part of it."

Botimer died only two days after he received the French Legion of Honor in front of nearly 100 fellow Camelback Rotary Club members and U.S. and Arizona veterans organizations.