At 101, a U.S. WWII veteran — and pacifist — is honored by France

In his 101 years on Earth, Jack Hausman has seen a lot: eight decades ago he endured the battlefields of World War II before returning home and taking over the family business, all the while remaining a lifelong pacifist.

But when he was honored recently in his small New York home with France's Legion of Honor for his wartime service, a flood of memories left him sobbing.

His voice breaking with emotion and tears streaming down his cheeks, Hausman, surrounded by friends and family members in his home of 80 years, expressed the pain he felt "for those who are no longer here today."

As the 80th anniversary of the Allies' D-Day landing in Normandy approaches on June 6 -- and that of Nazi Germany's surrender the following May 8 -- French embassy officials in the United States have been doing their best to honor the dwindling number of surviving American veterans who fought in the European theater.

The men Hausman wanted to honor on a radiant afternoon in late April, as he himself was honored by the acting French consul in New York, were the 250 members of his regiment of US army engineers and sappers who fought alongside legendary General George Patton in Algeria, Italy, southern France, Central Europe and the Rhineland from 1943 to 1945.

"You've made me an important guy," the Brooklyn-born Hausman said, his voice slightly quaking -- but with a mischievous gleam in his eye that brought laughter to his two daughters, both in their 70s, as well as his grandchildren, great-grandchildren and friends.

"I felt that I was accepting this for 250 men," he told acting French consul Damien Laban. "They did all the hard work. I was included. But believe me, they worked hard. And I... wouldn't accept the award without them."

He was fully deserving, replied Laban, because of his "role in liberating France and Europe during World War II."

- WWII veterans dying out -

The youngest veterans are 96 or 97 years old, many in shaky health, and the ceremonies honoring them inevitably unleash powerful memories and emotions.

"We feel it is our duty to thank the heroes who helped liberate our nation during World War II while we still can," said Laban.

"We owe them our freedom, democracy and way of life."

Some veterans have been invited to the D-Day commemoration in Normandy on June 6, but Hausman has no plans to go.

He said he has had no desire to return to Europe since the end of the war.

Despite joining the army at age 20 to help build roads and bridges and remove mines, Hausman said he had always been a pacifist.

"We want the world to be peaceful," he said softly.

- 'Didn't know how to shoot' -

"When I went to the army, I didn't know how to shoot," he told AFP. "I wasn't mad at the Germans. I was a youngster... So I shot above their heads in the army, scared the hell out of them. They gave up. And then we captured them."

He added: "They were starving. I gave them part of my rations. And it was my pleasure to try to help people out."

But while he saw a lot of death in Europe, "Thank God, thank God, I learned how to stay alive," he said, visibly happy as he sat in his wheelchair.

- Retirement at 98 -

Returning from the war in 1945, Hausman took up again with his high-school sweetheart. They were married for 76 years.

Taking over the family business -- and helping build it into one of the largest makers of corrugated cardboard boxes on the East Coast -- Hausman finally retired in 2020 at the ripe old age of 98.

His daughters Sandy Gottfried and Linda Margolis shared photos of their father, looking elegant in his army uniform in 1943. "We're so proud," Margolis said.

"It was long overdue," added Gottfried, after a French-speaking daughter-in-law sang a cappella the anthems of both countries.

Asked about the war in Ukraine and whether he thought the Americans should intervene, Hausman shrugged: "Nobody wins. Remember, when you shoot, one gets killed and another one gets killed -- on both sides. There's no winners."