WWII veteran receives Purple Heart

Harvye Lynn McGuire had just learned he was going to be a father when he was ordered to Europe for the final push into Hitler's Germany.

His wife, Willene, found out she was pregnant the day McGuire received his overseas orders.

McGuire began fighting on New Year's Eve 1944 and didn't stop until Germany was defeated, despite having a grenade land four feet from him in February 1945. He survived and returned home nearly two years later to see his 11-month-old daughter, Lynnette, for the first time.

On Friday, McGuire, 76, was finally awarded the Purple Heart for his bravery during World War II.

He was pleased to receive his award, but he took a moment to remember the men who fought alongside him.

"I'm a lot prouder of the boys that were up there that day with me," he said. "I know two of them are dead. I don't know about the other three."

Pfc. Elmer Keezer wrote an eyewitness account of what happened that February day in France during 1945.

"We were fighting back some Germans who were trying to break our lines that we had held for two or three days when a grenade went off in the same trench near Mack or Sgt. McGuire," Keezer wrote in a report dated July 12, 1946. "We thought it had killed him at first but when the smoke cleared up, he raised up. The Krauts were still hot after us and Mack was there still helping us out."

McGuire was treated but suffered long-term hearing loss from the explosion and epilepsy.

The award was presented, along with a Bronze Star, during a ceremony at the Carson City Hall to add to his many other medals.

McGuire's wife, two children and five of his grandchildren were at the ceremony to watch the Purple Star be pinned on his lapel.

His wife, Willene, was with him when he shipped off to war and was there to see him receive his award 56 years later.

"I'm really, really pleased," she said. "After this long, you just sort of forget about it. But I'm really very glad."

Lynnette's husband, Col. Lou Cabrera, presented the award to McGuire as a throng of family, friends, political leaders and veterans watched in reverent silence.

"It was absolutely wonderful," said his daughter Lynnette Cabrera. "It was a lifetime coming but I'm so proud of him."

Jude Greytak, the constituent service representative for Sen. Richard Bryan, was instrumental in getting the paperwork through the proper channels for the award to be made.

"Harvye is a true hero," she said. "He's such a wonderful man, too."

The two had only talked on the phone but met in person before the ceremony. McGuire struggled to stand so he could embrace her out of gratitude.

"You're one of the good guys," he told her.

Although he returned from war disabled, McGuire did not let that stand in the way of living his life.

"I can't say that I've been waiting for it all this time because too many things have been happening," he said. "I've had to raise a family and start a business. Both have been very successful."

McGuire is a retired insurance agent from Mountain Home, Ark., but moved to Carson City six years ago.

Bryan was scheduled to present the award as his final public appearance before ending his 12-year tenure but was trapped in an airport in Oklahoma because of ice storms.

Tom Baker, Bryan's rural representative, took over in Bryan's absence.

"Congratulations on behalf of a nation that never forgets," Baker said, as he pinned the Purple Heart to McGuire's lapel.