MARS HILL – Walter Dearborn is honored but somber about the military medals he received two weeks ago because they make him remember the buddies he left behind long ago in Europe at the end of World War II.

His medals depict the hardships of U.S. soldiers at war. He received his medals Jan. 12 at ceremonies held at the Fort Fairfield Veterans of Foreign Wars building.

It has been nearly 61 years since August 1945, when Dearborn, 81, was honorably discharged from the service. The medals finally came to him through the efforts of Col. Scott Fields, John Gorman of Fort Fairfield, and Sen. Susan Collins.

The Mars Hill man received the Bronze Star, Good Conduct Medal, Presidential Unit Citation, the Meritorious Unit Commendation, the American Campaign Medal, the European-African-Middle Eastern Campaign Medal, two Bronze Service Stars, the World War II Victory Medal, the Army of Occupation Medal with German clasp, the Combat Infantrymen Badge First Award, the Expert Infantrymen Service Badge, and the Honorable Service lapel button.

“I’m not the only one who didn’t get his medals,” Dearborn said Wednesday by telephone from his home. “We just slipped through the cracks I guess.

“My records were burned at one point,” he said. “Colonel Fields went after them and they were found.”

“The presentations were tempered by the fact that I lived 60 more years,” he said. “I left a lot of buddies over there.”

He was inducted into the military while waiting to hear if he had been accepted at Ricker College. By the summer of 1943, he was in the U.S. Army undergoing specialized training to become an officer. He was instead assigned to the infantry, and became a machine gunner.

Sgt. Walter Dearborn was with Company C, 328th Infantry, 26th Division, also known as the Yankee Division, he said.

His unit landed in Normandy the day after D-Day.

He was taken out of the fighting on Nov. 15, 1944, because of trench foot. It was a disease suffered by many military personnel who spent a lot of time in foxholes, brought on by wearing wet footwear for long periods of time.

His condition became so severe that military physicians thought of amputating his feet. He improved and was able to keep both feet after lengthy hospitalization in France, England and aboard a hospital ship which eventually brought him to Camp Butler, N.C. He was discharged from that camp.

“I was very honored at the celebration in Fort Fairfield,” Dearborn said. “Colonel Fields presented my medals to me with Lorie Ireland from Senator Collins’ office.”

Dearborn, who operated a brokerage office in Mars Hill for 25 years, has been retired nearly 20 years.