For years, Samuel Meyer has actually been New Orleans’s most well known hatter, committed to a now-iconic service established by his grandpa in 1894, and guiding it into its 2nd century with a 5th generation of member of the family in training.
On Tuesday, the 99-year-old military veteran was commemorated for an entirely various accomplishment: ending up being a chevalier of the French Legion of Honor in acknowledgment of his service to the allies throughout the 2nd world war.
Meyer got France’s greatest decor, military or civil, in an event at the city’s National World War II museum, hosted by Laurent Bili, the nation’s ambassador to the United States.
Bili commemorated Meyer’s war service in the UK, Belgium, France, and Germany for the United States army flying force, and stated such an honor might just be made on benefit.
“To get this award from the French federal government is testimony to the bond that exists in between our 2 countries,” Meyer stated.
“The bond in between our 2 countries is solid. And I am honored to have actually played a little part in reinforcing it.”
Meyer was prepared at 18 and ended up being a corporal with a fighter squadron of the Ninth Air Force. He functioned as an armorer, filling bombs and ammo on the P-38 fighter airplanes that were a pillar of the allied aerial project that assisted free much of western Europe.
When the war ended, he was released from service and went back to New Orleans, where he began working for the household company, Meyer the Hatter on Saint Charles Avenue in the city’s downtown.
He still works there 3 days a week, 5 months except his 100th birthday, along with his other half, who is likewise in her nineties. Marcelle Meyer was