Eighty years ago today, a young Army private from Centre County died in combat, during WWII, while protecting his fellow soldiers from enemy fire, and his heroics and courage are still celebrated and remembered.
“I appreciate you honoring my grandfather who, eighty years ago, died in Thionville, France.”
Foster Sayers III spoke about his grandfather, Foster Sayers, who is from the Blanchard area and joined the Army when he was 19 years old.
His family says he then got married and went off to war.
Back home, his wife was pregnant with a son who Sayers would never see as he was killed on November 12, 1944 in a battle where he valiantly sacrificed himself so his fellow soldiers could surround the enemy.
Sayers’ widow eventually accepting the country’s highest military honor, the Congressional Medal of Honor, in her husband’s name, along with a Purple Heart and Bronze Star.
On Tuesday, a ceremony was held at the memorial site and dam bearing Sayers name, near his Centre County hometown.
The young infantryman’s extraordinary courage still admired all these years later.
“When you consider his sacrifice, it wasn’t just for his country, it was for his brothers beside him. It didn’t matter what his brothers’ politics were or beliefs; it mattered that they were American, and they were in the fight together.”
Sayers’ medals were donated by his family to the Pennsylvania Military Museum.
