Veteran to take his place as a hero of France

The Army radio man from Roslindale fought the four final European campaigns with the 26th Infantry Yankee Division, 101st Infantry Regiment, and, in an all-American success story, came home and married his sweetheart. They settled in Westwood, where he opened and ran a grocery store like his father before him.

For six decades, the memories of bloody battles waged and old friends lost were mostly private for the former technical sergeant. Tomorrow, the stories come alive in public, as DeVasto becomes a chevalier of the Legion of Honor, France’s highest award for merit and accomplishment.

The medal and honor was created by Napoleon Bonaparte in 1802 and bestowed on DeVasto by French President Nicolas Sarkozy. DeVasto will receive the award during a ceremony in Norwood with friends, family, and members of his regiment. It will also be his 91st birthday.

In his address tomorrow, DeVasto said he will note how proud he is to be selected.

“And I will also mention that there are many who are more deserving of this award than me,’’ he said. “Sometimes I do think I don’t deserve it. I didn’t do anything heroic.’’

But the people who granted the award clearly saw merit. According to rules for distribution, a veteran has to fit strict criteria to be eligible for the honor, which may not be awarded posthumously. They must have risked their lives on French soil, fighting in at least one of the main campaigns of the liberation of France, and have been decorated with medals for bravery.

Although the Legion of Honor has already been presented to thousands of World War II veterans, only a small number of these medals are awarded each year in the United States, according to diplomats, and care is taken to nominate only those with the most distinguished records.

In a May 10 letter, Pierre Vimont, France’s ambassador to the United States, thanked DeVasto for helping liberate his country from the Nazis: “We will never forget your courage and your devotion to the great cause of freedom.’’

French officials put out a call last year to veterans who fought in France and asked them to describe their service. DeVasto said he did that in April 2009, and promptly forgot all about it.

And then the notice arrived in May.

“I didn’t expect it,’’ DeVasto stressed during an interview in his Burgess Avenue home.

Word of the honor comes as DeVasto struggles with ill health; he requires blood transfusions every two weeks to combat acute anemia.

The award not only means the world to him, but to his loved ones, said son Paul DeVasto, one of six children: “He has come alive again. And that has lifted the hearts of my entire family.’’

In a basement room, packed with mementos of, and from, World War II, DeVasto smiles sadly as he gazes at a much-loved photo of his regiment in which dozens of boyish faces smile eternally, young and hopeful.

“He’s dead,’’ he said, pointing to one, then another. “He’s dead, too.’’

There’s his best friend Henry Canty, a pal since first grade, who died while on patrol on Oct. 27, 1944, in Xanry, France. And then Joe Evancho, a fellow radio man, who was killed in an explosion just after dawn on May 8, 1945, in Pernek, Czechoslovakia. It was VE Day, the last day of the war, DeVasto stressed: “A terrible irony. So tragic.’’

After the war, the others died one by one, and now only three of the smiling soldiers are alive, DeVasto said. It’s a bittersweet loss that makes him feel old.

“I’m still above ground, though,’’ he said, touching the picture lightly. “But I’ll probably be joining you boys soon.’’

In the basement den, DeVasto displays a vast collection of memorabilia, from German belt buckles and tanker helmets to an array of medals, insignias, and his dog tags. In a closet, folded out of sight, is a giant Nazi flag.

On one wall, generals with larger-than-life names peer out of pictures: Eisenhower, Montgomery, Bradley, Patton.

On another wall, bold, black headlines scream from framed front pages chronicling the war as it raged: “Allies Smash Way 9 1/2 Miles Into France.’’ “Japan Opens War On US’’ “War Ends In Europe.’’ “VE Day Proclamation Expected Soon.’’

And the starkest of all, published on May 1, 1945: “Hitler Dead.’’

DeVasto recalled the day before that death, as he and his company pushed into Czechoslovakia from Austria, “and the war came to a close eight days later.’’

“Talk about jubilance,’’ he recalled.

He described how his division was traveling in one direction on the famed Autobahn, and in the other, “as far as the eye could see, German soldiers were giving up their arms.’’

DeVasto and his wife, Mary, have been to Europe five times to visit battle sites. They also pray and bring flowers to the places where his friends’ bodies lie.

He has also made it his business to chronicle the war for historical and veterans publications, and is a frequent contributor to Yankee Doings, a magazine published by the 26th Infantry Veterans Association.

In a March 1, 1999, entry, DeVasto expressed sentiments that could easily accompany the honor he is to receive tomorrow.

“Soon the proud legacy of our generation will have no witnesses,’’ he wrote. “If all else is forgotten, I hope that history will record that it was those who were called upon from our generation that allowed millions of humans to reclaim their fundamental rights and dignity.’’

Michele Morgan Bolton can be reached at mmbolton1@verizon.net.