'Quiet Hero' is honored

WASHINGTON — As Roy resident George Wahlen walked through the Walter Reed Army Medical Center, people stopped and looked at him in awe, author Gary W. Toyn said.

With only 111 living Congressional Medal of Honor recipients left, it is not very often a person can see one, Toyn explained Thursday in the Martin Luther King Memorial Library in Washington.

For decades, Wahlen did not talk about the medal he received for his heroic acts in the Battle of Iwo Jima during World War II. That makes the title of Toyn's new biography of him so appropriate. It's "The Quiet Hero: The Untold Medal of Honor Story of George E. Wahlen at the Battle for Iwo Jima."

Wednesday and Thursday, Wahlen was honored by the Marine Corps Association. He visited wounded soldiers and spoke about his experience, including how he finally agreed to a book.

This was Wahlen's first public appearance since President Harry Truman presented him with the medal in 1945, and because of his age — 82 —and his health, he is not likely to travel back to Washington again. He and his wife of 60 years, Melba Wahlen, have traveled to Washington for every presidential inauguration, except for that of Lyndon Johnson, George Wahlen said.

The veteran was so private about his medal that Melba Wahlen did not even know he had been so honored until they received an invitation to President John Kennedy's inauguration.

Their daughter, Chris Anderson of Salt Lake City, said that her dad was so quiet all these years about his award because he felt "they were all heroes over there" and that he shouldn't be singled out.

Anderson and her mother persuaded George Wahlen to agree to the book so his story would be preserved for his five children, 26 grandchildren and 34 great-grandchildren.

---

E-mail: suzanne@desnews.com