Recognition, decades deferred, finally comes for a World War II veteran

Seventy-five years ago, John Gualtier was a young combat medic, serving with the U.S. Army in World War II, when he came under heavy artillery fire. Shrapnel hit him in the thumb and foot in the spring of 1945 as German forces tried to stop his unit from crossing the Isar River. His fellow medics quickly bandaged him in the field so he could continue treating other soldiers who were more grievously injured.

“We were so busy, we had so many wounded soldiers, when I got hit they just took care of me, and we went on treating other soldiers,” he recalled, speaking by phone from his home in Vinton.

Now, after years of efforts by friends who pushed for him to be recognized, the 94-year-old is being awarded the Purple Heart, a medal given to armed forces members wounded by the enemy in combat.

He credits Vinton high school teacher Kelly Steffen with helping him talk about his experiences again, when she persuaded him to share his story with her students. It took two attempts — the first time, he had to leave midway through the talk, due to his post-traumatic stress disorder. The second time, he was able to make it through, and he’s talked to classrooms regularly since then. It has been therapeutic.

“I’ve got to give the kids credit in the high schools. They really got me back into reality,” he said.

After one of his talks, to a group of high school teachers in Des Moines, one of the teachers told him she had a relative who was a prisoner in the Gunskirchen camp he helped liberate. A week later that survivor, Martin Weiss, called him.  “That changed everything,” Gualtier said.

Their stories were highlighted in the 2018 documentary “Heroes Among Us,” which was funded by the Thaler Holocaust Memorial Fund, Humanities Iowa and the National Endowment for the Humanities.